Latest try to build new water system flowing smoothly
Posted on Sunday, August 5, 2007
A group working to bring plentiful, safe drinking water to Boone, Newton and Searcy counties has cleared most of the environmental hurdles that stopped earlier efforts, those close to the project say.
The Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority is seeking numerous federal and state regulatory approvals, grants and loans for a roughly $ 50 million project that would pump water from Bull Shoals Lake and serve about 21, 500 people in 22 community water associations.
After funding is secured, the project will take about a decade to complete in phases, but its initial “critical-needs phase” would allow three rural water associations with contaminated water to connect to the nearby municipal water systems of Marshall and Jasper early during construction.
The Mount Sherman Water Association, South Mountain Water Association and Snowball, Dongola and Marsena Water Association are under administrative orders from the Arkansas Department of Health because of excessive levels of naturally occurring elements, such as radium 226, radium 228 and fluoride, project documents show.
Other potential users of the proposed system have problems with naturally occurring radon gas, uranium or hydrogen sulfide in their wells. Others have long experienced water shortages.
The engineer overseeing the project, Tim Mays of Engineering Services Inc. in Springdale, said the project faces dozens of regulatory steps from numerous agencies. Many of these applications overlap, but all must be completed before the authority can secure full funding, he said. The Health Department has been understanding and supportive, he said.
“As long as we’re making progress on this, they are not imposing fines [for contaminated water ],” Mays said.
Health Department engineers ranked the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority in May as the most urgently needed water system in the state on its priority list for projects seeking money from a state revolving loan fund.
The department’s engineering section director, Robert Hart, said the fund is financed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with the Safe Drinking Water Act.
The department ranks projects on about 50 factors, including quality, quantity and customer volume. The priority list is then used to make funding recommendations to the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
The commission considers many factors besides greatest need, including the availability of funding and which projects on the list are closest to being ready to begin construction, Hart said.
But as with other regional water systems, the amount of money the Ozark Mountain authority needs is so large that it will seek funds incrementally from a number of sources. It has received four grants from the state and private foundations totaling $ 97, 000, but all of that is for preliminary work, Mays said.
This includes a $ 25, 000 feasibility study grant and a $ 59, 000 cultural resources survey grant from the state Natural Resources Commission.
The water authority will pursue $ 3 million in federal funding for the critical-needs phase — a $ 2. 25 million grant and a $ 750, 000 loan from USDA Rural Development. That would address the water quality problems of the Mount Sherman Water Association near Jasper, the South Mountain Water Association and the Snowball, Dongola and Marsena Water Association near Marshall, by interconnecting the water systems to the cities before the entire project’s completion.
In the next phase, the Ozark Mountain authority is seeking more than $ 26. 5 million in grants and loans to build a water treatment plant and intake structure on Bull Shoals Lake near Diamond City and Lead Hill, plus transmission mains extending southward to connect about a half-dozen nearby cities, communities and water associations.
This covers $ 5 million from the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for the water intake structure; an $ 850, 000 appropriation for property design through U. S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., that would require a 45 percent state match of $ 382, 500; a $ 6. 4 million appropriation from the state of Arkansas for the water treatment plant; and a $ 6. 9 million grant and $ 7 million loan from USDA Rural Development for tanks and transmission lines.
The final phase would require nearly $ 20. 5 million for tanks, booster pumps and transmission lines to connect the remaining cities, communities and water groups.
The Corps of Engineers ’ Little Rock District received word June 12 that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality had issued a conditional water quality certification for the Ozark Mountain authority project, said Elaine Edwards, a project manager in the district’s regulatory office.
The certification was necessary for the Corps to proceed in processing the water authority’s permit application, she said.
OPPOSITION MINIMAL Past efforts to get water to the area have drawn opposition, but this time the sailing’s been smoother, officials familiar with the project said. A public comment period this spring on the Corps permit and the ADEQ water certification drew feedback from only three individuals, two of whom expressed concerns about the project, Corps regulatory officials said. A spectrum of public agencies said they didn’t object so long as the water project used best-management practices and, if needed, mitigation, Edwards said.
“One of the gentlemen was concerned about property issues, where they might lay the lines,” she said.
The construction documents note that Searcy and Newton counties had been working on developing a water supply since the early 1980 s.
“However, each county lies within the Buffalo National River Basin,” project officials wrote to Gov. Mike Beebe in a Feb. 28 report accompanying their request for the $ 6. 4 million state appropriation. “Permitting, legal challenges, and environmental concerns have prevented construction of impoundments within this area.” The National Park Service opposed a plan several years ago to dam Bear Creek, a tributary of the Buffalo River, so that drinking water could flow to Searcy and Newton counties. Although the Corps issued a permit for the Bear Creek dam in 2001, it later reversed the decision and revoked the permit, halting the project. Environmental groups also sued to stop the Bear Creek dam.
Things are going more smoothly now, project officials said.
“We have not found any opposition to it,” said Marshall Mayor James Busbee, vice chairman of the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority. “The Park Service is for it.” Once the water system is constructed, the Park Service also will be a customer, Mays added.
Park Service officials said in a support letter that they deemed the project to have a low environmental impact.
It would reduce reliance on wells, alleviate the need for damming of Buffalo River tributaries and eliminate the need for Marshall to draw water from Hughes Springs and Brush Creek, they said. The Ozark Mountain authority is compiling an environmental report to submit to USDA Rural Development in hopes of getting a “finding of no significant impact,” Mays said.
In all, the project must submit several environmental reports to 15 to 20 state and federal agencies. Once environmental clearances are granted, the project could receive funding and design work can begin, he said.
“We have an application in with USDA Rural Development,” Mays said. “It is our understanding that if the Farm Bill passes, Arkansas would receive more money than normal, and some of that money would go toward this project.” PRESERVATION A PRIORITY One piece of the environmental reporting submitted for approval is a phase-one cultural resources survey along the 110 miles of the water line route.
The project hired a private firm to survey 47 archaeological sites, such as an old church, historic homesteads, foundations of early-20 th century homes, rock retaining walls, “open habitation” sites and an unmarked Civil War grave.
The group determined a dozen sites “have the potential for significant archaeological deposits” and recommended they be considered as possibly eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.
The surveyors recommended ways to avoid disturbing the sites while constructing water lines.
Based on records of the Arkansas Archeological Survey, an unmarked Civil War grave exists near Bear Creek, but the surveyors could not find it. The grave is reportedly that of Pvt. William Arnold of Company H, 27 th Arkansas Infantry, who was executed for desertion on July 21, 1862, according to the survey report.
The surveyors recommended keeping the water line placement close to a ditch alongside U. S. 65 and hiring a qualified archaeologist to monitor the site during construction.
“If the grave site is encountered during construction, it is recommended that all work be stopped in the area and the grave be removed and reinterred in accordance with state law,” the report stated.
LONGTIME SHORTAGE Officials in the area have been seeking a solution to the water problems since at least spring 2004. By June 2005, the Ozark Mountain Water Alliance was looking at the problem from a regional perspective. Later, after incorporating, it adopted the legal name Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority. Busbee grew up four miles east of Marshall. Water quality is not the problem there. “We’ve been short of water all my life,” said the 70-year-old mayor.
He recalls his family sharing its well water with neighbors when their cisterns would run dry or become infested with mosquito larvae in summer.
“When I was a kid, we called them ‘ wiggle-tails, ’” Busbee said.
Some neighbors would bring a bucket in each hand and walk as far as two miles to the Busbee family well.
“It’s real simple: Here in Marshall, we do not have enough water,” he said.
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