Hello everyone, and welcome to Arkansas Week.

I'm Chris Cain.

A little bit later in this program, Conway Corp CEO Brett Carroll is going to explain the city's move to phase three water restrictions, what the new rules require and what is being done to protect Conway's water supply.

We're also going to talk with the American Red cross about staying safe during extreme heat, recognizing heat related illness, and preparing for an emergency.

But first, yes, you guessed it we're staying on the heat.

Prolonged heat.

It's worsening drought conditions across the state, and the dry weather is increasing wildfire danger, putting pressure on crops and livestock and forcing many farmers to rely heavily on irrigation.

Here with us to talk all about this, Arkansas Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward, back in studio, Dennis Cavanaugh, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Little Rock, and Jared Hartke Rice, extension agronomist with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

Gentlemen, all welcome to you.

Thank you for joining us.

We got plenty of time here.

We're going to talk about the weather.

And this is what everybody's talking about right now.

Recently we've had oppressive heat throughout the state.

Dennis, I'll start with you, tracking the history of this state.

And we know that we're going to get extreme summers every now and then.

But when you hear terms like unprecedented historical record highs, can you tell us a little bit about what we're experiencing right now, what we just experienced?

Yeah.

So I mean, you know, it's it's summer in Arkansas.

So.

Right.

We get it.

It's it's going to be hot but hot in Arkansas.

There's different levels, different degrees of it.

And I've been in Arkansas for ten years now.

And this is the hottest summer that I've, that I've lived through.

In this state.

Right now we're looking tracking just hundred degree days, a simple metric to kind of contextualize the heat, the heat wave that we're in, we're already tied for 2012, 2011.

If folks remember those brutal summers, and, you know, the 100, 100 degree days continue will be hitting some of our most historic drought, and heat wave levels in Arkansas recorded history.

So this is this is not your typical Arkansas heat.

It is putting a lot of pressure on, just the people that live in the state.

And, of course, a lot of the industries here in Arkansas as well.

Yeah.

Want to talk about that for a minute.

Secretary Ward, give us an overview.

As someone who has been in this state for a long time, what you're seeing right now in terms of wildfire dangers and what Arkansas farmers are experiencing and really just everyday business owners and homeowners.

Yeah.

Well, it's, you know, to the point about the impact of weather.

It really, really impacts everything, individual residents and their communities, agricultural producers, you know, just just everything.

So, for from an Arkansas forestry standpoint, you have over, 18, almost 90 million acres of forest land.

When it gets really hot and dry, there's the fuel conditions increase, making wildfire.

Really, really high probability of a wildfire.

Just even a lightning strike, a chain dragging a highway.

So you have the possibility of a wildfire taking off really fast with all that fuel for fuel on the ground created by those hot, dry conditions.

So, really, you think about a statewide perspective with that much forest land?

It really just about the entire state is under risk of a wildfire danger.

So we monitor that very quickly, and, constantly.

But we're we're prepared to respond quickly to any fire that develops.

And there have recently been a few fires that have affected several counties recently.

And I know this is something that can be startling for folks.

You see it a lot out West.

You know, this is something that is in the news a lot this time of year out west.

And we know what happens here occasionally.

But I mean, for Arkansans experiencing it's a it's a completely new experience.

Absolutely.

And, you know, just as simple as a lightning strike in the middle of the night, you're going to have a storm.

So come through.

It's hot as draw a lightning strike and it could, you know, hit those fuels and it could take off close to residential areas.

So you have to be alert.

You have to be paying attention to what's going on around you, making sure that your, you got the adequate protection there.

You know, who to call if you see a wildfire and do that as quickly as you can.

All right, Jared, I want to bring you in.

Now, let's talk about an egg.

I was driving through the Delta recently.

It was the haves and have nots that day.

You know, there was one of those storm cells you just mentioned, Secretary War that was affecting one community.

And 20 minutes to the east.

It was still dry, sunny and hot.

So we're seeing just two different stories play out where some folks are getting some relief, especially in the heart of where the drought is hitting the hardest.

But then others experiencing that long term drought, how is it affecting the moisture?

What's happening right now with the soil?

And what are farmers trying to do to try to mitigate some of these conditions, to try and keep their crops alive before harvest?

