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HSVPOA Emergency Waterline Connection Proposal

HSV Water and Wastewater Superintendent Proposes Emergency Waterline Connection

At the April 7, 2022, HSVPOA Board Discussion Session, Chris Boutzale, Water & Wastewater Plants Superintendent, discussed an emergency waterline connection proposal. Public Services Director, Jason Temple, was also on hand. As the meeting was a discussion session, no votes were taken.

In case of a catastrophic failure in the HSVPOA water system, there have been plans to connect our water system to North Garland County. Boutzale said, “We are not going to sell water. That’s not part of the deal. It is just to bring water in if we have an emergency.”

“About 20 years ago, we started looking for an outside water source through Lake Ouachita. We belong to MAWA [Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance},” explained Boutzale. At the time the MAWA project began there were only three utilities remaining in the project – Hot Springs Village, North Garland County Water, and Hot Springs Water.”

The Hot Springs Village POA pays $47,000 per year for two million gallons of Lake Ouachita water a day, that at the current time, we have no access to. In order to get this water, a pipeline must be built to the Village for supplemental water or alternatively, we can tie into North Garland County and buy the water through them.

In the future, when there is a need to expand the HSV water plant, this water source may be an alternative to expansion.

Director McLeod asked, “We are paying for something now that we are not able to get?”

Boutzale said that we are.

Chair Corry stated, “This is an insurance policy, primarily. Except we are not hooked up to the insurance policy.”

Plans to Connect

Boutzale explained that we propose to tie into North Garland County at this time. “We’ve been planning and working towards this for the last several years. We bought all the materials back in 2019 for this project but didn’t have the money for the installation.” The Superintendent also said they did not have the personnel to do the installation in-house.

The money has been budgeted this year for the project. All bids came in over budget. “The low bid was $133,800.” To reduce this cost, the POA staff will install pipes at the road crossing, which lowers the bid by $21,000. Materials needed to perform this portion of the job will cost around $2,000. POA labor also must be considered in the final cost. Moving all of the materials in-house will result in an additional $2,500 reduction of the bid. These two measures will lower the bid price to $110,300 which is still over budget by $10,300.

There is approximately $21,000 leftover on the Asturias Drive Waterline Project and Boutzale proposes using this overage to pay for the budget shortfall in the Balboa Gate Emergency Waterline Project.

Director McLeod asked if we have had a water system failure in the past and Boutzale stated that we haven’t.

McLeod asked, “Are you forecasting a problem?”

Boutzale said he was not forecasting a problem, but it could happen. For the majority of the last 50 years, there was not anyone to connect to for a backup.

Edited to add:  On May 16, 2017, the Sentinel-Record published the following statement: “The Hot Springs Village Property Owners Association has announced that the Village has officially joined the Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance, a coalition of dozens of Central Arkansas municipalities and water utilities committed to meeting the future water supply needs of the region.”

By Cheryl Dowden, Hot Springs Village Gazette, April 7, 2022

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