Wastewater Enforcement: Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment - Division of Environmental Quality and City of Tillar Enter into Consent Administrative Order

The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment - Division of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) and the City of Tillar, Arkansas entered into a January 19th Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) addressing alleged violations of a Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) Permit. See Case #: CAO-25-0051.

The CAO provides that Tillar owns and operates a publicly owned treatment works (“POTW”) located in Desha County, Arkansas.

The POTW is stated to discharge treated wastewater to an unnamed tributary and eventually to the Boeuf River. Such discharge is authorized pursuant to an NPDES Permit.

Tillar is stated to have not submitted an administratively complete permit renewal application by the required date of September 1, 2024, violating Part III.D.10 of the Permit.

ADEQ is stated to have conducted a review of certified Discharge Monitoring Reports (“DMRs”) on May 19, 2025. The review is stated to have identified the following violations of discharge limits:                

• Eight (8) violations of Carbonaceous Biochemical Oxygen Demand; and
• Two (2) violations of Fecal Coliform Bacteria.

The review of the DMRs is also stated to have indicated that the POTW failed to submit Non-Compliance Reports (“NCRs”) for effluent violations during the following three monitoring periods:

• 2022: April;
• 2024: January; and
• 2025: February.

The review of the DMRs also is stated to indicate that the POTW failed to submit these documents by the due date for the following nine monitoring periods:

• 2022: April;
• 2023: February, March, May; and
• 2024: March, April, May, September, and December.

The CAO requires that Tillar submit an administratively complete permit renewal application. Further, Tillar is required to comply with the existing NPDES Permit until either the effective date of the renewal permit or the permit termination. In addition, it is required to immediately comply with all permitted effluent limits.

Tillar is also required to submit DMRs and NCRs as required by the relevant sections of the NPDES Permit.

A civil penalty of $4,050 is assessed, of which $3,050 is conditionally suspended if Tillar fully complies with the CAO.

A copy of the CAO can be found here.