So most of the have and have not from rainfall.

It's been so minimal that it's been it's really only service to stop any harvest or any real progress.

Most of it hasn't amounted to anything that has actually alleviated any irrigation efforts.

So, you know, we were going all the way back to a year ago, basically in somewhat drought conditions since a year ago, all the way through the winter.

So we started this year on the wrong foot, very behind on soil moisture conditions, got some seeming relief in in May, in part of June, and largely except for a few hot spots we know we've reported on, like you, of 7 to 10 inch rain events at a couple of places that, you know, half a county at one point mid-summer.

But beyond that, we're, you know, inches behind per month.

Our irrigation systems are beyond strained.

I continue to have regular conversations with phosphorus crop growers again, regardless of just rice, but also soybean, corn, everything.

I mean, wells are going down or surging in disrepair.

Reservoirs are dry at this point.

So we're we're not done with this cropping season.

We are at the still early stages of harvest, but so much of our rice and still soybeans and even cotton things we haven't mentioned still have a long way to go.

And we're in a lot of cases failing from an irrigation water standpoint.

So it's it's getting worse every day.

And, and relief to, at night, you know, you see that in some other parts of the country where it may be super hot during the day and then cool at night.

But, Dennis, I mean, I think it was at one point, you know, still 90 degrees at 10:00 at night, one of the most recent nights, at least it felt like that at my house.

And I don't know what the official temperature was at the airport, but what are we seeing for nighttime temperatures and how that's not providing the much needed relief that folks expect at nighttime?

Yeah, that's a really good point.

I think just yesterday, at little Rock airport, I think the morning low was 84 degrees, and it's the second warmest morning low we've ever had, on record for the little Rock area.

And that, you know, that record goes back into the late 1800s.

So we're talking a lot over the 150 years, second warmest start to the day ever.

And it is that that relief overnight is what people, especially people that don't have access to air conditioning, the unhoused population, that puts a lot of heat stress on your body.

And a lot of studies have shown that it's it's not necessarily the heat of the day that leads to heat stroke and heat fatalities.

But it's the lack of overnight relief if your body can't get any cooling, you know, over the course of several days, that heat builds up and your body responds by raising its temperature.

But there's a limit to that, right?

None of us like to have a fever.

And so without relief from the heat, you're basically your body is basically always in a feverish state.

And that causes things to break down over a long enough time period.

So, yeah, those warm overnight lows are very dangerous.

One of the most dangerous parts of any heat wave.

Sector where I want to go back to the wildfires, because some of the things you hear about a lot is funding to try and mitigate fires beforehand, whether it be controlled burns or something like that, which we do have in the state.

What have we done recently, especially in the last couple of years, to try and create scenarios where there's not a lot of, starters, so to speak, under timber farms or throughout timber farms throughout the state, as you mentioned, to create scenarios where if something does start, it can be controlled pretty quickly.

Yeah.

No, it's a that's a great point.

And with the amount of forest land that we have in the state, it's growing faster than what we're harvesting.

Yet so prescribed burning, taking those proactive measures are incredibly important to try to remove or remove those fuels from, from the ground and from the, the forest lands.

So it's, it's a concerted effort.

And so we have, from a department standpoint, wildfire response capabilities, we have 100, 175 well, while in firefighters, 110 dozers.

But we rely very heavily on volunteer fire departments throughout the state.

So it's definitely a partnership where we may be able to get crews out to put a, a line around a fire.

But we're working with the volunteer fire departments to help, you know, make sure the residents are notified, make sure they're watering areas that that may be at risk.

And so it's, it takes everybody working together.

But we, you know, the prescribed burns, all of those things are important to reduce those fuels that that are on the ground that make a wildfire more susceptible to take off very quickly.

One of the other things you're doing using technology as well.

Absolutely.

Launching Dash state governments.

We love a good dashboard.

So I mean that that is something that is now synonymous with state government, right?

Yes.

We've got dashboards for everything.

So tell us about the dashboard how people can utilize it.

Yeah.

So a couple of things we're trying to do because we have so much forest land, the state of Arkansas and the public awareness is so critical, a dashboard that we just released very recently so that the public can looks like, I'm just curious, like what's in my area, they can see or there's an active wildfire in a certain area.

