Fort Smith water leaks down 76% through November

The aggressive push by city of Fort Smith officials and work crews to get control of what was once a growing number of water leaks is paying off. Active leaks reported at the end of November are down 76% compared with the start of 2025.

The city recently reported that active leaks at the end of November totaled 177, down 55.1% compared with active leaks at the end October, and down 76% compared with active leaks at the first of 2025.

Following is the November water leak report from the city.

• Leaks repaired this month: 214
• Leaks repaired this year: 1,754
• New leaks reported: 178
• New leaks confirmed: 67
• Current active leaks: 177
• Change from previous month: down 217

City officials began to more aggressively tackle the leak issue during and after 2022 when the number of leaks totaled 2,575, which was 43.4% more than in 2021. The city reported 1,135 confirmed leaks in January 2024, with that number falling to 739 in December 2024.

Matt Meeker, director of Public Works for the city, said there are now five crews working daily to fix water leaks, with the crew size varying between three and four people.

“Earlier in the year, we were only running three to four crews. Now we are running five,” he said.

Meeker said the goal is to have water leaks “under control’ by the spring of 2026, and “right now we are on pace to meet that goal.”

Meeker said once water leaks are under control, some of the work crews will begin work on efforts to identify lead and copper lines in the city. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring all cities to create an inventory of water lines to determine which need to be replaced and in what order.

Not all leaks reported to the city are on city infrastructure. Leaks from the water meter to the residence or the business are the responsibility of the home or business owner.

The city urges residents to report leaks by texting “water leak” to 479-777-8311 or by calling the public works department at 479-784-2360.