08/14/2026
UPDATE ON WATER CONVERSATION REQUEST FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 14, 2026 8:00 AM
Good morning! For Clarification purposes, the Conservation request that we have issued is for the following public water systems.
Bella Vista POA Benton County Water District 1 which includes Avoca and Little Flock and a portion of Brush Creek Centerton Utilities City of Decatur Gateway Public Water Authority City of Garfield City of Gentry City of Gravette City of Highfill City of Pea Ridge City of Lincoln Lost Bridge Village Water and Sewer District Pea Ridge Water Utility City of Prairie Grove Tontitown Utilities Washington Water Authority Westville Utility Authority
If you are a customer of one of the above Utilities, the following will apply to you.
Yesterday we started the day at 35 feet in the Decatur storage tanks and as of this morning after yesterdays usage we are currently at 33 feet meaning through the day yesterday we dropped over 2 feet in the storage tank reverse the trend of staying flat that we had over the last 2 previous days. Overall usage yesterday was right at 21 million gallons and unfortunately the morning peak demand was going out to the systems at 21,490 gallons per minute and lasted approximately 3 hours. If you remember from earlier posts our maximum pumping capacity is just under 14,000 gpm. This is what caused the 2 foot deficit yesterday and put us right back to where we were when we initially started this request.
We are going to try reverse this one more time by requesting that all of our systems put a moratorium on all outdoor lawn irrigation over the next 3 days covering today Friday August 14, through Monday morning of August 17, 2026 at which time we can reassess where the storage levels are and potentially return to mandatory odd even watering. This does not apply to hand watering flowers, shrubs, trees, or gardens, nor does it apply to livestock or poultry producers. This would apply to put water on lawns whether it be through irrigation systems or lawn watering with sprinklers. The reason for this is as follows
1. Lawn irrigation accounts for 3 - 4 million gallons of daily usage during this time of the year
2. We have industrial users that will be off over the weekend that will allow us additional daily demand decreases that can help us build back our storage reserves over the next 3 days.
3. If demand can be decreased by 6 to 7 MG each day over the next 3 days, we will be able to build the storage levels back over the mid points and go back to trying to manage an odd even watering schedule if everyone will abide by those requests.
The alternative is is simply this. If we are not able to build some of the storage back over the next 3 days, we will have to issue a mandatory and enforceable domestic usage conservation order Monday morning in order to protect our customer systems and their ability to deliver water to their individual customers. Water usage will be limited to household uses only until such time as storage levels are returned to sufficient levels.
Now I realize that none of us want to go there, but it is where we are currently at. We absolutely need the cooperation of all customer Utilities and their customers to stop all lawn irrigation for 3 days because the alternative will not be pleasant for anyone. For those of you that helped us out to date by adhering to our requests THANK YOU very much! But for this to work like intended and to avoid a different outcome we need everyone's assistance. Thank you!
