EPISODE 1
Fats, Oils, Grease (“FOG”)… A Partnership that Protects Our Shared Sewer System
Summary: Our inaugural guest was asked a simple question: “Did you find water, or did water find you?” While his path into the industry may have started by following the girl of his dreams, more than 17 years later, he has built a career he is passionate about, and he got the girl, too.
In this episode, Zach Crumpler, LRWRA’s FOG Specialist, gives an inside look at managing fats, oils, and grease in Little Rock. He explains how the relationships he builds with food service establishments help prevent costly backups and protect our shared sewer system.
He shares what the job looks like in the field, along with the challenges and unexpected moments he has experienced. It may not always be glamorous, but it is essential work that supports our city.
Watch on YouTube
EPISODE 1 Transcript JEAN BLOCK: Hello, and welcome to our very first podcast. And thank you for joining us. I am Jean Block, CEO of Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority. Through this podcast, we are pulling back the curtain on the work that our utility does every day to protect public health, support our community, and keep things flowing behind the scenes. This podcast is about real conversations, real challenges, and the people doing the work.
Today, we are talking about something that impacts every restaurant and food service establishment in the City of Little Rock — and that’s fats, oils, and grease. Our guest is at the center of it all, and incidentally, he is a person who brings great energy wherever he is. Let’s get into it.
JEAN BLOCK: Zach, first of all, welcome and thank you for being our first guest on the inaugural utility podcast. I couldn’t be more excited to sit down with you.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Me too. I’m really excited to be here, and I appreciate the platform to talk about this, because I think we’re doing something really special and unique, and I appreciate the opportunity to share our method with everybody.
JEAN BLOCK: Good, good, good. So tell us your name, but also tell us your role in a sentence that would make someone listening say, “Wait, that’s a real job?”
ZACH CRUMPLER: I am Zach Crumpler. I am the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority FOG Specialist — that’s F-O-G as in fats, oils, grease. And I make sure that all of the restaurants and food service establishments have grease interceptors and maintain those grease interceptors.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay, okay. We’re going to get into a little bit more about what a grease interceptor is. But before we do — did you find water, or did water find you?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Man, I have an incredible story about how I ended up here.
JEAN BLOCK: We got to hear it.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Okay, so I’ve actually been around this utility since I was about 15 years old. It all started like most great stories start. I had a crush on a girl in high school, and I could never really get any face time with her because she was always at work. Her grandparents owned a janitorial service that cleaned for this utility, and the only way I could get around her was if they would hire me and let me come and clean with them.
So I did that. He didn’t even pay me at first. He paid me in cheeseburgers. I would get to eat between buildings that we cleaned and stuff, but it was totally worth it. We’re still together to this day, so —
JEAN BLOCK: My goodness.
ZACH CRUMPLER: The utility has just provided so much for me.
JEAN BLOCK: So you got the girl, and you got the job, and you got a career in water.
ZACH CRUMPLER: And everything. That’s right.
JEAN BLOCK: My goodness. So is it safe to say that at no point you thought your career would include conversations about grease?
ZACH CRUMPLER: I mean, it never began that way, but pretty early on, once I got here, I understood that that was just such a paramount issue. Fats, oils, and greases — it’s a problem. And we spend a lot of time dealing with the aftermath and trying to prevent it. So it’s just an important topic.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay. All right, well, so when someone asks you what you do, what is your go-to explanation of fats, oils, and grease?
ZACH CRUMPLER: It’s a lot. The 30,000-foot flyover is just maintaining your grease traps and making sure that you’re getting those pumped out. But really, we see everything from the very beginning, from when they submit plans for a new building.
JEAN BLOCK: Who’s they?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Engineers, architects, businesses that are moving into Little Rock and looking for a site. We meet them right at the front end and make sure that their plumbing is good, their grease interceptor is sized accordingly, and set all that up on the front end if we can. And of course on the back end, the people that are already out there, we’re talking to the restaurant owners and kitchen staff. We’re talking to the grease trap pumping services, where we have a really good relationship with those guys and understanding their workload and where they’re going to be.
I try to navigate all of that, and pacify people when I need to — and enforcement when that’s necessary. But a lot of it was just trying to create a culture where everybody wanted to do what we wanted them to do. We wanted to make it a good idea, not just a punishment or “else,” you know?