They can see it on a map or where it's located.

We also have just just generally social media.

We try to update, you know, here's a lot larger wildfire so that the public is aware, but we also have a dispatch center that people can, can call as well, if they especially if they see our to report the fire, they can call our dispatch center, make sure that we're tracking it and not missing a fire.

So, public engagement, public awareness is critically important.

And we're trying to make sure that those tools are available to, to to keep them informed, but also be able to participate.

Share.

Let's go back to the executor for a moment as we approach harvest late August.

Now, you know, it's getting it to a time where I know there's still some crop in the field that needs to be irrigated.

But you mentioned a moment ago something interesting, and the water report was released, I believe, last month, and it showed that aquifers in the state.

And you mentioned talking to some of the farmers and what the stress that is being put on them right now, not just from the economic standpoint, but just from an actual growing standpoint with irrigation.

What are you hearing and seeing from farmers throughout the state when it comes to using these aquifers and how much they've had to use?

And because of how little rainfall we've had?

So they're extremely concerned?

I mean, that's that's always been, I think, a misconception.

Girls are extremely concerned and have been for a long time about aquifer levels as it affects their livelihood and what they're growing.

So preserving that, we've seen a lot of above ground surface water improvements over recent decades and stressed in recent years to try to alleviate some of our reliance on that.

But in years like this, where we are accumulating very little surface water, so we're already behind, we actually saw cropping decisions for the first time in memory, legitimately affected by how much water do we have available?

Certainly at the surface level, we only have so much of that to go around combined with our aquifer, our well water.

And so we deviated and change plans going into this season, and now we're at more stressful levels.

It seemed like we were making some progress in recent years in terms of that reliance and seeing some improvement at a lot of the the, well monitoring sites that, you know, keep track year over year of the levels, our water levels.

And then you get into a year like this and I don't think we can stop it just this year.

Last year wasn't nearly this drought, but still extreme.

Still still pushed us on the irrigation side a lot.

And actually a few years ago in 22.

So we it seems like we're almost in one of those about once every 100 years.

We have a drought decade type event and it feels like we're in the middle of it.

I would argue three out of the past six summers growing seasons have been fairly drought.

Now, that may not be official from a from a meteorology standpoint, but as far as from a grower, and a cropping system, agriculture that feels like what we're in and it's putting more of a strain no matter what we've attempted to do.

Dennis, you hear a lot about Super El Nino.

Is that a considered a factor in what's playing out here locally, even though it's something that is, you know, in the Pacific Ocean?

Yeah.

So the El Nino, the El Nino-Southern oscillation, that usually plays a bigger role in the United States weather patterns over the winter.

Okay.

So I don't think we're quite yet feeling the impacts of the very strong El Nino that's expected to happen in the equatorial Pacific.

But we do expect it to have a major impact on our, winter season.

Here are winter weather for Arkansas.

That may mean, actually more storm systems, during the winter.

Severe storm system.

So our just winter storm system just.

Well, to some extent it's just good for precip.

Right?

Okay.

Like we're we're going to get more precipitation.

But to your point, yes, it could be severe storms.

It could if it's cold enough, it could be some sort of wintry mix or, you know, something along those lines.

But the a really strong El Nino, we know in the winter time it sends that storm track over the southeastern United States.

And just depending on where that storm track is, sometimes Arkansas is right in the middle of it.

Sometimes it drifts a little south.

But it does look like it'll be a little more active in terms of precipitation this winter.

But, you know, the the strong El Nino, it is expected to raise global temperatures, accelerate global temperature rise.

So we'll have to see how that actually plays out here in Arkansas.

But when it comes to the lack of moisture we've been having, we talked about soil when it comes to AG, but just generally we're seeing trees now start to turn brown and it's not fall yet, obviously.

So there's there's some concerns about what will that do.

In terms of the state outlook when it comes to just overall tree health, not just health of, you know, people and everything we're talking about today?

Oh, yeah.

Well, I mean, when we're in a drought, the the plants, they tend to develop, the first thing they do is they develop a waxy coating on the leaves.

