Stage 5 Drought Contingency Implementation Notice Reminder for Prairie Grove Utilities

Good afternoon Prairie Grove:

It’s officially summer. It’s hot and it’s dry, and lots of folks are spending time outside using water.  Unfortunately, just like last summer, that means we’re exceeding the capacity of the system to supply water.

Over the past week, the storage tanks at the Sherwood Forest well have been starting each day about a half foot lower than the day before – and the problem is accelerating.

As we’ve said before, even without this increased usage, the well is unable to supply enough water for needs during the day, but it is generally able to recover overnight when usage is low. Unfortunately, as daily demand increases, it has outstripped the ability of the well to fully replenish the tank levels overnight.

Unless we all begin immediately practicing the protocol in the Stage 5 Drought Contingency Plan that was implemented in the Summer of 2022 (which has remained active), then we will almost certainly have a system shutdown before the weekend is over.

We’ve provided a graph of the Ground Storage Tank levels over the past two weeks (blue line).  Based on this pattern and expected demand, we’ve projected (orange line) that levels will likely bottom out very quickly over the weekend.  Once the system drops below eight feet (red line), we’ve reached the critical point and we must shut down the system to allow it to fully recover.

We have partially closed the outgoing valves from the plant to approximately 15% of normal levels to attempt to slow the demand, but that will not be enough. It will take your help as well.

Some things we MUST all begin doing immediately to prevent the system going into emergency operations mode, which will include temporary shutdowns of the system as we have seen over the past few years, include:

• Stop all unnecessary outdoor water usage, such as car washing, landscape irrigation, pool filling, and other recreational activities
• Conserve water indoors by taking short showers, turning off water when not in use (such as when brushing your teeth), and
• Check for leaks, running toilets, and any other unintentional water use

The full Drought Contingency Plan can be found here:  https://www.anra.org/conservation-recreation/water-conservation-drought-contingency-planning/regional-water-planning/

We know you want to fill up your pool and you need to water your plants, but unfortunately, as you all are very well aware, the current system is simply unable to handle the demand.  This is one of many issues that we will be able to put behind us once the system upgrades are completed, but it’s still a problem for today.

What about the temporary line from Diboll that we have previously discussed as a stopgap until the full upgrade project is in place? That plan has been ready to go for some time, but has been delayed due to difficulties in obtaining landowner permissions to run the line.

We had hoped to have the line in place before the summer demand, but in order to control costs and protect the line from vehicles, it needs to run cross-country on the private property to the north of Sherwood Forest Circle. We have been diligently attempting to contact the land owner to obtain a temporary easement for many months, but despite multiple communication attempts, including phone calls from ANRA’s attorney, we have yet to receive a response to have that conversation.  At this point, we are very close to being forced to initiate eminent domain procedures, which can take significant amounts of time and which typically leaves everyone involved very unhappy. This is not how we prefer to approach these issues, but it may be a necessary step in order to provide PGU customers with the water that you all need.

We want to THANK YOU in advance for your understanding and participation in these conservation measures.  By conserving water, you’ll help provide a better chance that all PGU customers will be able to continue to have access to water for essential purposes.

Our staff is continuously monitoring the situation and we will continue to post updates on the Prairie Grove Facebook page, our website at www.anra.org, and via the Text Notification System, throughout the weekend.  If you would like to sign up for the Text Notification System, please text “PGU” to (800) 282-5634 and follow the prompts.