JEAN BLOCK: Absolutely.
ZACH CRUMPLER: We wanted this to be a good idea. But that’s really what I’m doing. I’m facilitating that conversation between everybody so that it always works.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay, all right. Give us a day in the life. What does an average day look like for you, and what are you managing on a day-to-day basis?
ZACH CRUMPLER: So it’s kind of all over the place. This morning, actually, I got a phone call at 6:00 this morning from one of the pumpers because they start really early, and they were asking questions about where they were going and what to expect when they got there and how to properly report what’s happening.
And so I deal with that stuff twenty-four seven, because their schedule is all over the place. So I need to be available when they need me. But I’m also dealing with the plan submittals like I talked about, with engineers and architects that are submitting plans for new structures, any remodels and things that are going on.
We’re doing inspections out in the field — which, by the way, I can’t go any further without giving credit to our team. I have a great supervisor that really lets me just do what I think is right. He gives me a lot of freedom there. And the inspectors that are out doing the — they’re popping manholes, checking recent pump outs. For anybody that’s non-compliant according to their time stamp, if it’s been over 90 days, we go and check and make sure: do you need to be pumped out or not? They’re doing that stuff boots on the ground every day. And I really need to make sure that they’re appreciated for what they’re doing out there.
JEAN BLOCK: Absolutely. Give them a shout out for sure.
ZACH CRUMPLER: They’re doing that stuff. And then I do the focused things, like if there is somebody that is being a problem or doesn’t understand why this is necessary, I’ll go meet with them one-on-one and try to get on the same page with them. A lot of times it’s not defiance — it’s a lack of understanding, or it’s survival.
JEAN BLOCK: And you’re just bringing clarity. They’re focused on running their business and want to do right, and you’re just there to really kind of steer them, it sounds like.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s right. These are type A survival personalities. It’s defiant in a way, because they’re against all odds and they’re still trying to open a business in one of the most competitive markets, probably in the country, because we have 984 food service establishments in Little Rock.
JEAN BLOCK: I did not know that.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s a lot. And so to open one up that’s competitive, you’ve got to be just driven. And so I can’t go and kick the front door in and say, “I said no,” you know? You can’t do that. You have to understand — what are you facing? What are you dealing with here?
And that has just made our program so successful as far as the compliance that we wanted. We’re seeing that because we’re out having conversations. We’re not just taping fines to doors. We’re talking to people.
JEAN BLOCK: Well, initially at the start, you talked about creating a culture, and what I’m hearing is creating a culture of partnership.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s right. Yes, that was a big deal. When they launched the program, that was the three-ring binder that I was handed. It was like, “Do this.” And that was one of the biggest things — we want to create a partnership between us and the pumpers and the restaurants, so that everyone understands what we’re doing.
JEAN BLOCK: So, what is the most unexpected thing that you’ve had to explain to somebody about grease? Like a moment where you thought, “I cannot believe that I am saying this out loud.”
ZACH CRUMPLER: So there’s a few things that come to mind. I would say that the most common conversation that I have is when I’m telling someone they need to put in a grease interceptor, they say, “Well, I don’t even fry anything. I don’t cook anything. I’m just making sandwiches,” or “I’m just making coffee,” or something like that.
And having to explain that — grease interceptor is kind of a misnomer. It’s really any food waste that gets washed off of plates or comes through the dishwasher or goes down a floor drain or something like that. So it’s just how you clean up. It’s not necessarily what you’re cooking — it’s how you’re cleaning. And that gets into a whole other can of worms.
The best kitchen management practices came from that. How do we prevent things from going down the drain? But having to explain that to people — “Well, I’m just a coffee shop. I don’t even fry anything. So what?” Well, you do pour milk and sugar and cream down the drain all day long for 12 hours a day. So that accumulates. That does add up. And so it educates a lot of people on what their contribution to the collection system really is.
JEAN BLOCK: Well, on that point, talk for a moment about what’s the why behind the FOG program. What are we trying to protect in the system? What is the danger of that cream and sugar going down the drain?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Without a grease interceptor, the fats, oils, and grease settle out really early in your system, and it may not even make it to our collection system. It’s more than likely going to back up in your service line. And as soon as that happens, when you have a commercial kitchen that’s just putting hundreds of gallons of water down that drain really quick, it can back up.
