CONWAY, Ark. (KTHV) - Last week we told about concerns over plans to build a neighborhood and a private sewage plant on Nowlin Creek in West Pulaski County.
Neighbors there are concerned wastewater would flow in to their back yards during flooding.
In Faulkner County, the same concerns after a developer requested a permit for a private treatment plant in a Conway neighborhood.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems, or NPDES, are essentially private wastewater treatment plants.
They are usually found in neighborhoods in rural areas; too far from city and county hookups to be a part of their wastewater lines.
Dozens of permits have been distributed for these systems, only they're no longer limited to the county.
"The fact of the matter is, approximately one in five U.S. households uses one of the NDPES systems”, says Robert Hill, President of the Lake Conway HOA.
He adds, sewage is nothing new to the residents of Lake Conway.
"They were putting about 9 million gallons of effluent water in the lake per day. There were problems whenever we had a rain storm, or a big rain event, actually the wastewater treatment facility would overflow and the wastewater would run in to the lake."
That was last summer.
For about a year, Hill says, things have been quiet on the lake.
That is, until developers Watson and Watson, who are building a new subdivision called Woodlands Edge, requested a permit for one of those NDPES systems in Conway.
If that permit is approved by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, treated wastewater from the homes would flow in to Lake Conway.
"The subdivision that's planned is located on Skunk Hollow Road and the NPDES system would be discharging effluent in to the unnamed tributary. It goes in to Little Creek and then in to Lake Conway”, Hill explains.
With 18 acres for sale in that area, Hill worries, multiple developments could mean multiple NDPES systems.
All while the closest wastewater hook up, operated by Conway Corp, is less than 1/2 mile from Woodlands Edge.
"The city limit of Conway is right here at this point. They provide sewer and water to this corner. So it's 3,500 feet from the sewer system to the new Woodland's Edge."
Hill says, he hopes Conway Corp and Watson and Watson can come to an agreement to keep the wastewater out of Lake Conway.
Hill says the ball is in the developer, Watson and Watson's court.
Conway Corp's CEO, Richie Arnold, tells me they've been in talks with Watson and Watson about finding ways to connect Woodlands Edge to Conway Corp's Sewage Lines.
The developers were not available today for comment.