Central Arkansas Water’s board of commissioners on Thursday authorized a nearly $3.3 million contract for the latest phase of a project extending water service to part of western Pulaski County.
This phase will install 3.5 miles of water lines in the area of unincorporated Pulaski County known as Ferndale, including along a stretch of Ferndale Cutoff Road from Kanis Road to Studer Road, which will connect water lines installed during previous phases. Before the expansion, the Ferndale community has been dependent on well water.
Of the four bids that were received, two were deemed non-responsive. The Diamond Construction Co. was selected over NLS Construction, having submitted the lowest responsive bid, board documents said.
Commissioners approved the Ferndale item and two others in a unanimous voice vote as part of the board’s consent agenda. Two commissioners were absent.
The first phase of the regional water utility’s effort to expand service to the community got underway in early 2024. Customers in Ferndale who agree to receive drinking water from the utility must pay a monthly surcharge to help cover the utility’s costs.
In addition to loans from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, Central Arkansas Water officials also plan to deploy $5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding and $12 million in Environmental Protection Agency grant funding, according to board documents.
Tad Bohannon, the utility’s chief executive officer, said last year that the expansion is expected to cost $28 million across all phases.
Also during Thursday’s meeting, commissioners authorized a $524,000 contract with the engineering firm Garver for work associated with a planned new pump station along Geyer Springs Road in Little Rock to serve the Mabelvale pressure system.
Constructing the pump station is expected to cost a total of $4.5 million to $5 million. Jim Ferguson, the utility’s director of engineering, said the work is expected to take more than 12 months.
Once the new pump station is operational beginning sometime in early 2028, utility officials intend to do “significant rehabilitation” of an existing station in the area, “resulting in two pump stations supporting the pressure zone and increasing system resilience for customers,” board documents said.
Additionally, nearly 12,000 linear feet of galvanized steel water mains in North Little Rock are expected to be replaced through a contract with Cisneros Family Construction.
Commissioners authorized spending approximately $2.8 million on the work, which will replace the galvanized pipe with ductile iron pipe as well as polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, pipe.
Galvanized pipe is responsible for the largest share of spontaneous leaks and breaks by far within the utility’s system compared with the other types of pipe in use, Ferguson explained Thursday.
Since the utility was created in 2001, officials have replaced 63 miles of two-inch galvanized pipe, leaving 102 miles still in service as of the end of last year, he said.
Joseph Flaherty
Joseph Flaherty covers the city of Little Rock for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. A graduate of Middlebury College and Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, he has worked for the newspaper since 2020.