And the result is so devastating, so quickly, that it can really just ruin your whole kitchen. And then all of a sudden you’re trying to run a business and you’ve got — I mean, imagine 50 gallons of sewer. Well, that’s ten five-gallon buckets of sewer that you just poured into your kitchen floor and all over the carpeting or whatever.
So that’s what we’re trying to prevent. We’re trying to prevent the structural damage, the things that are just expensive to repair, but also backups and overflows in the environment. When a manhole lid blows off because you’ve been sitting there pumping fats, oils, and grease into the collection system, that backs up — it can lead to an overflow in the environment.
It can lead to overflows for other people that aren’t even involved in that. They didn’t do anything wrong, but now they’re having a backup in their business. We’re trying to prevent a lot of that. The devastation is really an order of magnitude greater than just getting a pump out, you know. It’s an easy thing to avoid — but you’ve got to know.
JEAN BLOCK: Really what I’m hearing is that grease interceptors and the FOG protections that we’re trying to put in place are as much for the benefit of the restaurant and the service industry as they are for our collection system and our sewer system.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s exactly right. And that’s the point that we try to get across to the restaurant owners — that I am not your punishment. Your punishment is not doing this. And when it backs up while you have customers in the restaurant, you’re going to wish you had done this, you know? So that’s our biggest effort. And that’s really been the biggest success — once we explain that, once we have that conversation, it’s just an “aha” moment all the way around, and it’s been working.
JEAN BLOCK: Good, good. Well, speaking of successes, is there a satisfying win that you can describe or share?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Oh man, yes. So I’ve got to be careful how I talk about this, but I’ll leave out all the names and all the details. I had a guy that I was really badgering — I was hassling him about getting his grease trap pumped. We went out and we inspected, just part of our routine stuff. His due date came and went, and I went out there. My goal was to go out there and see — if he doesn’t need one, I’m not going to make him get one, you know, I’ll do you a favor. Well, I got out there and he needed a pump out bad. And so I told him, “Hey, you need a pump out.” And he’s like, “Man, I’ll get around to it, you know? I’ll let you know.”
Okay. So I come back. “You really need to get this pumped out.” And before long, this quickly turned into an adversarial —
JEAN BLOCK: Uh-oh.
ZACH CRUMPLER: “What are you doing here again?”
JEAN BLOCK: Right, right.
ZACH CRUMPLER: “I told you I would take care of it,” blah blah blah blah. Well, the last time I went there — I think I went there four times — the last time that I went there, he was like, “What are you going to do about it?” And I said, “Man, your punishment is coming. It’s not going to be me. Your punishment is on its way if you don’t get this done.”
A few — maybe two or three days later — I get a phone call from maintenance just letting me know there’s an overflow. “You might want to get out here.” So I head out there, and the news is there.
JEAN BLOCK: Oh, no.
ZACH CRUMPLER: The city code enforcement is there, and that guy is standing on the side of the building, and he’s smoking a cigarette, he’s so mad. He’s just so irritated. And I walked up and I just let my presence kind of be there, you know. I was like, “Ooh, what are we going to do?”
And he’s just so mad. And he looked at me and said, “I bet you’re loving this.” And I said, “Well, if only someone had told you how to avoid this.” And it just — oh, it was such a beautiful one. I just walked away. I went away on that one. I knew he was going to get this handled now, going to get that grease —
JEAN BLOCK: And you’ve never had any issues with him again, have you?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Never. No. We made a believer out of that guy that day.
JEAN BLOCK: I hate that it took that.
ZACH CRUMPLER: I got a call maybe an hour later from one of the pumpers, and he was asking about that interceptor — asking about the maintenance and what to expect and all that. And they set him up on a contract, like a scheduled maintenance from that day forward. And that’s been years ago. And they are still compliant.
JEAN BLOCK: Perfect.
ZACH CRUMPLER: They have not broken stride since then. Because it really is — I mean, that’s the proof right there. It’s devastating. So bad.
