Sediment and debris complicating water treatment

High sediment load creates extra work for water district

Alan Fortenberry, Beaver Water District chief executive officer, discusses the level of the water in the lake on Monday as well as debris in Beaver Lake from the district’s intake facilities.
Alan Fortenberry, Beaver Water District chief executive officer, discusses the level of the water in the lake on Monday as well as debris in Beaver Lake from the district’s intake facilities.

Sediment and debris churning in Beaver Lake are complicating water treatment in Northwest Arkansas this week.




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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Water released at Beaver Dam dwarfs traffic across the dam on Tuesday. The dam’s floodgates were closed to 5 feet Tuesday morning after being opened to 9.5 feet through Monday. The floodgates will remain open much of today.

The quality of the water from the tap won't change, said Alan Fortenberry, chief executive officer of Beaver Water District.

Web Watch

To see the service area of Washington Water Authority visit www.bwrpwa.com/area… and download the service area map.

Source: Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority.

Heavy rain from Saturday through Monday swelled the waterways that feed Beaver Lake.

On Monday, the lake reached 1,132.04 feet above sea level in the flood pool, nearly reaching the 2008 record of 1,132.21 feet, according to information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

All seven spillway gates were opened more than 5 feet by 9 p.m. Sunday. It was the second-largest water release on record, according to information from the Corps, with water flowing at 91,150 cubic feet per second.

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, the lake was 1,129.74 feet above sea level, 9.3 feet above normal, the Corps reported.

Typically, water is muddier near where the White River enters Beaver Lake on its south end, Fortenberry said. It can be a little murky near the Beaver Water District's intake on that south end, but the lake water looks clear by the time it reaches the Arkansas 12 bridge, he said.

Churning, brown water rushed past the district's intake Monday

The Beaver Water District extracted 136 tons of mud or sediment from the water it treated Monday. That's about six times more than the usual 22 tons.

Turbidity is the scientific term for water that isn't clear. It is a measurement of anything in the water -- from air bubbles to sediment -- that refracts light and makes the water appear cloudy, Fortenberry said.

Lake water is pumped to a treatment center where chemicals are added to get particles to clump and settle to the bottom of a tank. The effort to clean the water extends to microscopic particles, Fortenberry said.

Flood stage on the Northwest region's creeks and rivers appeared to have peaked by Monday.

The White River near Fayetteville peaked at 30.39 feet late Sunday and had fallen to 7.99 feet by Tuesday afternoon. No flood stage has been defined for the river, but the record flood for that gauge was 26.6 feet, according to Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service Information that's distributed in partnership with the National Weather Service.

The Illinois River near Watts, Okla., was measured at 28.64 feet Monday. It had fallen to 10.9 feet by Tuesday afternoon, according to the information distributed by the National Weather Service.

Heavy rain was to blame for a boil order being issued for most customers of the Washington Water Authority late Monday.

Water treated at the Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority is delivered through an 18-inch line. That line broke apart Sunday afternoon near Viney Grove Road and Doc Hall Road, just before reaching the Washington Water Authority. Because of storage tanks, customers continued to have water service, said Josh Moore, director of the authority.

Crews from both water authorities were out trying to fix the break, Moore said. Water overflowed the roads, got into the ditch where the line had been laid and eventually caused the line to break. Crews had six pumps running at one point pushing 1,500 to 2,000 gallons of water a minute out of the ditch so they could repair the pipe, he said.

The breach was repaired late Monday and flushed to remove any dirt or debris that could have fallen in. A precautionary boil order is standard while the authority waited Tuesday for test results to clear the health department. Some customers not included in the boil order were served by an emergency connection to Fayetteville water.

Prairie Grove, which is also serviced by the broken Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority line, used an alternate water source during the break, an authority employee said Monday.

Metro on 12/30/2015

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