Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority

09/08/2026

Lawn Irrigation Moratorium Update September 8, 2026

Based on current usage and the current weather conditions, the moratorium on lawn irrigation will remain in place through Friday September 11, 2026 at a minimum.

Last September our customers used 486 MG and the all-time September usage record is 494 MG. After the first week of September, we are on pace for a 567 MG month, with Peak Hourly usage still exceeding a 30 MGD pace. Consequently as long as the hot weather with no rain continues, the moratorium will need to remain in place. Once weather conditions change, possibly later this week, we will reevaluate everything.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you

08/28/2026

In the confusion that appears to be out there with regard to who serves who between Benton Washington PWA and Beaver Water District. The below was done by Beaver Water District with BWRPWA input. And remember, because of the postal districts it is entirely possible to have a Bentonville or Gentry address and be recieving water from Highfill or have a Rogers address and receive water from Benton Co Water District 1. This happens all over our service area so it's important to know who your local provider is.

08/27/2026

WATER CONSERVATION UPDATE THURSDAY AUGUST 27, 2026

At the BWRPWA Board of Directors meeting held today, it was determined that moratorium on lawn irrigation will remain in place at least through Monday September 7, 2026.

This is based on the forecast of continued hot dry weather and a continuation of the high summer demands that we are seeing.

We will reevaluate this position after the Labor Day Holiday, or if the forecast changes substantially. As a reminder, this moratorium only applies to lawn irrigation and lawn sprinkler systems. Hand watering of shrubs, trees flowers, gardens, etc... is acceptable, along with Agricultural use associated with livestock or poultry. All other uses are allowed outside of lawn irrigation and automatic lawn sprinkler systems.

Your individual system may have more stringent requirements in place based on the current needs of the individual systems . Those measures will be put in place by that system. We have also continued to request that Developers cease putting sod or hydro mulch down because, in this hot dry weather it is extremely water intensive and unproductive in these conditions. However, it will be up to the individual systems to enforce this request. At BWRPWA, and, in several of our customer systems, we have stopped our contractors from laying sod or hydro mulch down at this time, and it will not resume until such time as the weather becomes more conducive to growing grass.

If you have any questions please let us know. Thank you!

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08/26/2026

Just for comparison sake, here are the last 20 years of August average high temps and monthly rainfall as measured by the weather station we operate here at the treatment plant

August Temperature F Rainfall - inches Connections
2007 94.6 3.65
2008 87.4 5.65
2009 87.1 2.62
2010 96.1 0.25
2011 96.2 3.49 28,597
2012 89.2 4.06 29,116
2013 84.4 7.75 29,564
2014 90.7 0.98 30,783
2015 87.7 4.90 31,685
2016 87.4 0.73 32,538
2017 83.3 4.34 33,356
2018 86.9 5.02 35,186
2019 86.7 9.59 36,598
2020 88.6 1.38 40,211
2021 88.9 3.35 42,483
2022 88.7 6.31 44,697
2023 89.6 6.09 47,844
2024 89.3 3.18 50,542
2025 87.7 2.64 52,736
2026 To date 94.5 0.26 (July) 55,125

So when individuals post that the weather in August 2026 is typical for this time of year, that is an incorrect statement. We have not seen similar conditions like this since the 2010 - 2011 August period. This current high temps combined with low rainfall led homeowners and businesses to use more water than normal to keep lawns green. As more water was used for lawns, combined with the normal summer increases in agricultural and domestic usages, this created the deficit situation that we were seeing in the storage tank levels. Once that part of the equation was removed, storage levels began to normalize. Now throw in the growth that is continual and projects designed to get back ahead of that growth takes time are not fully completed yet, one can easily see why we had to place the moratorium on lawn watering. I hope this sheds some light on the decision we made.

08/24/2026

WATER CONSERVATION UPDATE FOR MONDAY AUGUST 24 2026

Below is the update that I sent out this morning to our systems and Board of Directors

Overall usage continues to drop somewhat across the board for everyone. Over the weekend, peaking factors dropped from the 1.5 to 1.6 we had been seeing, back down to 1.4 for both Saturday and Sunday last week. Saturday 8/22 marked our lowest demand day of the month at 16.814 MG; Sunday increased back up 17.546 MG. Daily demands last week on the weekdays ranged from 18.8 MGD to 20.131 MGD, but peak hourly demands were still in the 28 to 30 MGD equivalent range. The good news, however, is that the demand periods are only lasting two hours, both in the morning and evening. We are also seeing a mid-day demand period developing, but it is not as strong as the morning or evening peak demand periods.

Storage tank levels improved over the weekend but the increased demand on Sunday pulled them down from Saturday's highs. At one point we were able to run two pumps and push the Lincoln storage back up above 3/4 full and it is maintaining those levels. So now the focus is on Decatur. If we can push the Lincoln tank above the 45-foot level with 24-hour pump runs, we will turn off the booster pump and direct all pumping to Decatur to increase those levels. We are definitely making good progress; however, we are not where we need to be yet to ensure that continued hot dry weather doesn't just pull us right back where we were, forcing us to start this all over again.

Based on this and the forecast for this week through next weekend, I am making the following recommendations.
1. The moratorium on lawn watering should remain in place. This is the only restrictive item requested, and it will allow sufficient water availability for all other uses and fire protection.
2. Hand watering of gardens, shrubs, trees, flowers, etc... should continue.
3. Agricultural uses are NOT included in this request.

The next update will be on Thursday after the BWRPWA Board of Directors meeting at 9 AM

Please let me know if you have any questions or need additional information. Thank you.

