Hot Springs aims for Lake Ouachita water pact by year’s end

HOT SPRINGS — City Manager David Watkins said he is optimistic that an agreement with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers can by completed by the end of the year for a water allocation from Lake Ouachita.

“Right now the Mid- Arkansas Water Alliance, the city of Hot Springs and the North Garland County Water District are working with the Corps on the agreement for the allocation — What does it cost? When do we pay for it? — and all the participants in MAWA will be given an opportunity to say yea or nay and then that agreement will be sent back to D. C.,” Watkins said.

However, a lot of things have to go into the agreement, which is basically just an agreement to be able to purchase the water, Watkins said, noting that a decision to locate an intake in Lake Ouachita will also involve dealing with the U. S. Forest Service and other issues that can extend the time frame before water is actually available.

“I think our goal, as we’ve said from Day One, is to purchase the water storage that we’ve applied for — about 15.75 million gallons a day — from Lake Ouachita.

Watkins said big strides were made on the issue of getting water from DeGray Lake a couple of months ago when he, Mayor Ruth Carney, Deputy City Manager Bill Burrough and City Directors Randy Fale and Richard Ramick traveled to Washington, D. C., and met with U. S. Sens. John Boozman, R- Ark., and Tom Cotton, R- Ark., and the staff for U. S. Rep. Bruce Westerman, R- Ark.

Watkins said one of the sticking points with taking water from DeGray Lake was whether the water would come from the main pool, where the city would have to pay foregone benefits for it, or from the re- regulation pool, where that requirement would not apply, but there may be times when that water would be unavailable.

That issue may be resolved because one of the options the city has found in previous agreements is the ability to “pump- back,” which means that when the water goes through the turbines and into the re- regulation pool, the turbines can be reversed and pump it back.

“There is no water utility in the country that has an intake in the re- reg pool at a Corps facility, and the state of Arkansas would not give us a permit to locate an intake because other more positive options are available, so that was a sticking point I think we’ve moved past,” Watkins said.

He said the city is working with the Corps to “come up with a number” because there are energy costs associated with reversing the turbines.

“We’re working with Entergy Arkansas Inc. and indirectly through the Corps with Southwest Power Administration in Tulsa to determine how that is to be done, when it’s to be done and what to pay,” he said.

While progress has been made on both fronts, Watkins said once an agreement is signed for DeGray “we’re ready to go, whereas on Lake Ouachita, once we get an agreement signed, that would be the first of many steps to get to that [ intake] site.”

“So the preferred option is still DeGray Lake because you only have one major hurdle to overcome with the federal government. Then we have the purchase of the right of way and easements but in that particular location a lot of the right of way goes through one property owner with whom we’ve been discussing this, so that’s a positive for DeGray,” he said.

Regardless of the progress, Watkins said the city is “years away” from having a plant operating on either lake.

“I don’t want people to forget that while we’ve been deluged [ with water] this spring, it doesn’t take much to go back into drought conditions. And when we get a big watershed event like we’re having and the Corps keeps water impounded [ in Lake Ouachita] to avoid flooding Lake Hamilton, there is no water to flush out upper Lake Hamilton and all the rainwater that comes in below Blakely Mountain Dam is causing the water up there to be muddy, which creates real problems with our filters at the treatment plant.

“We’re making some improvements at the treatment plant, but we’ll always have that issue. However, it won’t be quite as extreme. We want to keep pointing out to the public that it is imperative that we get another major [ raw water] feed from a different direction. If we have a plant off Highway 290, then we could feed the system from that direction, if needed,” Watkins said.