But that means when you get rain, the waxy coating is supposed to prevent the plant from losing moisture.

So it's kind of sealing the moisture in.

But if you don't get rain over a long enough period of time, that waxy coating still isn't enough, and you actually start to see the leaves go into their dormant state, like what they would normally do in October here.

Right?

You start to see that months in advance, and that appears to be what's happening.

I'm not an arborist, but I do know that that waxy coating on the leaves, it's meant to protect the plants, but it's also somewhat flammable, so it actually increases the fire danger.

As those fuels dry, that waxy coating remains on there.

And that waxy coating actually burns a little bit hotter than the dry leaf would by itself.

So drought stress, we're in the middle right now of that waxy coating, kind of the tree starting to get in their dormant phase.

But, you know, we'll we'll have to see how that plays out in terms of available moisture, we usually rely on the plants to give us a whole lot of moisture.

Some of it comes from the Gulf, but a lot of it is through evapotranspiration, just the plants breathing the moisture back out.

And we're surrounded by trees here in Arkansas, so we do rely heavily on that.

So that's probably why we've been a little bit drier here as we get into late summer, as those plants shut down their respiratory system essentially.

And obviously affecting people, as we're talking about today, but also livestock to Secretary Ward, what are you hearing from producers around the state who have livestock?

And they're trying their best to find shade and find water for him if it is we're lacking, as we just talked about.

Yeah.

Mean, I think, you know, one of the great advantages of Arkansas is our diversity of agricultural production.

But to the to the impact of heat and weather, it impacts everything.

Doesn't matter if it's for land or crops or, livestock and poultry industry.

It creates additional stress on those animals.

They're they're not as healthy as they otherwise would be.

They're more susceptible to disease or, or other things that may impact, their ability to grow and produce.

And so, across the board, it has an impact on the entire state in our, in our agriculture industry, for sure.

And this is something, Jared, I know that, you know, as the state has already dealt with, we talked about, I believe, screw worm the last time that you were in here.

So there's already some and not that we have it in Arkansas, but there are some concerns that we did have other parasites that producers were dealing with earlier this year.

What are you hearing now from our seeing now on the livestock production side and how this heat's going to keep affecting, I mean, we've already seen beef prices and what's happening, Jared.

And what what are your expectations after the heat wave does subside?

What's going to be the aftermath on something like this if we continue to have these issues?

Well, for me, on the livestock side, I'd have to defer.

To the sector.

With on the, on livestock.

In that front, I can really just speak to the row crop side.

You know, commodities were that part of.

It's interesting enough.

And what we make here, we have expected very good yields on thinking on what that's going to do for prices.

But at this point, some of our expectations for soybean, we talked about, at one point, my counterpart, Jeremy Ross, soybean specialist, you know, had reason to expect record soybean yield for the state, not so much anymore with this stress.

And what they're seeing, all this increased irrigation has actually increased disease pressure.

Sounds counterintuitive because it's so dry, but we're having to irrigate so much.

It's putting so much moisture into that plant canopy.

Diseases are getting worse.

They're seeing and observing, failure of pods to to fill and make soybeans due to this heat stress, despite irrigation, rice largely escaped some of that.

We've kind of made most of that crop by the same for corn, but beans is probably filling the most of it in cotton, so we're definitely going to see some shifts in average yields and supply.

And there's still so much to come from the high on that time temperature stress that's going on.

The flash drought that seems to be occurring, that's going to lead to early plant death even with the temperate irrigation.

So, this is this we're staying at a big ripple effect for for the delta and rest of Arkansas for the amount of these commodities that were actually going to successfully produce.

And the less we produce, the less is cycling through and going through all those different levels of agribusiness in the state.

Let's talk about post-harvest, though, drying.

You know, grain bins are already starting to get fired up around the state right now.

But with this kind of heat and this kind of pressure from just the climate side of it, whenever you got so much heat at night where it's 84 degrees still, is it going to put more pressure on these farmers on their on their post-harvest as well?

Yes, absolutely.

So there's actually already been from what we do have the talk about technology and things evolving.

So there's been a great, movement in recent years to these cable monitoring systems put in green bins, which used to we literally went by everybody had a chart in their in their shop, and you had to look at the humidity and the temperature and decide when to turn fans on or not.

