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Gaining a Lake Ouachita water allocation is vital to Benton, says
Ray Gabbard, a director of Saline Watershed Alliance.
Gabbard said the cost of providing water will add cost to the customers, but an
engineering study concluded tapping Lake Ouachita water will be cheapest
way to meet Saline County's future needs.
Return to:
How is the Water
in Lake Ouachita Used?
Another Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance member, the city of Hot Springs,
also has received preliminary approval for an 8.55 million
gallon-per-day Lake Ouachita sub-allocation. Hot Springs will build a water intake on Ouachita, and
the Saline Watershed
Alliance wants to
partner with Hot Springs for the project.
A 2006 study of the region's long-term water needs concluded it would be
most cost efficient to draw water from Lake Ouachita, rather than Lake
Winona.
Saline Water Alliance member water purveyors are Benton, Bauxite,
Bryant, Haskell, Shannon Hills, East End Water Improvement District,
Paron-Owensville Water System, Salem Water Association Public Water
Authority, Saline County Water and Sewer Public Facilities Board, Sardis
Water Association Public Water Authority and Southwest Water
Association.
The systems in the Saline Watershed Alliance serve an estimated 70,000 people through 37,000
connections.
Water has been a concern in Saline County for decades. Gabbard presented
a timeline of "near misses" for a long-term Saline County water source:
In 1975 - Corps of Engineers consider a Saline River Impoundment;
In 1990 - Lake Avilla project collapses because of opposition to damming
Saline River and forming reservoir.
In Mid-1990s - Coalition of purveyors seeking to build pipeline to Lake
Ouachita using remaining, un-refunded sales tax money from Lake Avilla
project, denied permission by court, due to "insufficient customer
base."
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