Sixty-five years ago, on August 27, 1959, a Washington County circuit court order officially established Beaver Water District. Subsequently, the District executed agreements with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for storage of water supply in Beaver Lake sufficient to yield on average 120 million gallons per day. The District also executed agreements with Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers and Springdale to pay for storage rights and supply drinking water.
As more people move to NWA, fewer and fewer people realize that without Beaver Water District, Beaver Dam would not have been built. The story of how Beaver Lake and Beaver Water District came into being is completely dependent on each other. The economic and population growth of the area that we are all familiar with now, were made possible by a large reliable drinking water supply. The story deserves to be told of the foresight of leaders in NWA over 70 years ago, allowing the area to be as extremely prosperous as it is today.
Shortly after World War II, the Beaver Dam Association formed to promote construction of a dam on the White River southwest of Eureka Springs. By 1954, progress had been made when the U.S. Congress finally authorized dam construction for flood control and hydroelectric power uses. However, the project could not move forward because the Corps of Engineers could not demonstrate a sufficient cost-benefit ratio based on these uses. That’s when Arkansas’ congressional delegation took actions that would change Northwest Arkansas’ future. These forward-thinking leaders pushed for a national Water Supply Act. Finally, in 1958, this historic act was passed, recognizing that the federal government needed to play a role in the development of water supplies.
With the signing of the Water Supply Act, reauthorization of the construction of Beaver Dam was established, with the understanding that local interests would pay the additional costs for water supply storage space within the reservoir. At the same time, Arkansas legislators were busy as well. They passed legislation to enable the creation of public, nonprofit regional water distribution districts. Thereby, Beaver Water District was formed to pay for water storage rights in Beaver Reservoir. The newly formed District would also pay for building and operating a water intake and a water treatment facility.
Over the past sixty-five years, the District has evolved into the second largest drinking water facility in the state of Arkansas, wholesaling water to its four customer cities – Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. These cities resell the water and are responsible for the distribution to numerous cities and communities throughout the region. Starting out as a modest 10 million gallons per day (MGD) drinking water treatment facility, today three treatment facilities produce up to 140 MGD of drinking water. In total, the District provides water to almost 400,000 people and industries. However, as the population growth continues in NWA, the foresight to plan for the future growth of the area continues. Beaver Water District will be investing around 600 million dollars into infrastructure over the next five years. A new pipeline to the west, a pump station, a new 80 MGD water treatment plant, and additional intake pumps on the lake are just some of the projects that are needed to ensure that the District continues to provide clean safe drinking water to the residents of NWA, now and in the future.
The history of NWA is one that should be shared. Please join Beaver Water District over the next few months as we celebrate the 65th anniversary of the District. The District will share photos and information on social media about the individuals involved who set the groundwork necessary for NWA to be one of the fastest growing urban areas in the U.S. today.