Winter to actually dry the grain.

Well, now these cables help give you automatic guidance, but they're actually having to set them to run at very strange times and often just at night.

Right now, there's no guidance like for corn that's being harvested, because if they run them during the day, the air is so hot and so dry, they're afraid they're going to cook part of what's in the bin while trying to get the rest of it dry, so they can only run it during certain periods of the day when it's cooler and still not that cool.

I'm saying 8080.

Four, right?

Right.

Yeah.

But to keep from literally spoiling the crop in the bin where they're having to divert to alternative, you know, timings and measures, it's something we just are unaccustomed to dealing with.

Sector where you've been nag a long time.

This is something to I know that is putting a strain on not just from the standpoint of keeping that around those unusual times.

At least we do have technology now to make those improvements, but also going to put a strain potentially on their energy prices because they're having to run a more and.

More higher cost.

You know, it's, you know, no secret that Arkansas's farm economy has been has been struggling, especially on the road crop side.

And so this is just one more one more stress.

Or, you know, you might have been looking at a record year on soybean production, and now they're now they've got higher production costs, your possibly lower yield at a time with so much volatility.

This is the last thing producers need to it's again agriculture is our largest industry.

It has ripple effects throughout throughout the entire state and our communities.

We're just talking about how there's certainly been a, a period of long drought, right?

I believe dating back to November of last year when it began.

We did get a little relief, I think in the spring, slight, I don't think we got back up to our normal level.

So did we, Dennis.

No, that's the question I think people have now is with the backlog.

We have and we had a huge amount of precipitation last year, if you recall, I believe it was April or May, which is difficult, but it was massive.

But then nothing for a long period after that.

So the volatile swings in precip Dennis where do we and it's going to vary for everybody.

It's going to vary for Lake Brewer.

It's going to vary for row crop farmers and everybody.

But what is the amount that we would need ballpark to get into a range where everybody start.

The stress goes down as a as a whole for the state.

What are we looking at here in terms of what we need to get back to?

Yeah, I mean, like you said, it does vary around the state, but on average we need 10 to 15in of rain in one month.

Just to make up the difference, just to bring us back up to what we would consider an average or normal level.

That's a lot.

We don't often.

Besides April of 2025, it's it's very rare to get 10 to 15in of rain, in one month here in Arkansas, so I do I don't think we're going to be able to wipe it out in one month, unless we get a tropical system that just decays and parks over us.

It's probably going to take a multi-month.

We're looking at a multi-month recovery mode here, and maybe, you know, maybe the winter, more active storm season, maybe that'll help.

But 10 to 15in below normal, it's a lot.

It's a big ask.

It's hard to make that up.

All right, before we go, we talked for about 20 minutes, and it's been pretty damn pretty.

I mean, it's it's been hot.

Everybody is miserable.

The heat is is oppressive.

All right.

We got about four minutes left.

I want bright outlooks.

I'll start with you.

Secretary Ward, you just mentioned something interesting that I thought, and obviously there are challenges with the irrigation and whatnot, but what are some what are some bright outlooks that we can look for, how we're in terms of agriculture that you've seen in the state?

What are some people you've talked to who have had some positive outcomes this year so far?

Sure.

Yeah.

Well, I'd probably like two quick points is one, even when we're dealing with what your wildfire danger being so, like it is, it's comforting to see everybody working together from state government, local government, community members if there's a fire hazard, like, everyone's trying to work together to make sure that they're responding and you're reducing the impact, which is which is great, just shows, you know, the community level in Arkansas.

People are willing to work with each other.

But, that's one one bright spot on the current challenges.

Separately, cattle and poultry are are doing are doing okay.

So that's that helps overall State Farm economy.

Those two sectors certainly will help us get through some of this challenging crisis.

Dennis.

Yeah.

I mean, to to follow what the secretary said, we started talking about the potential for this heat wave and flash drought a couple of weeks ago.

We're sending out briefings, and the officials of the state of Arkansas really brought everybody together.

We had, briefings with the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management.

Forestry was there, and that that helped prompt the opening of cooling shelters.

It helped forestry prepare for, you know, a possibility of more active, busy, you know, fire weather season and things like that.

