LOWELL -- The Beaver Water District is working with cities, schools, nonprofit groups and others to educate people on the importance of staying hydrated, Amy Wilson, director of public affairs, told the district's board Thursday.
Wilson also detailed ways the water district has partnered to provide drinking water along the Razorback Greenway and area schools and at special events over the past several years.
Water District Scholarships
The Beaver Water District recognized University of Arkansas students Trent Woessner of Fayetteville, Emily Sherrill of Rogers, and Zachary Tipton of Fayetteville on Thursday as recipients of the Steele-Croxton Memorial Scholarships. The scholarships are paid for through voluntary contributions by participating district board members and others. It’s named for the late Joe M. Steele and the late Hardy W. Croxton, past board members. The scholarship provides support to qualified students within the UA’s College of Engineering and College of Agriculture. The scholarship’s aim is to support students studying and exploring careers related to water.
Source: Beaver Water District
Wilson said the program began when the greenway was being developed. The Northwest Arkansas Council worked with the district to make sure people using the 36-mile trail system, which stretches from Fayetteville to Bella Vista, had water stations and bottle filling stations.
"We did not want the trail to be under-served," Wilson said, noting providing users opportunities to refill water bottles also means fewer plastic bottles being discarded along the trail and in other locations.
She said contacts were made with area schools and others entities where there was a shared interest. She pointed to Rogers' Heritage High School as one example. The school and district installed five hydration stations. Information collected through the stations showed that, over a year's time, they provided the equivalent of 225,000 water bottles being filled.
Rogers schools stress the importance of staying hydrated through the school day, according to Ashley Siwiec, communications director. She said the district had hydration stations included in the design of the new Darr Elementary School and other older schools may be retrofitted as Heritage High School was.
"We are very water-conscious," she said.
Wilson said the district has at least two new stations planned for 2018 -- one in the Rogers area and one in the Bentonville area, but no locations have been set.
Also Thursday, the board approved a contract for a $4.9 million project to improve the solids handling process at the treatment plant on Beaver Lake.
Bill Hagenburger, plant engineer, said the district has annually pumped about 200 million gallons of drinking-quality water back to the lake. Under the new system, that water will instead go back to the head works of the treatment plant. Hagenburger said when the project is completed, the district will save on the cost of pumping that water back to the lake and will spend less on chemicals for treatment.
NW News on 02/16/2018