James Busbee, 77, still remembers neighbors arriving at his childhood home in Searcy County to collect and haul water from a deep well.
“All my life people around where I live have been hurting for water,” said Busbee, former mayor of Marshall, who lives about 4 miles from where he grew up.
Completion of a $72 million project to carry water from Bull Shoals Lake to an estimated 20,000 residents in Boone, Marion, Newton and Searcy counties means the people now have access to a plentiful water source without the health concerns posed by contaminants in some water systems.
Pipeline stretching 120 miles is now conveying water from Bull Shoals Lake to 16 of 18 water utilities, and the final two water systems - Deer Community Water Association and Mockingbird Hill Water Association - are due to be connected oncethe water authority receives clearance from the Arkansas Department of Health, said Andy Anderson, chairman of the board for the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority. All nine board members are volunteers.
“We’re not there yet,”Anderson said. “The original hope was to be finished last December. That did not happen. It’s been dragging, dragging, dragging. A whole bunch of things have not gone right. We’re getting real close.”
The biggest problem has been with leaks in the line, Anderson said. Water samples would pass inspection by the Health Department, and then a leak would pop up. About six weeks ago, a booster system went down that carries water up hundreds of feet from the pipeline near the Buffalo National River to Mockingbird Hill. All mechanical components are now functioning, he said.
Marshall previously relied on a spring for water, said Busbee, who was mayor from 2001 to 2010. The water was safe to drink and was sufficient during the winter, but residents had to conserve during dry periods, especially in August, September and October, he said. Residents were required to limit waterfor lawns and gardens, and commercial carwashes would have to close until the water supply was replenished.
The city is among the 16 water utilities now supplied by the Ozark Mountain authority.
Finding a more plentiful source of water was a struggle, Busbee said. A plan to supply Searcy County from a tributary off the Buffalo National River had to be abandoned in the early 2000s because of environmental concerns and objections by the National Park Service.
The switch from well water to lake water has generated some complaints about the taste, as well as some legal challenges, Busbee said.
“We’re still working on it,” Busbee said. “We’re behind schedule.”
Anderson said the lawsuits are being handled by an attorney and stem from a dispute with property owners who thought they should have received more moneyas payment for the pipeline crossing their land.
But without a plentiful supply of water, communities in Searcy County can’t grow, Busbee said.
SHORTAGES, CONTAMINANTS Water systems, especially in Newton and Searcy counties, historically relied on wells, which commonly experience shortages during summertime droughts, said Jeff Stone, director of the engineering section for the state Health Department.
Some of the water systems also had wells with naturally occurring contaminants that don’t cause an immediate health concern. However, radium exposure over a lifetime increases the risk of disease. And excessive fluoride causes tooth discoloration over a long period of time, he said.
About 94 percent of Arkansans are served by public water utilities, and the vast majority operate daily without violating federal standards, Stone said.
“These are the only systems that were having elevated radium and fluoride problems,” Stone said. “Compliance with our other water systems are very good. This takes care of the problems that we identified.” The Mount Sherman and South Mountain water associations previously were supplied by wells with radium levels that were just above the level of concern established by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act, Stone said. The levels of radium and excessive fluoride were an issue with the SDM Water Association. The levels of fluoride exceeded federal standards in the wells that supplied Morningstar, East Newton and Mockingbird Hill.
A HUNT FOR NEW SOURCES
Efforts to find a new water source were underway in the late 1980s, according to a history detailed by the Ozark Mountain authority. Residents considered many options, including damming Bear Creek, a tributary of the Buffalo National River. The plan to dam Bear Creek gained traction in the late 1990s but encountered obstacles with federal agencies.
In 2004, 22 water associations joined an alliance that later became the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority, and the alliance decided to embark on a plan to take water from Bull Shoals Lake, treat it and furnish it to member associations. Eighteen water associations remain part of the water authority.
In 2009, the authority learned that the project qualified for $55.7 million in federal stimulus money as a result of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The stimulus money provided $36.36 million in grants and a $19.37 million loan through the U.S. Agriculture Department. The authority financed the rest of the project from other federal and state sources, including a grant of $9.2 million from the Arkansas Natural Resource Commission.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted a water allocation from Bull Shoals Lake to the authority in August 2010.
The project involved building an intake system on the lake, a treatment plant, six elevated water-storage tanks, a series of nine booster stations and the pipeline that connects them, Anderson said. Construction started in March 2011.
The project was one of the largest public water supply projects in the state for the Arkansas Natural Resource Commission, said Mark Bennett, chief of water development for the commission.
“It is my belief that was one of the most needed projects in the state because of the poor water they were drinking,” Bennett said. “We think it’s going to provide the region with high-quality drinking water now for the next 20 to 30 years.”
Newton County residents living in the Mockingbird Hill area sometimes use 5-gallon jugs for hauling water when they have to conserve when water runs low, said Winton McInnis, who lives halfway between Jasper and Deer. He is in his first year serving on the water authority board and is onthe board for the Mockingbird Hill Water Association.
During conservation periods, residents shorten their showers, turn off the water while lathering up to wash their hands, and put off laundry, McInnis said.
When the water association switches over to the water supply from Bull Shoals Lake, the association will no longer have a supply problem but will turn its attention to maintaining its waterlines, McInnis said.
“Next summer will be the first time we haven’t had a water supply issue,” he said. “We have an infinite source of water now.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 15 on 09/22/2013