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08/21/2026

The current Drought report released yesterday. As expected portions of Benton County have moved to a D2 classification while the remainder of the BWRPWA service area moved up to a D1 classification

08/21/2026

WATER CONSERVATION UPDATE FOR FRIDAY AUGUST 21, 2026

As of this morning we are essentially holding our own with the normal ups and downs we expect in storage levels this time of year. From the snapshot below shows the tank trend from the last two weeks and the difference that taking just one conservation measure has made.
By removing the lawn irrigation, we eliminated the extraordinary demand we were receiving from it. This shifted us from a constant daily loss to more manageable levels with shorter and lower peak hourly demands. Most likely we will build back up on Saturday and then follow the same pattern through next week. Once we clear that hurdle, or weather conditions change dramatically, we will likely be able to go back to an odd / even watering schedule as long as everyone adheres to it.

As of this morning we are on pace to have the August metered usage at 602 MG. The previous usage record was 560.947 MG, set last month, so we have surpassed that with an increase of over 1 million gallons per day in overall demand,

I will send another update on Monday. For the time being I believe we need to stay on our current course of action. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Timeline of Conservation Orders
Tuesday August 11 - Request for Odd / Even Watering Made - Continued downward trend
Friday August 14 - Request for moratorium on lawn irrigation requested. Trends reversed, peak hourly demands decreased.

08/19/2026

For comparison sake, BWRPWA region is not the only one having issues with the hot dry weather currently. The difference here is a supply problem but same result. There are a multitude of these throughout Arkansas right now.

Phase 3 in Effect
Conway Corp is moving to Phase 3 of its Emergency Water Curtailment Plan effective today, requiring additional reductions in water usage for all residential, commercial, industrial and institutional customers.
Brewer Lake, Conway’s primary water source, remains below normal levels following prolonged dry conditions. While customers have responded to conservation measures implemented during earlier phases of the plan, current water supply conditions require Conway Corp to take additional steps to reduce demand and protect the community’s water supply.
“We are grateful to our customers for the conservation efforts they have already made,” Conway Corp CEO Bret Carroll said. “Moving to Phase 3 means we need our community to reduce water use even further. Every gallon saved helps protect our water supply, and we are asking everyone to continue working together and be intentional about how they use water.”
Under Phase 3, customers must follow these water use requirements:
Customers may water lawns one day per week only, based on their street address:
• Even-numbered addresses: Saturday only
• Odd-numbered addresses: Sunday only
Customers are encouraged to limit irrigation as much as possible, even on their designated watering day, and eliminate unnecessary outdoor water use.
Customers may add water as needed to maintain the water level of an existing swimming pool. Filling an empty swimming pool using Conway Corp water is prohibited during Phase 3.
Conway Corp will continue closely monitoring Brewer Lake levels, system demand and overall water supply conditions. Customers are asked to continue reducing non-essential water use wherever possible and to follow all Phase 3 requirements until conditions improve.
Conservation across thousands of homes and businesses can have a significant impact on overall water demand. Conway Corp appreciates the community’s continued cooperation and asks every customer to do their part to help protect Conway’s water supply.
For the latest water curtailment information and updates, please visit ConwayCorp.com/Curtailment.

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08/19/2026

For those that do want to read the full posts about the conservation order here is an infographic created by David Tillman that explains it pretty well based on the comments we have seen.

08/19/2026

CONSERVATION UPDATE WEDNESDAY AUGUST 19. 2026

The moratorium on watering lawns has had the effect that we believed it would. Since it has been in place last Friday, we have removed 2-3 million gallons per day from the demand and this has allowed our storage levels to remain flat and occasionally make small gains The peak hourly demands have lessened also and this has stopped the constant daily dropping of storage tank levels. At this time, there are no indications that additional conservation measures will be needed or necessary from BWRPWA, however. the moratorium on lawn watering will continue through September 1, 2026 at which time we will be able to reevaluate what the current conditions are then.

As I have said before, BWRPWA is a regional water wholesaler. We deliver treated potable water to 17 public water systems, who in turn provide it to the individual system's customers. As a region, we our customers systems combined have over 55,000 service connections as of 8/1/2026 and a combined service population of over 168,000, two major industrial users employing over 4,000 employees combined, and the NWA National Airport which had over 1.25 million outbound passengers in 2025. When we are looking at the potential impact of a conservation order, this is what we look at. Not the individual systems on their own merits, but the region as a whole and the impact it will have there. As a regional provider we have 2 primary responsibilities to our customer systems. As I said before, protection of public health is always first and foremost. The second is providing sufficient water to our customer systems that ensures that they receive sufficient water for consumer domestic needs, agriculture livestock and poultry needs and commercial needs, and that storage levels remain sufficient for them to take water as needed for these needs, and for public safety to ensure ample availability for things like fire fighting and fire protection. This is why we took the path we did on the lawn irrigation moratorium. Given the last time the area saw sustained high temperatures and lack of rainfall of this type was the drought of 2011-2012, and the amount of growth the region has sustained since then, is creating a condition that saw more and more water being used solely for lawn irrigation purposes. However, from a regional perspective, putting water on the ground to water grass does not meet any of the requirements of the first two priorities and it's removal is not endangering either of them. Obviously some will disagree, but again I am looking at the region as a whole and this is all done in conjunction and cooperation with our customer systems. When was the last time BWRPWA had to request a conservation order over the last 4-5 years, outside the transmission line break in July that saw the order lifted 2 days after being issued? The answer is none as we have not requested any until now.

Those are the reasons why we have taken the path that we have with regard to the lawn irrigation moratorium and why it is the only conservation measure that BWRPWA has requested. In some cases, our customer systems may have more stringent limitations put upon their customers, but that is due to some limiting factor within their own system that they addressing. They have the same responsibilities to protect their own systems as we do to protect the regional system and they will take any additional measures they believe are needed to protect their system.

I will post another update on Friday August 21 and again, for those of you doing your part to help thank you!