How Beaver Lake Handles a Hot, Dry Season

Looking back on this last month, a few things come to mind.

1. It was hot, really hot.
2. It was dry, really dry.
3. Beaver Lake has plenty of water in it.

Let me explain further.

Beaver Water District wholesales water to our four customer cities — Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. Those customer cities then distribute clean, safe drinking water to over 400,000 residents and businesses across 10 more towns and 3 rural water authorities in northwest Arkansas, providing drinking water to about one in six people in the state of Arkansas.

For the hot & dry month of August, we averaged 99.4 million gallons a day in sales at Beaver Water District. We even had a new record sale day of 107.1 million gallons on August 14th. Yet, there is not a shortage of water in the lake. We are still providing water, the dam is still providing power, and the lake remains at a level that is not a concern. Beaver Lake is not a stagnant body of water; it is a dammed river, a reservoir. Even without rain, water is still moving into the system. Underground springs like those that feed Lake Atalanta are still flowing into the White River that is Beaver Lake.

Many questions have been asked about treatment capacity. I totally understand the reason for this. It is simple to think about the big picture but there are lots of moving parts in the daily grind. The amount of water in the lake and treatment capacity/distribution are not related (not here anyways). Storage of water in tanks, water pulled from the intake, peak usage hours, etc. are all things that come into play when water treatment and distribution are discussed. Here at BWD, we have a 140 MGD capacity. On some of our hottest days this past month, we were pumping water through at roughly 135MGD rate, but that rate was just for a few hours. Giving plenty of time to let the tanks stay full (ours and those of our customer cities) and move along throughout the day.

I think the best way to think about this is to reflect on your own day. Here is a brief overview of my day. There are four of us in our house. After waking, all four of us are going to brush our teeth, get water bottles ready, and make sure the dog bowl is filled. Three of us will shower also before we head out the door. This is peak water usage hour at my house. After I get to work, I will probably have a cup of coffee, lunch, and have a drink of water in the afternoon before heading home that evening. This is not my peak water usage time. After picking up the kids, we will make dinner, maybe do some laundry/wash the dishes, and one will take a shower in the evening. High demand but not a peak water usage hour, per se, as this all happens over like 3 hours. Then we’re back in bed for hopefully 8 hours again. (I gave up on watering the yard but add in some irrigation schedules to water capacity for 400,000+ people)

Just like at my house, BWD has peaks, norms, and slower times throughout the day. However, BWD may be running close to capacity first thing in the morning just like you, but that sipping coffee and answering emails time lets everything get resolved and refreshed before the evening hits and it all gets geared up again. As the tanks/towers send out water to the homes for our customer cities, we have to replenish that water. The good news is that we are a 24-hour facility, so we’re treating water non-stop. Unlike you and I, there is no rest for the treatment process. (Especially when irrigation systems kick in at like 5 AM)

Now let’s say I am going to have some extended family moving into my house. I am going to have to prepare, rearrange some things, and add what I need to. That is where Beaver Water District is right now. With approximately 38 new people moving into the area every day, we are preparing and building infrastructure to increase our capacity & making sure our capacity matches yours, your neighbors, and their cousins, before that extended family shows up in NWA.

I mentioned there is plenty of water in the lake. The graph below shows that the lake levels for this time of year are not unusual.  We still want to encourage everyone to be good stewards of Beaver Lake. This is what the Beaver Believer program is all about! Taking care of that precious resource that provides so much to the NWA community and appreciating that resource through all its levels.  From the lake, for the future – be a Beaver Believer.