City officials in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, just recognized they’ve been dumped on. For a number of years, a local RV park, Kettle Campground, has been hooked up to the city’s sewage treatment system. At the same time, the park hasn’t been a city water customer. That, says a city official, constitutes illegal dumping of RV sewage. How do we get here from there?
Never paid a dime to dump
As is done by many other publicly owned sewage systems, how much you pay to dump is based on how much water you use. Since Kettle Campground doesn’t use city water, there’s no way for the city to estimate how much sewage is being sent down the line. Result? The park has never paid a dime for sending its guests’ RV sewage down to the city processing plant.
Eureka Springs’ public works director, Simon Wiley, told city councilors that such a thing wasn’t cricket. “I have told them that I have spoken to [Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality] and we have the right to shut [Kettle’s sewage] off because it is considered illegal dumping,” Wiley told council members. “… We can’t allow illegal dumping.” That Eureka Springs RV park must stop dumping.
RV sewage—no pay, no play
Wiley says he looked into figuring out how to measure the outflow of RV sewage into the city’s system. He did that, because Kettle Campground’s owners nixed the idea of paying to hook up to city water. But city counselors are fed up with the whole affair. Eureka Springs will not be dumped on! At their November 27 meeting, the council voted to have an ordinance drafted that would force any property owner to connect to city water if it is within 500 feet of a city water line. That includes that Eureka Springs RV park.
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My best friend has the same situation but no city water to connect to. They have figured out what approximately goes down the sewer and charges the property owner not the occupants. It’s been working well for 8 years. How did this city get away for how long not billing the rv park?
Our municipality charges a fixed fee for waste water treatment and disposal. Use as little water or as much as you want, the sewer fee is what the sewer fee is and is never based on what does not go down the drain.
Same here.
Having volunteered for a small municipality, with little or not paid PT council members, I am never surprised at things that are forgotten over time and council membership changes.
I’ve never been a fan of paying for sewer based on city water usage. I am also paying for water that never enters the sewer. And unless the municipality also bans private wells connected to the dwelling, there will always be ‘cheaters’.
Well, I am often skeptical of the right of governmental entities to force people to use their services, but this seems fair. That is, it seems appropriate to force the campground to connect to city water or force them to disconnect from the city sewer system. Thank you for keeping tabs on the RVing news and news for RVers, Russ and Tina! 🙂
The idea to “force any property owner to connect to city water if it is within 500 feet of a city water line.” is a load of bullstuff! Sure, if they’re using sewer charge them accordingly but don’t go forcing unwanted services on any and everyone. Government overreach at it’s finest!