Column: "Sauntering": As Eureka turns...one more time

"As Eureka Turns..." brought to you every day by the people who love her and want her to be the best she can be.

As Eureka Springs celebrates it's 125th birthday, a short trip down memory lane might be in order.

The springs are the reason the original campsites were used over and over again those thousands of years ago. The original people claimed the springs had healing powers and considered them sacred.

Hunters and trappers spread the word and before long, thousands of people were camped out in the valley and on the hillsides, looking for cures from the freely flowing waters. They came to partake and to be healed.

The word spread and more and more people came. And through the years, magnificent homes and lodgings were built, burned and rebuilt. Some remain and are considered treasures.

As as the town grew, with more and more permanent structures, and more and more people crowded the streets, so began the strain on the city's infrastructure.

They didn't call it that, way back then. It was just the streets, sewer, water and electric systems.

Kirby Murray told me once the clay pipes used for water distribution and wastewater collection may be have been broken the day the trenches were filled to cover up the newly installed pipes because they may not have been "seated" properly or the weight of the fill material might have been too much.

At any rate, the line problems are on-going.

As the city grew, development outpaced the limited city finances and there are still areas on the west side of town without city sewer services. They have septic systems.

Water distribution lines are in place, and apparently, functioning well. The cool, clear water comes from Beaver Lake. It is one of the cleanest lakes left, but pollution is creeping in.

Electricity is ample, most of the time. An occasional squirrel, bird or tree limb gets into the lines and causes breakers to blow, shutting electricity off, but not as often as it used to happen.

The streets are narrow, not wide enough for cars to be parked on both sides and two driving lanes in the middle.

They weren't designed for cars, SUV's and motorhomes, after all, they were designed for wagons pulled by horses, long before cars were gleams in anyone's eye.

And the sewer system, bless it's heart and the hearts of those who try to take care of it.

The sewer system is overtaxed in the summer, overwhelmed when we get a lot of rain, adequate in the winter and in sore need of improvement.

Trust me on this, you can look at city council minutes from 30, 40, 50 or 60 years ago and the same infrastructure problems were under discussion.

The problems are the same for any city of any size, its just that ours are exaggerated because some days we have a population of more than 10,000 trying to use facilities built for 2,000. The treatment plant was designed for peak usage, but the peaks and their duration increased beyond all expectations and engineering estimates.

In the almost 20 years I have lived here, the work on the wastewater treatment plant and collection lines has been almost constant, particularly in the last 10.

There have been a lot of ideas on how to fix the plant, how and where to build a new plant, or an auxiliary plant. When the last major improvements were made, the plant was supposed to be good for 25 years. That was about 10 years ago.

Patching was the best idea because it was the cheapest at the time. Voters in town told us so.

But not any more.

New people and new technology are available. The people say they can make changes and additions to the plant to make it modern, efficient and usable for a lot of years to come.

What is unfortunate right now is that there are other people running around town screaming that "the sky is falling into the sewer plant."

Most of those people have not taken the time to talk with the new public works director about what can be done or is being planned.

They want to see drawings, specifications and costs that are not completed.

They are screaming that the money to build the new plant is not available and taxes and water bills will have to be raised to pay for it all.

Not so.

There is money available from two bond issues set aside for this very purpose, improvements to the lines and plant. Water bills were raised last year to help pay for improvements at the plant.

I suggest "patience" to those who are screaming. When the plans are drawn and the cost estimates made, then we will know "how much," but not until then.

Thanks to local media, electronic gossip chatrooms, local coffee shop rumors, post office discussions and produce section gossip, all sorts of bad information is out in the community right now.

The availability of so much bad information is overwhelming the good information these days.

The good information is that the treatment plant is operating and the water being discharged is meeting environmental standards, more so than in the past.

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is working with us to get the changes made.

Through the efforts of the public works director, the mayor, a few council members, the concerned public and some mudslingers, ADEQ is being kept aware, almost minute-to-minute, of what is happening, or not happening, at that plant.

The department's officers have not imposed huge fines on the city or charged anyone with acting improperly. They are working with us to get things fixed as quickly as possible.

ADEQ can't approve plans until they are submitted. Costs won't be known until bids are taken. That is the process we have to work with.

If all the people who are so busy yelling about what is wrong with Eureka right now could get together and work forward, maybe the next 125 years could be prosperous for us all.

Until that day happens, the soap opera continues...