NW Arkansas water needs set for years

Planners keep on top of it, say reliable drinking supply key to growth

Northwest Arkansas residents should be able to rely on an abundant water supply for years to come as local governments and water suppliers constantly update plans to handle the area’s growth.

“Water is the key to everything,” according to Rob Smith, communications director for the Northwest Arkansas Council. “We’re growing at a rate of 27 people a day, and that’s going to mean more housing, more industry, more businesses. Having a reliable source of water is the key to all that.”

Smith said water infrastructure is recognized as a crucial element of growth nationwide. He pointed to a study done for the Washington, D.C., area the council is eyeing as a model for a similar study for Northwest Arkansas.

Phil Mendelson, chairman of the board of directors of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, said planning for the future is vital.

“Infrastructure is usually under-appreciated until something goes wrong,” Mendelson wrote in the study. “We want transportation to run smoothly, electricity and natural gas to turn on when we flip the switch, water to flow when we turn on the tap, clear communications in an emergency, and first-class public buildings.”

Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, said Northwest Arkansas’ growth presents challenges in areas including water and sewer infrastructure, housing and transportation. He said water suppliers have done a good job of estimating the growth and planning for it.

“Water is probably in better shape than anything,” Hawkins said.

Population estimates published each March by the U.S. Census Bureau identify the Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers Metropolitan Statistical Area as one of the nation’s fastest-growing regions. The area includes Benton, Washington and Madison counties and McDonald County, Mo.

The population increased about 27 people a day from the April 2010 Census to July 2016, according to a report from the Northwest Arkansas Council. The population was near 525,000 in July 2016, and it’s now likely to be near 536,000. Hawkins said Benton and Washington counties are expected to keep growing, with projections showing 802,000 residents by 2040.

With that kind of growth, it’s important that planning be done well in advance, according to Larry Lloyd, chief operating officer for the Beaver Water District.

“If we see a need, for example, for a treatment plant expansion, we know we’ve got to have the preliminary engineering and design work done,” Lloyd said. “We have to plan for construction and financing. A project that substantial we probably need from six to 10 years lead time. So, if I know I’m going to need something like that I’d really better be starting 10 years before the need will be here.”

Lloyd said the water district has a plan for more than 20 years into the future. Adopted in 2015, the plan lists $154.9 million of capital improvement, from new intake pumps and pump replacements to a 40 million gallon per day treatment plant expansion in 2031, a planned western corridor main in 2031 and a western corridor pump station in 2032. A raw water main is planned for 2036.

The history of the Beaver Water District stretches back more than 50 years, with a group of Rogers businessmen promoting the idea of a dam on the White River as early as the 1930s, according to information from the district’s website. Before the development of Beaver Lake and the water district, cities relied on springs, wells, small lakes and other local water sources.

District history shows the Beaver Dam Association formed shortly after World War II to promote construction on the White River southwest of Eureka Springs. Congress authorized a dam for flood control, hydroelectric power and other uses by 1954, but the project didn’t move forward because the Corps of Engineers couldn’t demonstrate a sufficient cost-benefit ratio based on these uses.

“That’s when Arkansas’ congressional delegation took decisive action that would change Northwest Arkansas history. These forward-thinking leaders pushed for a national Water Supply Act which would include municipal water supply as a beneficial use,” according to district history. “Finally, in 1958, this historic act recognized that the federal government needed to play a role in the development of water supplies. With the stroke of a pen, reauthorization of the construction of Beaver Dam had been accomplished, with the understanding that local interests would pay the costs associated with additional storage in the lake for drinking water.”

The state Legislature in 1957 passed Act 114, which created nonprofit regional water distribution districts, and on Aug. 27, 1959, a circuit court order officially established Beaver Water District.

According to the district, Springdale made the first connection to Beaver Lake. The city proposed to Beaver Water District in 1963 that it be allowed to construct a raw waterline and water treatment plant and install raw water pumps in the district’s intake structure to supply water to the city.

However, the provision was made that when the district was ready to provide water to other cities in the area, the facilities would be transferred to the district. Construction was started in 1964, completed in mid-1966, and Springdale started taking water from Beaver Reservoir.