FAYETTEVILLE -- The Beaver Watershed Alliance, along with local partners, is developing a new source water protection program with a grant from the Arkansas Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, according to a news release.
The three-year federal grant, totaling $523,120, will be matched by local support of $460,936 for a total of $984,056. The money will be used to develop Smart Growth for Source Water Protection, for watershed management in urban areas of Northwest Arkansas. The program also plans to install low-impact development features within the Beaver Lake watershed area such as rain gardens, bioswales, pervious pavers and other storm collection features.
Two locations have been selected for installations: the West Fork Library parking lot and a site along Huntsville Avenue in south Fayetteville. A third site will be determined later.
Beaver Lake provides the drinking water for one in five Arkansans, according to the alliance.
The alliance is working with community partners and Edgewater Coaching and Consulting to host six public forums on Smart Growth concepts. The public forums will be held around the watershed area and are free.
The first forum, "What Do We Want for Our Communities - creating a shared vision for Smart Growth through a lens of ecosystem services," will take place at Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning office in Springdale from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. April 27. Those interested in attending can sign up online at BeaverWatershedAlliance.org under the events page.