Central Arkansas Water will know by September whether it is feasible to merge Maumelle Water Management under its control.
The Little Rock-based agency's Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Thursday to move forward with a 60-day study that will research the cost and benefits of taking over the Maumelle utility, something the Maumelle water board gave its approval for last month.
Central Arkansas Water had to move swiftly in exploring the issue because the Maumelle utility is considering large infrastructure improvements if it doesn't merge. Maumelle currently runs on well water, whereas Central Arkansas Water uses Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona as its main water sources.
Previous proposals estimated that if Maumelle remains autonomous and moves forward with updating its system, customers' monthly bills could increase about $25 over the next three years on top of the current average combined sewer and water bill of $51.61, which includes a $7.86 debt service fee.
Central Arkansas Water officials didn't know Thursday how a takeover would affect Maumelle rates, but attorney Tad Bohannon said that he is confident that over time the customers would see a savings. Initially, the bills would include debt service fees, but Maumelle customers already pay such a fee, so it wouldn't be new, he said.
Part of the 60-day feasibility study is to determine what adding Maumelle's 10,500 meters would do to Central Arkansas Water's budget, Bohannon said. Central Arkansas Water currently has approximately 125,000 metered customers in Pulaski, Saline and Grant counties, serving a population of about 450,000 residents.
Maumelle Water Management controls and operates the city's wastewater treatment systems, so the study must also determine whether that system can stand on its own if the water utilities merge or whether another entity could consolidate the wastewater portion.
Officials plan to report to both utilities' boards in September with the result of the study. If it is favorable, the plan is for Central Arkansas Water to take control of Maumelle's utility and its 33 employees on Jan. 1, 2016. Maumelle residents would still receive well water for a time until Central Arkansas Water could make improvements and connect the systems.
The agreements signed by each entity allowing for the feasibility study make it clear that if a merger were to take place, Maumelle would not have representation on Central Arkansas Water's board. Currently the board is made up of Little Rock and North Little Rock residents.
"They would be an outside-of-the-city customer just like Sherwood, Cammack Village, Wrightsville and other customers we have in unincorporated areas of Pulaski County," Bohannon said.
The Maumelle utility currently has an average daily demand of 2.6 million gallons of water, compared with the 62 million gallons that Central Arkansas Water distributes daily on average. Maumelle's highest peak demand in one day was 7 million gallons.
Metro on 07/11/2015