Beaver Water District Buys Buffer for Intakes

In a bid to maintain water quality, the board of directors for Beaver Water District recently approved the purchase of 5 acres southwest of its raw water intakes near Lowell.

The district bought the property, which adjoins land already owned by the utility, for $20,820 from the Siemens Family Trust.

“We wanted the property for added security and for water quality protection,” said Larry Lloyd, the district’s chief operating officer. “Particularly we would not want anyone to develop the property into residential acreage with the potential for septic tanks that close to our raw water intakes.”

The transaction is expected to close this month.

This is the second time the district and the trust came together for the deal. The first time around, however, the trust could not secure clear title to the property, which had gone through a foreclosure, so the deal fell through, Lloyd said. But the Siemens trust cleared the title and came back to the district for another, successful try.

While the district is not actively looking to buy property near its intakes, it will consider options if the price is right, Lloyd said.

According to the 2014 State of the Lake Report issued by the district, 24.2 billion gallons were taken out of the lake last year for drinking water suppliers. The district sells water to Bentonville, Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville, and they then resell water to neighboring towns.