Based on reporting from Arkansas Advocate, June 6, 2025 — By Jordan P. Hickey - Summarized by NWALook
Northwest Arkansas is booming, but there's a hidden crisis brewing beneath our feet.
Centerton and Highfill, two of the region’s fastest-growing towns, saw population increases of 7.2% and 15.2% last year, respectively. However, their growth has hit a literal wall: inadequate wastewater infrastructure. In fact, the Arkansas Department of Health hasn’t approved any new large-scale residential projects in Centerton since May 2024 due to maxed-out sewer capacity.
💧 What’s Causing the Blockage?
Centerton doesn’t treat its own wastewater. Instead, it sends everything to Decatur, whose plant is already overcapacity, thanks in large part to the industrial load from Simmons Foods. While an expansion is underway, bureaucratic approvals and cost increases (including tariffs) have slowed progress.
Options to fix the issue include:
- A $5.7M diversion to Bentonville (still pending political agreement), or
- A $14M+ connection to NACA (Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority), which is actively expanding capacity in Highfill.
Meanwhile, residential builders are left staring at shovel-ready acres they can’t touch.
“You’ll be looking at 1,000 open acres just primed for development, and you can’t do nothing with it because it has no infrastructure.” — Local developer
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🏗️ What This Means for New Construction
This isn't just a Centerton problem — it’s a regional bottleneck. While demand for housing remains strong, the lack of wastewater capacity is now delaying permits and stalling development, especially in smaller but fast-growing towns like Pea Ridge, Gentry, and Highfill. Builders are reporting uncertainty in timelines, rising costs, and growing competition for developable land with access to functioning utilities.
“We can have very large national homebuilders show up and double the population of one of the small cities with one development,” said Tim Conklin of the NWA Regional Planning Commission.
Without a regional master plan, these issues ripple across municipal lines, causing higher infrastructure costs, longer project timelines, and potentially driving up prices for new homes that are built.
🧠 A Problem Decades in the Making
While NWA cities invested in roads, an airport, and a water supply decades ago, wastewater was left out of sight and out of mind. Now, the “day of reckoning” has arrived, with city councils scrambling to approve emergency bonds, connect to regional systems, or pause development entirely.
The newly expanded NACA plant in Highfill will offer relief, but many municipalities opted out of NACA in the 2000s, choosing to manage their own systems; these decisions now complicate unified growth.
💡 What’s Next?
The NWA Regional Planning Commission is launching a 24-month study of wastewater infrastructure to estimate the cost of upgrades, assign responsibilities by city, and propose public funding options. But until that’s complete, growth in some parts of Benton and Washington counties may slow not because demand has softened, but because the pipes can’t keep up.
If you're a homebuilder, investor, or buyer looking at new construction, this is a trend to watch. Sewer access may become a differentiator and a premium.
🗒️ Republished in part from:
“Water, sewer building a hot subject around here,” by Jordan P. Hickey for the Arkansas Advocate (June 6, 2025)
Full article available here.
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Luxury Sales of the Week
Benton & Washington County
🏡 Estate home in Talamore
📍 11349 Pembrook Circle, Bentonville, AR 72712
💰 Sales price: $1,690,000
🤝 Represented by:
• Seller’s agent: Lauren Boozman Northey & Dee Rhodes, Portfolio Sotheby's International Realty
• Buyer’s agent: The Limbird Team, Limbird Real Estate Group
🏡 Executive home in Clear Creek
📍 4486 Caddo Lane, Fayetteville, AR 72704
💰 Sales price: $1,625,000
🤝 Represented by:
• Seller’s agent: Melanie Gabel, Gabel Realty
• Buyer’s agent: Tracy Wheeler, Collier & Associates
Desiree Stock
Leadership in Action
Leadership Tip of the Week: Don’t Rely on Motivation... Rely on Your Calendar
High-level leaders don’t wait for motivation to strike. They create momentum by building structure into their day. The most productive teams aren’t fueled by hype; systems fuel them.
📆 The shift:
Stop saying, “I’ll get to it when I can.”
Start saying, “It’s on the calendar, so it gets done.”
Here’s what effective leadership looks like in practice:
- Time-block your top priorities every single week
- Schedule accountability check-ins—even with yourself
- Treat your calendar as a commitment, not a suggestion
✨ Motivation is fleeting. Structure is sustainable.
If it matters, schedule it and protect it like your business depends on it. Because it does.
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Featured Listing
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Featured Weekend Events
Eureka Springs Jazz Weekend
First Friday Bentonville - Capital of Cool
Tontitown Grape Festival
Tontitown Grape Festival
Art Trail at Night
Upcoming Events
- Tontitown Grape Festival – August 5-9
- Soar NWA Hot Air Balloon Festival (August 15–16, 2025)
- Jonas Brothers - Greetings From Your Hometown Tour – August 30
- LPGA Walmart NW Arkansas Championship – September 15–21
- Fayetteville Music Cities Convention and Awards - September 16-18
- Bike Blues and BBQ - October 1-4 2025
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