Easements secured for water project
The city’s finance department said
44 disbursements totaling $44,210 have been debited from the $300,000 restricted fund the Hot Springs Board of Directors established in May 2019 for easement acquisitions for raw and finished waterlines for the Lake Ouachita water supply project.
Easements recorded earlier this month included some for the finished waterline that will circulate potable water from the 15 million-gallon a day treatment plant the city will build on Little Mazarn Road. An easement through the parcel on the more than
30-acre plant site’s northeast border was recorded July 2. Easements to the south and east in the Albright Road area were also recorded for the finished
water line.
Crist Engineers, the Little Rock firm awarded the $5.26 million contract to design and oversee the supply project, has said building the plant about 20 miles south of the intake that will be built above Blakely Mountain Dam will improve hydraulics in a distribution system that sprawls across 145 square miles.
Crist said having a plant at the southern end of the system will lower water age for customers on the south and east ends, as the city’s two treatment plants are on the northwest and north ends of the service area.
An easement on Timberlake Drive, north of where the raw waterline will cross Mazarn Creek, was recorded last month.
The raw waterline will cross Lake Hamilton in the Treasure Isle Road area, according to the request for qualifications the city issued last month to contractors interested in bidding on the borings for the lake and creek crossings. Easements recorded in March and April in the Treasure Isle area on Mary Reed and Ben streets are near the proposed lake crossing.
Easements recorded in March in the True Grit Lane and Old Bear Road area are south of where the RFQ showed the line turning due south at the west side of the lake crossing.
According to the RFQ, the city established a $19 million budget for the creek and lake borings, Lake Ouachita intake and 5-foot diameter tunnel 300 feet underneath Blakely Mountain. The tunnel will connect the intake to the raw waterline and allow water to gravity flow from the intake to the plant on Little Mazarn Road, the city has said. According to the RFQ schedule, it closed July 10. Next week the city will narrow the respondents to a shortlist of contractors it considers qualified to submit proposals for the project.
The $106 million in proceeds from the bond issue the city board authorized in June was deposited earlier this month into a construction fund that will pay for the supply project’s infrastructure. The city has said it expects to have its 23 million gallon average day allocation from Lake Ouachita coming out of taps by 2022.