Beaver Lake is Rising but Water Conservation Still in Effect in Bentonville and Rogers

Northwest Arkansas has received several inches of much needed rain in the past couple of weeks but more is needed to get back to normal levels. It would appear that the major drought affecting this area has been alleviated for the time being.

As I write this article, the water level in Beaver Lake is in excess of 1113 feet above sea level. If memory serves me correctly, that is some eight feet above the low we experienced earlier this year. The optimum level is 1120 feet above sea level.

We are very fortunate to have the Beaver Water District to meet the needs of the people and businesses in this area. BWD currently has sufficient water and treatment facilities to supply up to 100 million gallons of treated water per day. So far that is well above the highest demand. The district has on-going expansion plans and resources to stay ahead of our growing population’s demand.

Getting the water to the users is the problem for Bentonville and Rogers. The two cities now share two water transmission lines, one 24 inches wide, the other 30 inches. Together, the lines can transport a maximum of 29.5 million gallons of water a day to the two cities.

Bentonville has started construction of a 48-inch water line which is scheduled to go on line in April or May 2007. When Bentonville’s new water line is complete, Rogers will purchase the two older lines and take over as sole user.

Until then, water conservation is the rule for both cities. Procedures, consisting of six stages of conservation, were put into place in 2005. Water usage drops during the winter months so the conservation rules were temporarily relaxed.

With summer returning and the population continuing to swell, it would seem likely that even more water conservation will be needed this summer.

The first two stages of conservation are considered voluntary and consist mainly of common sense – limit time in the shower, run the dishwasher and washing machine only when full, reduce outdoor usage and so forth. From there, the stages continue through moderate mandatory measures all the way up to and including water rationing.

For more information:

Beaver Water District information and links to many other resources:
http://beaverwaterdistrict.org/

City of Rogers Water Utilities:
http://rwu.org/conservation.htm

City of Bentonville water conservation ordinance: http://www.bentonvillear.com/docs/utility/water_conservation_ordinance.pdf