Large group photo, from left: Matthew Dunn, Crist Engineers; District 4 City Director Carroll Weatherford; Hot Springs Engineering Project Manager Todd Piller; Hot Springs Utilities Director Monty Ledbetter; Colonel Michel Derosier, Vicksburg District Commander; Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe; District 5 City Director Karen Garcia; Hot Springs Assistant City Manager/City Clerk Lance Spicer; District 6 City Director Randy Fale; and District 3 City Director Becca Clark.
HOT SPRINGS – The City of Hot Springs, during a signing ceremony earlier today with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Vicksburg District, obtained a permanent raw water supply allocation of 20 million gallons per day, or an estimated 31,456 acre-feet of storage, from DeGray Lake. Colonel Michael Derosier, Vicksburg District Commander, and Hot Springs Mayor Pat McCabe signed the formal agreement at DeGray Lake’s Oak Bower Group Use Area. The city will pay a lump sum of $921,546 for permanent storage rights. The funds will go towards the construction of DeGray Dam.
According to the agreement, the city will not have to pay foregone benefits, or the compensation for lost hydropower production, until it begins to use the water in a projected 15 to 20 years. The city is required to notify the Corps a year in advance of its intent to begin use of its allocation.
“Combined with our 2017 agreement allocating 23 MGD of water supply rights from Lake Ouachita, the City of Hot Springs has now secured an adequate water supply for future generations, an achievement towards which all cities strive,” said City Manager Bill Burrough. “Thanks to the strong leadership of our Board of Directors, many partnerships, and years of negotiations since our initial request in 2013, we are now in a secure position to sustain our vibrant city’s projected growth.”
Lakes DeGray and Ouachita are maintained and operated by the Corps’ Vicksburg District.