JEAN BLOCK: Costly, time-consuming in our business.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Yeah. That’s right, that’s right.
JEAN BLOCK: So, people may not realize how much of your job is about data collection and reporting. And our program — your program — has been recognized nationally as number one in reporting. So, first of all, congratulations. Thank you. And tell us about that.
ZACH CRUMPLER: So we didn’t even know that. We just asked the question because we kind of needed to know a metric to measure ourselves against. What’s a reasonable target, you know? When we first got this software and we started putting all the data in, they told us, “You’ll be lucky if you get 80% compliance.”
JEAN BLOCK: The data on?
ZACH CRUMPLER: On manifesting and inspections. Basically, that’s how our compliance is measured — have we received a manifest, or have you received a passing inspection? That determines your compliance. And that software manages that. You can see who’s non-compliant and who’s compliant, and you’re just chasing after all those non-compliant ones, kind of letting the guys that are doing good, leave them alone.
But our initial target was 80%, and we just blew right past that. And we ended up getting through this — this revolutionary idea of just cooperating with the restaurant owners. We ended up — I think we peaked at 94% a couple summers ago. And it ebbs and flows every day, so it’s hard to keep track of. But I spotted that one, and so I called and asked, “How are we doing?” And they said, “Well, let me — you’re number one right now. You’re the number one.”
JEAN BLOCK: Amazing.
ZACH CRUMPLER: So I ran around and told everybody that. “Just so you know, we’re number one.” And we celebrated that, and we just kept doing what we were doing. But it was confirmation that we don’t have to have this adversarial relationship in the community. We don’t have to be the grease police. We can go out and explain ourselves, and we can get buy-in, because this is a good idea. It really is a good idea.
So the results are just what they are. And it’s really a collaborative effort. It’s not just me — it’s all of the team. But they make that possible, and they do it every day. If you’re a FOG program and you’re struggling with that, go out there and get in the trenches with the people that are dealing with this, and find out what the problem is. Because it’s probably easy to fix.
JEAN BLOCK: Yeah. And you know, we keep coming back to this theme of partnership. I know you go out and speak with plumbers and even students in the local culinary school?
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s right, that’s right.
JEAN BLOCK: Talk about that.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Oh man, I had such a great — so it’s funny because I argued with my supervisor about this. He told me, “It’d be a really good idea to go talk to these students at the culinary program.” And I was like, “These are just going to be chefs. They’re not the ones writing checks for the grease trap. I never talked to the chefs.”
And he kept kind of insisting and pushing me that way. And so I just said, “Okay, I’ll set something up.” So I started doing that with Pulaski Tech over here, and meeting with all the students. Well, of course, I had to eat a big plate of culinary arts school crow, because a few years later, one of the students calls in and is asking about opening a restaurant. And she wants to know about her grease interceptor, because “this guy came and talked to my classroom” —
JEAN BLOCK: Years ago.
ZACH CRUMPLER: And I was just like, “Oh my gosh.”
JEAN BLOCK: That’s incredible.
ZACH CRUMPLER: I was like, “Oh, well, now I’ve got to keep doing that.”
JEAN BLOCK: I love it.
ZACH CRUMPLER: But every everybody that you talk to, as soon as you get them on board with it, it’s such an easy concept to grasp. We got one more follower that way.
JEAN BLOCK: Probably several more.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Right, right. I mean, it has an impact.
JEAN BLOCK: Yeah, absolutely.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Doing big things.
JEAN BLOCK: So what is your hot take on something that you see all the time in kitchens or businesses that you wish would go out of style — or like, stop?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Man, you don’t want a garbage disposal in your commercial kitchen.
JEAN BLOCK: Ah!
ZACH CRUMPLER: That is permission to put anything down the drain. Okay? Don’t do that.
JEAN BLOCK: Don’t do it.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Because a grease interceptor is exactly that — it intercepts all the grease and food waste. So anything that you put down the drain, you’re not going to mulch it up small enough to where it gets through. It’s going to still stop at the grease interceptor. And people get pretty cavalier when they have a garbage disposal.
JEAN BLOCK: Throw it in.
