Water user contracts, water conservation part of Fort Smith board agenda

Water will be a part of the Fort Smith Board of Directors discussion during its Feb. 24 study session, with board members expected to review water conservation rules and an effort to standardize some wholesale water user agreements.

Through its Lake Fort Smith and Lee Creek reservoirs, the city of Fort Smith sells water to numerous regional water providers, including the city of Arkoma, Cedarville Waterworks Facilities, the Franklin Sebastian Public Water Authority, Mountainburg, the city of Van Buren, and the city of Winslow.

Part of Tuesday’s discussion will focus on a proposed standard wholesale water agreement with some of the regional water providers.

“In 2024, the City of Fort Smith passed water rate adjustments for both retail and non-retail customers,” Fort Smith Utilities Director Lance McAvoy noted in a memo. “Since that time, City staff has worked with the City Attorney to develop a new, standardized non-retail surplus water user agreement for use with all such customers. The past agreements contained different requirements and also varied in the length of term of the agreement.”

The cities of Barling and Van Buren, and the Fort Chaffee military installation have separate agreements because of previous agreements or existing contracts, McAvoy noted.

Following are a few items in the proposed new contract with wholesale users.
• The agreement includes a 10% penalty for late water bill payments defines what constitutes a late payment.

• A wholesale water user will be required to provide annually certain operating data to Fort Smith, including water sales by the user to its customers.

• A wholesale water user must take all steps necessary to reduce its water loss to 20% by the end of the fifth year of the agreement. Failure to reduce water loss year-over-year will result in surcharges being assessed by Fort Smith on the wholesale provider.

• The agreement allows for 1% growth per year by the wholesale user. The user may, at the end of the initial 5-year period, request additional water volume and Fort Smith has the discretion as to whether or not that request is granted.

• Fort Smith has the right to terminate a wholesale user agreement should Fort Smith not have a sufficient supply of water to meet the water needs of the retail and ordinary wholesale customers.

• The agreement is for a period of 10 years and at the end of that time a new 10-year agreement may be requested by the user.

Between 2020 and 2025, Fort Smith generated $51.74 million in revenue from wholesale water users, with $23.271 million – almost half – of that coming from Van Buren. Following is the annual revenue from wholesale water users since 2020.
2025: $12.971 million
2024: $8.141 million
2023: $7.742 million
2022: $8.041 million
2021: $7.611 million
2020: $7.234 million

According to the city, there are no pending revenue collection issues between the city and wholesale water users, and there are no outstanding balances of more than 90 days with wholesale users.

The city’s water system and system revenue are likely to be a frequent and high-profile issue with the Fort Smith board because of many, complex and expensive system needs. Priority needs include upgrades at the Lake Fort Smith water treatment plant in Mountainburg, Lee Creek water treatment plant upgrades, completion of a new water transmission line from Lake Fort Smith to the eastern side of Fort Smith, aging distribution lines in the city, and modern water meters for all customer categories.

WATER CONSERVATION
The board also will hear a review of the city’s water conservation measures. According to the city, non-emergency water conservation measures ended when the new Lake Fort Smith dam was complete and the lake began to fill.

“The City ended water conservation on a non-emergency basis once the new Lake Fort Smith Dam was completed and the lake was filled in late 2006 or 2007,” McAvoy noted in a memo. “Most recent use of an emergency water conservation measure was in August 2025. The City declared an emergency to enact Phase II water conservation, as allowed in Section 25-143, due to a major water line break that impacted the water levels in the in-town water reservoirs and tanks.”

Following are some of the city’s water conservation measures outlined by city ordinance.

When the total lake volume drops below 61% Phase I water conservation automatically begins, and ends when lake levels remain above 61% for 15 consecutive days.

Phase I conservation rules include water use permitted at locations with even-numbered addresses on even-numbered days of the month only and at locations with odd-numbered addresses on odd-numbered days of the month only, and food processing and services may wash only to preserve public health and comply with federal/state regulations.

Phase II conservation begins with total usable water storage above the lowest intake valves in the city’s impoundment lakes decreases 39% and remains below that level for three consecutive days. Phase II also is in place when the amount of water in the city’s water system storage reservoirs remains below 50% of total storage capacity for three consecutive days. Phase II ends when lake levels remain above 45% for 15 consecutive days.

Phase II conservation rules include the prohibition of lawn watering, and washing of vehicles, trailers, boats and airplanes except at licensed commercial car washes and commercial auto dealers, with such washing allowed only on Tuesday and Friday. Also, the filling of swimming pools and outdoor fountains are prohibited.

Link here for the Tuesday board agenda.