LITTLE ROCK — A water district based in south Sebastian County is seeking a government permit to enlarge its lake, but the project is likely to be delayed as federal stimulus money dries up, the district’s manager said.
The James Fork Regional Water District wants to expand its reservoir in south Sebastian County to serve its growing customer base, Manager Wayne Stallings said. The district is the water supply for about 5,000 customers.
District officials had been hoping to take advantage of the federal economic-stimulus program to pay for the estimated $8.5 million dam expansion, Stallings said. But, he said, he doesn’t believe the project will be ready for construction by the time the stimulus program expires.
He didn’t know the expansion work could begin, but the district is making arrangements to apply for funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program.
The district has applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, under Section 404 of the federal Clean Water Act, that would allow the district to build two dams, one on James Fork Creek north of the existing reservoir and one just to the west on tributaries of Cherokee Creek. Stallings said the district already owns the land.
The two dams would form a single 230-acre reservoir that would abut the 232-acre reservoir on the edge of the Ouachita National Forest.
The Corps of Engineers has opened a comment period that runs through July 19. Anyone with comments or objections to the project can mail them to: Little Rock District Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Division, P.O. Box 867, Little Rock, Ark., 72203-0867.
Comments also can be sent by e-mail to project manager Cynthia Blansett at Cynthia. W.Blansett@usace.army.mil.
The new reservoir would allow the district to generate an additional 1.5 million gallons of water a day, according to project background information provided by the Corps of Engineers. The existing reservoir, built in 1990, now yields 3.4 million gallons a day.
Stallings said the district’s customer base has been growing but a delay in the expansion project would not leave the district short of water. Average daily water use in 2009 totaled about 1.6 million gallons a day, according to information provided by the Corps of Engineers.
The information provided by the Corps of Engineers said the district is involved in two projects to lay waterlines in Scott County. One of the Scott County projects, called Phase II, will add 400 customers. A planned Phase III would add 300 more customers.
Stallings and Mark Koch, an engineer on the project with EDM Consultants Inc. of Fort Smith, said Phase II involved laying about 70 miles of waterline in the Parks and Bolesarea of southern Scott County. Phase III will lay 25 to 30 miles of waterlines in the Lake Hinkle area west of Waldron and south to Y City. Each of the phases also includes building pump stations and water storage tanks.
“Scott County is one of the last counties in the state that doesn’t have rural water, and we’re trying to get it to them,” Stallings said.
The district also furnishes water to the cities of Mansfield, Hartford, Huntington and Hackett, and to the Milltown-Washburn Water Users Association.
The district also is in negotiations to make Greenwood a permanent water customer. Sebastian County’s second largest city buys up to 400,000 gallons a day from the district through an emergency pipeline connecting the two systems.
If it becomes a permanent customer, Greenwood would buy about 500,000 gallons a day, with the need increasing to about 1.2 million gallons a day in about 20 years, Greenwood officials said last year.
The district also is about to seek bids for the upgrade of its water-treatment plant at the reservoir, Stallings said. The improvements would increase the treatment capacity from 3.6 million to 7.5 million gallons a day.
Arkansas, Pages 7 on 06/28/2010