Dry 2010 pushes area water usage up almost 7%

It’s been a dry year in the Fort Smith area, with Jan.-Sept. water usage among city of Fort Smith water customers up almost 7% compared to the 2009 period.

The increased water usage comes with increase revenue for a city in the midst of replacing water lines and equipment that in some areas is around 80 years old. Water revenue for the first nine months of 2010 is $18.849 million, up 6.6% from the same period in 2009, and up 6.2% from the 2008 period.

Water usage reached 8.412 million CCF (100 cubic feet: 100 cubic feet = 748 gallons) between January and September, up 6.99% from the 7.862 million in the 2009 period. The 2010 usage is on track to reverse a recent trend. Water usage in 2009 was down 3.95% from 2008; 2008 usage was down 2.5% from 2007; and, 2007 usage was down 4.97% from 2006.

So far, usage hasn’t pulled water levels too low. Lake Fort Smith was 94.9% full as of Sept. 2, the same level as the point in 2009. Lee Creek is 89.6% full, down from 100% this time in 2009, according to city records.

To better provide water, the city is building a new Lake Fort Smith water treatment plant to replace the existing plant first built in the late 1930s. The older plant and upgrades during the past 70-plus years will be replaced by new water treatment units in about 15 months.

Also, the city is five years into a plan to replace about 70 miles of undersized water lines within the city. The undersized lines result in low water volume, low water quality, dirty water and inadequate fire protection. When the replacement effort began, about 1 in 7 city customers received water from an undersized line, said Deputy City Administrator Ray Gosack. He estimated that the city replaces up to four miles of undersized water line each year.

The primary cause of the increased usage is a lower than normal amount of rainfall in the area. Spring 2010 (March-April) delivered 8.45 total inches of rain, and was the 20th driest spring in the past 129 years, according to the National Weather Service. (The driest Spring was in 1936, with 3.44 inches of rain in the March-April period. The average Spring rainfall during the past 129 years is 12.46 inches.)

As of the end of September, annual precipitation in the Fort Smith area totaled 28.96 inches, or 2.78 inches below normal.

For all of 2009, the region recorded 52 inches of precipitation, or 16.32 inches above normal. October 2009 ranked as the 3rd wettest October in the past 129 years with 10.26 inches, or 6.32 inches above the normal. (October 1951 delivered 12.05 inches and October 1984 recorded 11.8 inches of precipitation.