ZACH CRUMPLER: They’re throwing everything down there. “I don’t want to have to scrape this out and do all this stuff.” So I wish that those would go away, because it just creates bad habits. We talked about the best kitchen management practices, and one of the biggest things that we harp on is dump all the stuff in the trash, wipe it out with a rag, throw that away, prevent stuff from getting down the drain. And then the grease trap doesn’t fill up that fast. And then I can adjust your maintenance frequencies. Where you’re buying — I guess it’d be — you’re going to get it every two months or every three months.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Standard. If you’ve got a good kitchen management practice going on, I can push that out to maybe every four months or every six months or something like that. I mean, that really hits your bottom line, too. That’s still a whole lot cheaper than getting your lines jetted and fixing the garbage disposal. And people put too much down there. So when I see them on a set of plans, I don’t even —
JEAN BLOCK: Just take it out.
ZACH CRUMPLER: I just call them. “Hey, delete that. You’re going to appreciate this later.”
JEAN BLOCK: Right, right, right.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That would be one.
JEAN BLOCK: So, similarly, if you could wave a magic wand and get one behavior changed from every kitchen in Little Rock, what would it be?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Probably the other conversation that I have just as much as the garbage disposal conversation — people want to put their grease interceptor inside, because they’ve got a footprint that they want to maintain, and they’ve got an exterior curb appeal that they’re trying to maintain. And I would encourage anybody that’s considering that to just go anywhere and open a grease interceptor and just let that hit you. Because it is shocking. It really —
JEAN BLOCK: And that one whiff will convince them.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s right. That’s right. Especially if you’re going in a strip mall, everyone in your building wishes that you would not put that inside. You’re dragging hoses across your floor into the kitchen, and it’s a real messy process. And you don’t want that happening inside, because that stuff’s supposed to stay in there. We’re trying to prevent overflows and stuff. You don’t want it in your building. That’s the whole point.
JEAN BLOCK: So yeah, I’ll never forget — one morning I was working out over near the Clinton Library, and it was about six in the morning, and a pump out was occurring. At the time, I didn’t know what it was. Until I got this aroma. And then I got started working here, and I realized what in the world I was smelling. So absolutely, they don’t want to have their interceptor inside —
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s right.
JEAN BLOCK: — with that process and the aroma.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s right. It’s shocking. I’ve got to find a better way to say this, but I’ve been on the phone with someone trying to convince me of that, and in my head I’m just like, “This is all I do. What are the odds that you’re right and I’m wrong?”
JEAN BLOCK: Can we take a field trip? Can I just show you —
ZACH CRUMPLER: “You need to trust me on this.” Yeah. So I’ll come up with a better way to put that. But I’m always like, “Man, you’re going to want to listen to me on this one, you know?”
JEAN BLOCK: Just trust me. Just trust me.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Just trust me.
JEAN BLOCK: So as we begin to wrap up, we’re going to switch things up, and I’ve got some rapid-fire questions for you.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Oh, man. Okay, here we go.
JEAN BLOCK: So what is your most-used text emoji?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Oh man. It’s this one. The eye roll emoji. Because I text my wife and my daughters primarily, and that’s how we kind of sass each other. So that’s probably my most used. I know it is.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay. So I know that you are a man of several talents, so this might be a hard one, but what hobby are you enjoying most right now?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Oh man, I play guitar. I like to make music just for me, where no one can hear it — alone, out of the way. And I like to do that. I do Brazilian jiu-jitsu, which is something that I would have never thought would be something I would do, because it’s not in my personality at all. But I sort of just haphazardly ended up in a class by accident. I thought it was like a Tae Bo kickboxing class. I didn’t know that someone was going to grab me and strangle me —
JEAN BLOCK: Hello!
ZACH CRUMPLER: — and I was going to be begging for my life. But it ended up being so much fun. I would encourage everybody to try it.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay!
ZACH CRUMPLER: You’ve got to just try it.
JEAN BLOCK: Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
ZACH CRUMPLER: It’s my favorite thing.
JEAN BLOCK: I want to see if I can find a class. So, are you a planner or are you spontaneous?
ZACH CRUMPLER: I like to make it look like I’m spontaneous, but I meticulously plan everything. I plan it so well so that the spontaneity seems sincere.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay. Fair enough.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s the illusion. I like to give that illusion.
