A Brief History
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Saline Regional Public Water Authority formed as a result of a collaborative study completed in 2002 titled "Water for Saline County: A Tale of Two Futures".
Guided by Judge Lanny Fite, the study, completed by University of Arkansas Little Rock, ultimately recommended water purveyors in the county unite efforts into a more regional approach. _______ Eight water service providers in Saline County came together for the greater good to ensure water security and build a resilient future for their communities and water sources. This would not have been possible without continuing support from past County Judges including Judge Lanny Fite and Judge Jeff Arey. _______ Saline County Quorum Court appropriated $10 million of the County's American Rescue Plan Act funds to launch the project, and Saline County Judge Matt Brumley continues to provide strong leadership and collaboration to turn a plan into reality alongside the Authority. |
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The Authority researched the different forms, benefits, restraints, and success patterns of regionalization, consolidation, and system partnerships throughout the United States and utilized resources from American Water Works Association, US EPA, Rural Community Assistance Partnership and more before moving forward with the "Shared Governance" regional collaboration method.
Choosing to regionalize into a Joint Powers Agency over consolidation into one entity allows all eight systems to exist independently and continue operating their systems.
The benefits of this method of regionalization in water systems include higher economies of scale with reduced long-term costs, local control to ensure each unique system maintains say in how their system is managed, a sustainable/high quality water source for Saline County and potential surrounding areas for many generations, extremely diverse expertise in all aspects of water management, and more.
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The Authority continues to discuss different avenues of potential partnership with other organizations and water providers such as Kimzey Water, Hot Spring County, and Central Arkansas Water in different ways to ensure the project benefits the widest range of communities as possible.