Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Population growth spurs water expansion
LOWELL — Water use in Northwest Arkansas is increasing and with that comes the possible expansion of water lines.
Beaver Water District will unveil a new plan this fall, updating its 2005 plan.
Beaver Water District treats water from Beaver Lake and then sells it to Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale. Those cities sell it to other cities and water customers.
The district has three treatment lines. One was finished in 1992, one in 2005 and the original plant wa s reworked in 2009. The three treatment lines have capacity for 140 million gallons of water each day, but the clearwell — where water is chlorinated — is rated for 120 million gallons of water each day.
The updated plan anticipates the need for a pipeline to supply more water to Fayetteville, more space in the clearwell, and eventually, the need for another water treatment line capable of processing 40 million gallons a day and more pipeline to carry water from Beaver Lake.
The district is the second largest water district in the state, said spokesman Amy Wilson. Based on reports from the partner cities, more than 300,000 people drink Beaver Lake water every day, she said.
Demand for water varies, said Larry Lloyd, chief operating officer of the district.
The district treated a daily average of 45.65 million gallons last year. On a summer day the district will treat more than 70 million gallons of water as people water lawns and fill pools, Lloyd said. The facility doesn’t store water. Treated water is pumped into pipelines for the cities, which store at least a day’s supply of water, Lloyd said.
Beaver Water District will unveil a new plan this fall, updating its 2005 plan.
The 2005 plan predicted the district would supply 120 million gallons of water a day by 2015 and would need to expand. The water business was growing 3 or 4 percent a month, Lloyd said. New housing subdivisions were going in, the summer was hot and business was booming. The record treatment day happened in 2006 when the plant treated more than 80 million gallons. And then demand fell. Lloyd keeps a chart with each year’s average daily demand from the cities. It peaked in 2006 and bottomed out between 2008 and 2009, depending on the city.
People are conserving water more, he said. There are new water-efficient toilets, high-efficiency washers and other fixtures reducing water demand per person.
However, water use is starting to creep back up, Lloyd said. It increases maybe 1 percent or 2 percent each month, but not the leaps it had in 2006, he said.
That could be because of an improving economy or increasing population. Demographers announced in March that Northwest Arkansas exceeded the 500,000 population mark.
The reason also could be businesses growth, Lloyd said. Industry needs water to grow, and clean water is especially critical for poultry production, Lloyd said.
Commercial developments also need water. Shopping centers are required to have green space and that space has sprinklers, Lloyd said.
As the area grows, the district must keep ahead of demand, said Alan Fortenberry, chief executive officer at the district. It could be five to 10 years between the idea for an expansion and wrapping up construction, he said.
“You always want to be ahead of that game,” Fortenberry said.
ANOTHER EXPANSION
Beaver Water District isn’t the only agency taking water from Beaver Lake that’s looking at expansion.
Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority voted in February to move ahead with a 24-inch water line following a similar path to an 18-inch line the authority has in western Washington County. The project likely will start next year and be in service by the end of 2017, said Scott Borman, authority general manager.
The authority serves most of the smaller cities from Pea Ridge to Centerton and Bella Vista to Prairie Grove, even stretching to Westville, Okla. Cities connected to the authority reported almost 31,000 water meters connected to their lines in April.
Development in western Washington County created the need for Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority’s new line project to supply areas such as Prairie Grove.
The authority, which began distributing water in 1999, operates differently than the Beaver Water District. It builds lines to carry water to customer cities, which purchase it and deliver it to homes and businesses. The regional water authority bills cities $2.15 for 1,000 gallons of treated water.
Beaver Water District hasn’t built pipelines before; instead, cities pipe water from the Lowell plant. The district bills cities $1.26 for a 1,000 gallons of treated water.
The authority can move 24 million gallons a day. When a water intake under construction on Beaver Lake is finished in the fall it will be able to move 37 million gallons.
The station would be online already, except the manufacturer needed a 43-week lead time to build the pump to lift the water from the lake.
The authority’s record-setting month was July 2012. It was hot and the authority treated 351.83 million gallons for the month, or an average of 11.7 million a day, Borman said. However, production for February, March and April this year were higher than 2012.
“Last year we set a record almost every single month,” Borman said.
Governing boards at both water agencies have discussed the need for rate increases if they expand.
FAYETTEVILLE NEEDS
Growth around Fayetteville could drive the need Beaver Water District to build a pump station. This time the district would lay the line to a central western location north of the planned U.S. 412 bypass in the area of Willis Shaw Elementary in Springdale.
There’s no timeline for the Beaver Water District expansion, Lloyd said. It depends on what Fayetteville needs.
“Pipelines have a capacity. There’s only so much you can push through them,” Lloyd said.
The route and width of Fayetteville’s lines are being decided and the city will begin buying easements, said Tim Nyander, Fayetteville utilities director.
Fayetteville has both a 42- inch supply line and a 36-inch supply line, Nyander said.
A backup line is important so if one main goes down the city still has water.
He expects the project will be built in the next 10 years.