A petition for an initiated ordinance to halt the city's efforts to acquire additional water from DeGray Lake, unless approved by voters, was presented to the Hot Springs city clerk's office Thursday morning.
The petition drive, which garnered about 1,500 names, was initiated by the Garland Good Government Group, said Bob Driggers, the group's chairman.
Fewer than 500 names would need to be certified to get the petition on the ballot if it meets constitutional requirements.
The petition seeks to have an initiative placed on the Nov. 4 general election ballot "directing the city to immediately stop its efforts to procure water from Lake DeGray and build a new water treatment plant until and unless legal city voters approve the same; and to recover unexpended and unused funds already approved or appropriated for the project."
The city has been seeking an additional source of raw water for a number of years. It bought the rights to 20 million gallons of water a day from DeGray Lake from Central Arkansas Water, which had a 120 mgd allocation from the lake.
Lake Ouachita, located northwest of the city, is considered another possible water source, but Blakely Mountain Dam's Dam Safety Action Classification 2 rating prohibits the conservation pool from being raised to accommodate an allocation to the city.
Any water allocated from the lake would have to be taken from the power pool and the city would have to reimburse Southwest Power Administration for the lost revenue for not being able to use that water to generate electricity.
The city's main water source is a 20 mgd allotment from Entergy Arkansas Inc. through an intake on upper Lake Hamilton, with an additional allotment possible during peak days as long as the withdrawal doesn't exceed 30 mgd.
Considering the remote possibility of a tainter gate failure at Carpenter Dam, which would lower the level of Lake Hamilton below the city's intake structure, Entergy said it would not allow any more water to be taken from the lake until an additional source was online.
"The purpose of the petition is to stop the city from wasting our money on building somewhere between $60 million and $100 million worth of facilities in another county," Driggers said.
The group advocates waiting for a study to be completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers regarding taking water from Lake Ouachita before moving forward with plans to take water from any other source.
"The study that was commissioned in February 2013 was estimated to run for 18 months and this is the 18th month. We were just concerned as to why you would go ahead and rush into a project and call it a crisis for justification when we're going to hear from the Corps of Engineers pretty soon," Driggers said.
Driggers said the GGGG doesn't believe the Corps will deny the allocation of water from Lake Ouachita, but if it does, the city's contract with Entergy allows it to take up to 30 mgd, and the Arkansas Department of Health has recommended the city proceed with expanding the Lake Ouachita Treatment Plant, its upper Lake Hamilton plant, which would supply another 9 mgd.
In addition to securing an additional source of raw water, Driggers said there are other measures that could be taken to stretch the available water over a longer period, such as reducing water leaks, interconnections with other county water suppliers, improvements to the Lakeside Water Treatment Plant, and conservation plans.
"If peak days are all they are concerned about those were in 2012. If temperatures get over 100 degrees for a dozen days or so, we'll probably hit peaks again, which was 23 mgd. That is just barely over the amount they can take from that one plant, and if you add the Lakeside plant to it, that's another 5 mgd, and we've never hit 80 percent of 35. There is no crisis," Driggers said.
City officials have said the health department becomes involved when a city's consumption reaches 80 percent of its water production capacity.
City Attorney Brian Albright said that assuming the petition meets the constitutional requirements, the city clerk will begin verifying the signatures and would probably start that process while the petition was being reviewed for constitutional compliance.
"Once they get the right number of signatures verified, they can stop, and since the petition is for an initiative, it will go directly to the county clerk and the (Garland County) election commission. I don't think the board has to take any action," he said.
Albright said the city clerk would issue the statement regarding the petition's constitutional compliance, but in past cases, the office has relied on the city attorney's opinion as to whether the petition is in compliance.
In order to be on the Nov. 4 ballot, Albright said the petition would have to be in the Garland County Election Commission's office by Sept. 4, or a special election would be needed.
Jim Fram, president of The Greater Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce, said he believes what the GGGG is asking "would really tie the hands of the city board who we elected to run the affairs of the city."
"My understanding is, and I'm convinced, we do have a water problem. We're not running out of water today, but we do have a water problem that needs to be addressed.
"The chamber board and 50 for the Future board have expressed their concerns for that and their support for what the city is doing. It's my understanding is that the city has executed a contract with Central Arkansas Water for the extra water supply. It (the petition) is kind of water under the bridge," he said.
Driggers said in a news release that the GGGG "will vigorously support its ballot initiative in November with its time, energies, and monetary resources because the Lake DeGray Water Project is a costly and bad idea that was undertaken without adequate information to the public, the consent of Garland County water users, and in defiance of common sense."
Local on 08/29/2014