Wynne awarded $2.6 million to rebuild city’s wastewater treatment plant after 2023 tornado

By Arkansas Delta Informer Staff

January 31, 2025 —The Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and the U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA), two key federal agencies responsible for promoting economic development and infrastructure projects, recently announced more than $6 million in investments in infrastructure projects across the Delta region, including a wastewater treatment plant in Wynne.

On Jan. 17, Wynne Water Utilities was awarded $2.6 million by the two federal agencies to rebuild the city’s wastewater treatment plant, which was destroyed by an EF3 tornado on March 31, 2023. On that day, five tornadoes devastated multiple counties in Arkansas. Two EF-3 tornadoes hit central and east Arkansas, destroying homes and causing extensive damage to businesses and infrastructure in Little Rock, North Little Rock, Jacksonville, Cabot, and Wynne. Besides the wastewater treatment facility, the tornado in Cross County also destroyed Wynne High School.

Nearly a year ago, the Arkansas Legislative Council approved a request to award the state Department of Agriculture $7 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to assist the City of Wynne with wastewater rebuilding efforts. The legislative panel stipulated that the City of Wynne would have to repay the state if any ARPA funds were duplicated with other federal monies for the wastewater project.

After the tornado, the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment issued a consent administrative order (CAO) allowing the city to use a temporary lagoon to direct wastewater flow until the construction of a new treatment plant could be completed. This temporary fix ensured the city’s wastewater management continued. According to the minutes from the January Wynne City Council meeting, the city’s water utility department will soon be taking bids to rebuild the wastewater treatment facility.

ERA and EDA officials said the grant funding will improve residents’ quality of life in the Cross County community and pave the way for significant economic growth. The fully functioning treatment plant will be a catalyst for increased economic opportunity in the area.

“The Delta Regional Authority’s ongoing partnership with the EDA allows us to work together to create opportunities that will impact communities across our Delta region,” said DRA Federal Co-Chairman Corey Wiggins. “As a result of this partnership, a significant investment has been made toward projects that aim to bolster economic development, workforce development, and business development opportunities in four communities within our DRA footprint.” 

The Jan. 17 investment was primarily provided through EDA’s Public Works and Economic Adjustment Assistance program. This funding program offers various technical, planning, public works, and infrastructure assistance in regions experiencing adverse economic changes.

The funding to the City of Wynne from the DRA and EDA, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, was awarded before President Trump took office on Jan. 20 and issued an executive order halting all federal grants. Since then, a federal judge has ordered the administration to “immediately restore frozen funding” to comply with the temporary restraining order blocking the president’s mandate.

It also remains to be seen if President Trump will include DRA among the list of federal agencies he wishes to shutter in his second term. The DRA is a federal-state partnership created by Congress in 2000 to help create jobs, build communities, and improve lives through strategic investments in economic development and infrastructure projects in 252 counties and parishes across eight Delta states, including Arkansas.

During his first term, the DRA was one of 19 independent agencies marked for closure under the Trump administration’s 2018 budget blueprint. However, most of Arkansas’s Republican congressional delegation opposed the move, and President Trump eventually backed off his budget threat.

The DRA and EDA funded two other projects, including the Louisiana Chamber of Commerce Foundation in Jefferson Parish. It was awarded $1.5 million to support its AgriAquaculture Center of Excellence, a business incubator and workforce training center that serves the rural incorporated communities in the county and is designed to increase job creation by building economic resilience for small businesses in the AgriAquaculture industry. 

Poplar Bluff, Mo., was awarded $1.9 million to improve the transportation infrastructure within the city’s industrial park. The funding will ensure safer and more reliable roadways for employees and freight trucks accessing the five manufacturing companies within the industrial park, officials said, while also attracting new economic development.