Construction of a large waterline to link Maumelle with Central Arkansas Water has progressed ahead of schedule, officials said Thursday.
Installation of the 30-inch transmission line -- needed to attach the 10,500 Maumelle customers to the regional utility -- is also projected to cost about about $2.5 million less than initially believed, said Thad Luther, the utility's chief operating officer.
At the current pace, the utility could begin partially supplying the west Pulaski County city in December, earlier than the initial projection of February 2018, Luther said after updating the utility's Board of Commissioners on a merger that took effect more than a year ago.
"There is a lot of follow-up activity that has to go on to consummate a merger," Luther said.
Incorporated 32 years ago, Maumelle has always drawn its water from a system of underground wells. Those wells will be reactivated once the city is attached to the regional utility, which takes water from Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona.
Central Arkansas Water and Maumelle Water Management agreed in 2015 to merge. The regional utility assumed control of the existing system last year and has begun testing the conversion in parts of the city while installing new equipment and upgrading the current, smaller lines.
Maumelle Mayor Mike Watson has called the merger "huge for the future." It is expected to improve quality while increasing the city's water capacity to 12 million gallons of water per day, ahead of the long-range anticipated peak need of 10 million gallons per day.
On Thursday, the utility's Board of Commissioners authorized a $1.1 million contract with Redstone Construction Group to replace 1.5 miles of underground waterlines in Maumelle. The money comes from a $22.8 million sale of revenue bonds -- which are financed by a surcharge to Maumelle customers -- dedicated to the merger's costs.
Keeping in mind the crisis of Flint, Mich., where lead levels in the water supply spiked after a change in water source, Central Arkansas Water since January has conducted pilot tests of its Maumelle water to monitor changes to water quality, Luther said.
"You wouldn't think that with our water there would be much of an impact, but there's a lot of focus when you provide a new source water to the distribution system, especially after what happened in Flint," Luther said.
Luther said there have been no issues of water contamination or quality in the tested areas and that the Arkansas Department of Health signed off on the monitoring plan.
The Maumelle utility has also spent $345,000 to replace 255 residential service lines since March. Some of the lines were severely deteriorated, including one that had been dug up six times to repair "pinhole leaks" and placed back into the ground, Luther said.
"We don't operate that way," he said.
Metro on 07/14/2017