Addressing Fort Smith water capacity, pressure problem could cost $221 million

Fort Smith is reaching its maximum daily water flow capabilities, and the only fix is a 48-inch water transmission line that will cost the city approximately $221 million, according to a recent water supply study.

Wes LeMonier with Hawkins Weir Engineers Inc. presented a study done on water supply in the city, specifically as it relates to water supply at Chaffee Crossing, to the Fort Smith Board of Directors at a study session Tuesday (Feb. 13).

According to the study, the need for the 48-inch water transmission line and capacity upgrades to the plant are needed to ensure proper water pressure and fire flow to the area, Utility Director Lance McAvoy said in a memo regarding the study.

Fort Smith has two water treatment plants. The Lee Creek plant, which can treat and transmit 10 million gallons per day, and the Lake Fort Smith Plant, which treats and transmits up to 40 million gallons per day. The total Fort Smith can treat and transmit daily is 50 million gallons.

“With the additional demands from Chaffee Crossing, we’re projecting your 2024 maximum day demands at 49.9 mg per day,” LeMonier said.

The average daily demand – what is typical for seven to eight months out of the year – is 39.8 gallons per day, LeMonier said. Maximum daily demand is reached in the heat of the summer  mostly from the end of June to the end of September when people are irrigating their lawns, and filling their swimming pools, he said.

With the average daily demands, the city is good for producing adequate water supply through 2039, but maximum daily demands is where the problem lies, LeMonier said. Hawkins Weir had originally predicted that would be reached by 2027, but the city is at those demands this year, he said.

Proposed water line projects including the Highway 45 extension and the Chad Colley extension will not alleviate the problem, LeMonier said.

“What we found with those two projects is it creates localized improvement in your Rye Hill area but exacerbates issues in other parts of the system,” he said. “The big change that needs to be made is to upgrade the treatment facility and transmission line.”

CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN MONEY
But those upgrades come with a high price tag and no city funding to pay for them. According to the Utilities Department’s 10-year capital improvement plan (CIP) presented in the fall, it would take approximately $138.6 million for both phases of the Lake Fort Smith Water Treatment Plant capacity increase project for design and construction.

The CIP lists $66 million for phase one design and construction that would increase capacity from 40 million gallons per day to 55 million gallons and $72.6 million for design and construction of phase two, which will increase capacity from 55 million to 70 million gallons per day. The CIP shows $6 million for phase one in 2025 and $20 million per year in 2026, 2027 and 2028.

City Administrator Carl Geffken said increasing the treatment capacity is not the only issue.

“Even if you increase treatment capacity, you have to increase the pressure dramatically to push it through 27-inch lines (which are currently in place),” Geffken said.

Thus, the city also needs to complete the 48-inch transmission line from Lake Fort Smith, which is also in the CIP. The city wanted to start on this project this year to complete it by 2027, Geffken said. The first phase of the treatment capacity project, which would raise capacity to 55 million gallons per day, would be constructed in 2025-2029, with the majority of the work early on, Geffken said.

MONEY SHORTAGE
The total cost of both projects – the major upgrade at the water treatment plant to increase capacity and the completion of the 48-inch water line – is estimated at $221 million, Geffken said.

The options for raising that money, as presented in December by David Nauman, a senior project manager with 1898 & Co., a division of Burns & McDonnell, which was commissioned by the city to conduct a water rate study, included a 0.5% sales tax and rate increases that raises 50% in revenue through rates in 2024. A non-sales tax option included higher annual rate increases but would not include a sales tax. That proposal utilized bond debt. Both proposals included raising the base charge for wholesale (contract) customers to the same as retail customers.

Nauman estimated a sales tax would raise approximately $14.4 million annually. In December, city directors said they needed to understand more about the rate study and the water study at Chaffee Crossing before considering asking for any sales tax.

Director George Catsavis asked if the city needed to look at a moratorium on new water and sewer taps at Chaffee Crossing because the city is at capacity now and because LeMonier said any more growth in the system will be a liability unless the city implements some water conservation methods.

“I would be hesitant to put a moratorium on that because of the (Foreign Military Sales Pilot Training Center coming to Ebbing Air National Guard in Fort Smith.) I would hate to have people moving here and not have places for them to live,” McAvoy said. “Water conservation can buy us some time.”

WATER CONSERVATION, MORE QUESTIONS
McAvoy recommended that as a temporary fix, the city implement stage one water conservation methods beginning June 1.

Stage one conservation restricts certain uses of water to locations with even-numbered addresses on even-numbered days of the month only and at locations with odd numbers addresses on odd-numbered days of the month only. Those uses include lawn watering; watering of shrubs, plants, trees and gardens; the washing of motor vehicles, trailers, airplanes or boats (not applicable to commercial car washes); filling swimming pools or fountains; and washing of building exteriors.

McAvoy also said the city should instate penalties for those violating the conservation measures.

Director Lavon Morton asked how much an even/odd water system beginning on June 1, which he noted would not cause any problem for keeping lawns alive, would take off the maximum daily water usage. Directors also said that before they can make any decisions regarding fixes to the city’s water future, they need more information, including how much of the water usage in the city is from leaks.

They also asked to see how many days the city hit the limit of 50 million gallons of water treated and transmitted in 2023.

“Are we talking a couple of days at 50 million gallons, or are we talking 20 days at 50 million?” Director Kevin Settle asked.

Directors also asked to see a daily chart of what the actual water usage was for the city in 2023 and a trend of what the average daily demand has been for the last two to three years.