FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. —
Residential and commercial customers in parts of Fayetteville and Goshen are being advised to adjust their water usage.
The City of Fayetteville says due to dry conditions and extreme heat, their water system is experiencing increased demand, resulting in reduced or no water pressure.
The affected areas are east of Highway 265 following the Highway 45 corridor to Goshen (see map) and Highway 16 east of S. Dead Horse Mountain Road and south of E. Wyman Road (see map).
Ahead of the conservation restrictions, the city council considered ways to enforce their guidelines in an ordinance. Council members made questions imitating the concerns of their constituents.
"The consistent message is, 'How are we spending so many millions of dollars on bike trails, but we are lagging behind on our infrastructure for water?'" council member Scott Berna asked.
Officials have placed restrictions on yard and landscaping irrigation to certain days and times of day:
- Even numbered addresses may irrigate between the hours of 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday
- Odd numbered addresses may irrigate between the hours of 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday
According to their press release, city officials believe adjusting morning irrigation schedules to nighttime and restricting irrigation to specific days will assist in allowing the water system to recover.
Fayetteville utilities director Tim Nyander said their water infrastructure came about with the exponential growth of Northwest Arkansas.
"Our water as well as our sewer services and our infrastructure, all goes through a master plan procedure," Nyander said. "Unprecedented growth has sped up the timeline massively, and so we've got to spend the resources. We've got to plan it and solve the problem. But it just can't be done immediately."
Fayetteville chief financial officer Paul Becker explained why projects like bike trails continue despite the infrastructure issue. He points to separate funding — water and sewer typically are funded by user fees whereas bond projects and grants fund bike trails.
"When we saw that census. I think we were all surprised at what our growth was," Becker said. "We got this in 2020, we're right in the middle of covid. Also, that caused some complications, because, again, we didn't want to increase rates dramatically and overburden citizens at that time."
Residents who don't abide by the conservation guidelines could face termination of water service from the city. The press release outlines penalties. The first offense of irrigating outside of the scheduled time will result in water termination for 24 hours. Repeat violations will result in water termination for two days, followed by termination for three days for the next violation, and so on.
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