Posted on

WM City Council rushes emergency back flow ordinance through

Share

Utility facing environmental fines, penalties for noncompliance

news@theeveningtimes.com The West Memphis City Council wasted little time in passing an ordinance from the West Memphis Utility Commission aimed at avoiding costly penalties.

The ordinance was read out and voted on, passing city council consideration in just one meeting after commercial and industrial water customers in the city became subject to fines and sanctions if they failed to conduct annual inspections and testing of their back flow connections with the city.

The annual routine testing and reporting was mandated by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. The legislative auditors noted many West Memphis businesses required to have cross-connection controls where their water lines meet the city supply line failed to report required annual inspections. The audit recommended attaching penalties on businesses that failed to comply.

West Memphis Utilities Director of Environmental Quality Denise Bosnick

Continued on Page 2 BACK FLOW (cont.(

forwarded an eight-page ordinance adopting design, construction and maintenance standards. Failure to comply will result in warning letters and water service disconnection.

'We've sent letters out before,' Bosnick told Utility commissioners during the September meeting. 'They are mostly ignored.'

The new ordinance put teeth into compliance. It was aimed at commercial and industrial customers and does not impact residential water customers in the city. Failure to report annual inspection results to the city could result in stopping water delivery to the company and removal of the water meter.

When the matter came before city council, Alderman James Pulliaum, moved to read it out three times in one meeting. City council unanimously proceeded approve the ordinance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

LAST NEWS
Scroll Up