AVOCA -- Plans are drawn and pending regulatory approval for a water line to pump more water to the southern reaches of Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority.
Members of the authority's board discussed the project during a Thursday meeting. The Siloam Springs to Lincoln project will pump water to Lincoln, Prairie Grove and the Washington Water Authority, which handles water service to rural Washington County, and Westville, Okla.
More water
A project that will build 24-inch water line from Siloam Springs to Lincoln will bring more water to Lincoln, Prairie Grove and the Washington Water Authority, which handles water service to rural Washington County, and Westville, Okla. Existing lines are 18-inches in diameter and the new project will more than double the amount of water flowing to southern customers of the Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority.
Source: Staff Report
The parallel line project is on schedule for a spring start to construction, said Matt Dunn, vice president of Crist Engineers. The goal is for the water line to be finished before summer 2017.
The demand for water increases in the summer months.
A recent interest rate increase will likely not affect the authority, Scott Borman, general manager, told the board, but an annual credit rating review may benefit them as they look for an increase from an A- to A rating.
A budget approved by the board included an increase from $2.15 per thousand gallons of water to customer cities to $2.40 per thousand gallons for customer cities. That increase will be finalized once bonds are issued for the project.
Drawings for the project need to be approved by the Arkansas Department of Health. The Army Corps of Engineers has permitted the Washington County project. Geotechnical work is partially complete as engineers wait for an amendment to a special use permit from the U.S. Forest Service as part of the easement crosses Forest Service land near Chamber Springs Road.
The water line, crowded by other utilities, is too tight in some of the more narrow easements in the southern part of the line, Dunn said. Most of the easements are 20-feet, some are 15-feet, he said.
"There's not really room to put the water line," he told the board.
Without shifting of the easement the water line would be either in the right-of-way for the road or take out fencing, according to a report presented to the board.
Borman said fewer than 10 easements would be effected and the authority would work with property owners to see if they can shift the boundary of the water easement without increasing its size.
Board members cautioned any trees that need to be cleared before the project must be down by April 1 to avoid federal regulations for endangered bats coming out of hibernation.
Borman said he hoped bids would be in by the group's February meeting to meet that deadline.
Although the engineering is done, it's an aggressive schedule, Dunn said.
The building of a new intake on Beaver Lake to feed water into the treatment plant looks as if it will not be complete a revised deadline of March 24, Borman told the board.
The contract was supposed to be completed last spring but the water authority moved the deadline to March because of a long lead time on a pump. Shutting down operations to put in electrical work is out of the question during summer because of high water use, Borman said.
NW News on 12/18/2015