For the second year, some Fort Smith homeowners can receive assistance for sewer line repairs.

The Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP) is designed to help low-income homeowners if they have broken sewer lines in need of repairs, according to a letter sent to all utilities customers.

“The SEP has helped 28 citizens with the majority of those being completed in 2018. These repairs have totaled $52,276. There are 10 more claims that are currently pending,” Lance McAvoy, Utilities Department deputy director of operations, wrote in an email. “The SEP is designed to help those with low or fixed incomes make repairs that benefit the city as a whole by reducing inflow and infiltration which can contribute to sanitary sewer overflows.”

Inflow and infiltration occurs when clean water that does not need treatment enters a private line through defects; the excess water then enters the city system with water in need of treatment. It is problematic for the city, because the increased water can “overload the system.”

Broken private lines can contribute to the city’s overflows — the release of wastewater and sewage from the collection system — line breaks and the need for higher capacity wastewater treatment plants to handle the additional volume.

“Larger pipelines and wastewater plants are more expensive to install and maintain,” the department wrote in its frequently asked questions document. “Reducing the volume of water in the sanitary sewer collection system saves money.”

Homeowners who meet the income requirements and have a defective line can qualify for the program. Economic guidelines take into consideration the income of all residents living in the home.

Those who do not currently have a problem with their sewer line will receive a letter regarding the project, but they do not need to do anything. A plumber, the frequently asked questions document says, can determine if a person’s sewer line has a defect for inflow and infiltration.

Homeowners who have a line defect for inflow and infiltration are told to contact the Utilities Department so the cost of the project can come out of funds for the program. If a line defect is not related to inflow and infiltration, the letter says residents will be responsible for the cost.

According to a previous report, the program was officially started in 2018, but the city did a small pilot at the end of 2017.

Fort Smith entered into the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice and Environmental Protection Agency in 2014. The consent decree requires the city to fix low-income residents’ private sewer lines that have “actionable defects” related to inflow and infiltration that can contribute to overflows, McAvoy said.

While the program itself is limited to low-income residents, McAvoy said other residents could still be eligible for city-funded repairs.

“The Board of Directors has set aside funds to help those who do not fall into the low-income criteria if the needed repairs are determined by qualified staff to contribute to inflow and infiltration and (overflows),” McAvoy said.

Approximately $250 million on consent decree-related work is supposed to take place in the next eight years with a focus on inflow and infiltration. The city directors approved three capital improvement plans, including a consent decree-specific plan, from the Utilities Department in November.

It also approved the 2019 budget at the Dec. 18 meeting, which includes a $62 million operating budget for water and wastewater services. Roughly $5 million total has been set aside for sewer treatment and sewer line maintenance and repair in 2019, according to the proposed budget document.