Boards to address water-sale worries

HOT SPRINGS - City Manager David Watkins said last week that a decision about whether Central Arkansas Water will sell Hot Springs the rights to 20 million gallons of water a day from DeGray Lake will likely not be made until this week.

Watkins said he received a call Oct. 22 from Graham Rich, CEO of Central Arkansas Water, to let him know that Rich and the Central Arkansas Water board of commissioners will meet with the Little Rock Board of Directors this week to address concerns expressed by the Little Rock board.

“They’ve been invited to the board meeting, which will be held [Tuesday] to go over this agreement and answer any questions,” Watkins said.

The commission agreed Oct. 11 to sell Hot Springs 20million gallons of water a day from its 120 million gallons per day allocation in DeGray Lake. At its Oct. 15 meeting, the Hot Springs Board of Directors authorized city officials to sign the agreement and pay the commission $1.08 million for the water.

The Little Rock board also met Oct. 15, but some city directors expressed concerns about the agreement and said they thought the utility should have consulted with them and the North Little Rock City Council before making the agreement.

“He said his recommendation is the same, and assures me he is sticking by his recommendation and the board is standing behind their recommendation,” Watkins said, noting that Rich can’t speak for the board members.

“So, we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes.”

Arkansas, Pages 11 on 10/28/2013

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