Water Conservation Board discusses Great Lakes Solutions issues
EL DORADO — The Union County Water Conservation Board discussed difficulties the board has encountered with Great Lakes Solutions on Wednesday in El Dorado.
Board member Les Chandler joined the group via phone to discuss the situation and grants and special projects manager Sherrel Johnson explained the origins of the problems to the board.
In 2004, Great Lakes entered into an agreements to begin using the Ouchita River Water Supply.
According to Johnson, Great Lakes’ use of river water dramatically dropped in 2008. The company had bankruptcy protection, and once they emerged from bankruptcy, they did not increase their river water consumption.
In 2012, they did, however, pay their debt to the board of about $16,000. Johnson said she met last week with Great Lakes’ site manager, the central plant manager, and the manager of public relations, land operations and government affairs to discuss river water usage.
According to a memo from Great Lakes, the effort of using river water has been re-energized at the central facility. The memo states “we are forecasting a reconnection to the Ouchita River Water in late August 2016 or early September 2016 if the system testing proceeds as expected.”
Great Lakes expects connection to the plant to be completed by Sept. 5.
“Once reconnected, we anticipate an optimization process in the ramping-up of the Ouchita River Water Supply which will be utilized at the Great Lakes Solution Central facility,” according to the memo.
Chandler does not feel that Great Lakes “is in good faith making the effort” to go back on river water usage.
“Taxpayers are not getting their monies worth,” Chandler said. “Taxpayers spent a lot of money to put the water line in out to Great Lakes. And it’s sitting there almost not being used.”
Chandler made a motion to give Great Lakes a deadline of Sept. 5 to begin using the river water. If they do not follow through, Great Lakes will be charged a 96 cents on every 1,000 gallons conservation fee until they get on the river water system.
The board moved to table Chandler’s proposal until the meeting on Oct. 19 to give the company an opportunity to follow the prior timeline they created to begin using river water.
Representatives from Great Lakes will also be in attendance.
Johnson also announced U.S. Senator Boozman has authored provisions
concerning the Ouchita-Black Rivers System to the Water Resources Development Act of 2016.
The provision will determine the sensibility of expanding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers purpose in the water system to include water supply and bank stabilization. By adding to the Corps concerns about the Ouchita-Black Rivers, the water supply benefits will be considered when making project management decisions. Bank stabilization is also beneficial as it improves water quality and makes maintenance of navigation channels on the rivers easier.
“The bipartisan bill will strengthen the waterway infrastructure that Arkansas farmers and factories need to move their goods to market, creating more economic opportunities and jobs for hardworking Arkansans,” Boozman states in a news release.
According to Johnson, the bill is still in its beginning stages, but it has the opportunity to make an impact on the area.
Johnson discussed how the budget difficulties in Louisiana are impacting the UCWCB. Either the frequency of well monitoring may change in Louisiana or the monitoring budget may increase.
The board will approve a new monitoring budget in October which will determine water testing schedules in Louisiana.
Additionally, Pete Parks, secretary and treasurer of the Board, gave an update on the El Dorado Chemical Expansion. The plant has begun taking water and recently installed a new meter rather than upgrade their only one.