JEAN BLOCK: Okay, okay. And last one — favorite way to spend a Sunday afternoon?
ZACH CRUMPLER: Man, my wife and my kids and whoever they’ve got with them — we will go to Cane’s and then we will go to Andy’s, and we get chicken fingers, and we sit around a table and we just yap for as long as it takes —
JEAN BLOCK: Nice.
ZACH CRUMPLER: — until everybody feels satisfied.
JEAN BLOCK: Nice.
ZACH CRUMPLER: And then we go hit the drive-through at the ice cream place, and I’m a fan. They know me there.
JEAN BLOCK: It’s the best when they know you.
ZACH CRUMPLER: It’s kind of embarrassing to have a relationship with it, but —
JEAN BLOCK: No, it’s the best.
ZACH CRUMPLER: And they’re like, “Hey, it’s you.” And you’re like, “Yeah, it’s me. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
JEAN BLOCK: Same order every week.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Generally, it’s whatever their little promotional is for the month. I’m getting that one before — while supplies last.
JEAN BLOCK: I love it.
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s one way to get me, you know.
JEAN BLOCK: That’s great. That’s great. Zach, thank you so much.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Thank you.
JEAN BLOCK: Thank you for joining me, and for all the work that you and your team are doing as part of the FOG program, and really to protect our system.
ZACH CRUMPLER: Absolutely.
JEAN BLOCK: We appreciate you. And if people want to learn more, I believe they can find information on our website. Is that right?
ZACH CRUMPLER: That’s right. I think there’s a FOG tab, so you can get right over to it.
JEAN BLOCK: Perfect, perfect.
JEAN BLOCK: Stay tuned for our Quick Hits segment with students from the Clinton School of Public Service highlighting their research on public perceptions of water reuse.
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QUICK HITS: Clinton School of Public Service
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GRACE MADDOX: Hello. My name is Grace Maddox.
ABBIE ASHER: I’m Abbie Asher.
HUNTER MOFFETT: And I’m Hunter Moffett.
GRACE MADDOX: We’re graduate students from the Clinton School of Public Service. We started working with the Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority in August of last year to aid in their efforts of water stewardship through water reuse.
ABBIE ASHER: Arkansas is a water-rich state, so there’s no crisis on the horizon. But water stewardship isn’t just about responding to emergencies — it’s about making responsible decisions before they become urgent. Little Rock’s drinking water comes entirely from two surface water reservoirs, Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona, which could become vulnerable to prolonged drought. Non-potable water reuse is a way for the city to diversify that supply and protect the community long-term.
LRWRA wanted to know: are residents on board?
We surveyed over 100 Little Rock residents and held three focus groups. Here’s what surprised us the most. 80% of respondents said they support water reuse in Little Rock. That’s a clear majority, even without any urgent water shortage driving the conversation. Respondents didn’t just tolerate the idea — they called it logical and praised the utility for being proactive.
Support was highest for industrial and construction uses at about 79%. And support was above 69% for all other non-drinking use types that we asked about.
When we asked why people supported it, the most common answer was the environment. People said it would be most acceptable simply if it was better for the environment.
Despite high acceptance rates, residents still had health and safety concerns. People were worried about treatment failures or children accidentally coming into contact with reuse in public spaces such as fountains. Many also raised concerns about long-term environmental effects and the cost of new infrastructure.
That leads us to our next finding. 67% of respondents said that they trust LRWRA, but that trust came with a condition. Residents want transparency.
One focus group participant put it plainly, saying, “I can’t just automatically give them full confidence unless I know there’s some sort of plan and what to expect.”
So our recommendations to LRWRA centered on just that: building and maintaining public trust through civic forums, facility tours, social media education, and clear communication campaigns.
Our sample indicated that the support is there. Now it is about maintaining that support and seeing what other residents think.
Thanks for listening. To read the paper, executive summary, or watch our presentation to the LRWRA Board of Commissioners, go to www.LRWRA.com.
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JEAN BLOCK: Thank you for tuning in to our first podcast. We’ll continue these quarterly, and as we do, I look forward to bringing you more like this — highlighting the talented and passionate people of Little Rock Water Reclamation Authority and the work that they’re doing that keeps our community moving. Until next time.