So I do think I really appreciate the fact that the people of the officials of Arkansas are taking this seriously.

They're trying to do their best to keep everybody safe, keep everybody healthy.

And it's it's been a really rewarding experience.

We saw the heat wave.

We talked about it.

Officials took action.

So I think that's something to, everybody that works for the state of Arkansas can really hang their hat on that.

And finally, Jared.

Not really in our control, but we are seeing general improvement in commodity prices, certainly not going to completely offset some of the increased costs we've experienced this year.

Fuel and fertilizer.

But that's going to point us in the right direction.

You kind of add into that what is as of right now, we can complain about the heat, but at the same time, a very fast, efficient harvest happens when it's a warm, dry fall.

As long as Dennis didn't just put the potential for 10 to 15in of rainfall and during harvest on medium catch up, right, that would not be possible.

But that that's what I would take away from it for.

Now, early into a lot of, a lot of producers got in early this year with their crops.

So they're able to get them out earlier, hopefully before we get any type of heavy rainfall like that where they can't get out in the field.

Okay.

Thank you.

Secretary westward, Arkansas Department of Agriculture Dennis Cavanaugh with the National Weather Service in Little Rock and Jared Hartke with the University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture.

Thank you guys so much for your time.

We appreciate it.

And try to stay cool out there.

We'll see you next time.

All right.

Stay tuned.

Arkansas week continues right after this.

And welcome back to Arkansas Week.

Conway is now in phase three of its emergency water curtailment plan as ongoing drought conditions continue.

And they lower Brewer Lake, that is the city's primary water source.

And the new restrictions limit lawn watering and several other non-essential uses of water.

Joining us now to explain is Brett Carroll, CEO of Conway Core.

And Fred, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate I know you've been very busy, and this is something that's been talked about now for several months.

And just as a coincidence, I believe when I talk to you a couple of years ago, I know that Conway Corp, you are very forward thinking municipal organization that works to make sure that not everything is planned for just tomorrow, but years ahead.

And I remember years ago you told me we are planning for water in 2037, and now it's it's happening quicker because of just different climatological conditions, the drought that we're having in the state.

But tell us the update now.

And I know this is something that you guys have been monitoring closely.

Phase three.

What does that mean exactly?

Yeah.

Well phase three, first time we've been in phase three that I can recall been at comical for 28 years.

And this is the first time that I can recall us being in phase three.

But what that really means, we're trying to reduce residential irrigation.

Irrigation in general.

And before we moved into phase three, in phase two, people could water three days a week.

Now they can water one day a week.

So primarily the most substantial change from the previous phase is irrigation one day a week.

And then also if you have an empty pool, then we're asking people not to fill those pools now.

So those are the primary changes.

Let's go to Bear Lake okay.

Sure.

11ft below I believe it's about ten ten feet, sir.

What does that tell us right now in terms of what you all have experienced just northwest of the city?

Long time water supply, primary source.

So what are you seeing up there?

You've been with Conway Corp a long time.

Yeah, yeah, the lake is low.

Three 17.1, mean sea level this morning.

Now, we've been there before.

We were there in 2012.

We were lower than that in 2005.

In 2006, in that time frame, we were in a drought situation in those years as well.

But, but the lake is low.

And it's interesting.

If you look at the the U.S.

Drought Monitor map, you can look at the entire United States.

Also, drill down into the state of Arkansas and also in the counties in Arkansas.

And there's a handful of counties that are in extreme drought.

There's a red spot in those counties.

And unfortunately, Conway County, where our lake sits, is one of those counties.

And so, so it's it's a it's been an interesting summer for sure, but the lake is low.

And so we just need to move to this phase to, to maintain the pool at the lake until we can get to a period of time where we get some rain that recharges the lake and we can go back to, to business as.

Usual whenever it comes to historical reference, as you mentioned, 2012 2005.

Yeah, not going into phase three at the time.

That's right.

Is this more precautionary or is it because the city has grown so much?

How do you guys evaluate when to make that move based on what you've seen historically?

Yeah.

Well, we're we're, we're at a, a position, today where we can make more informed decisions.

You know, we we've got data now that we didn't have in oh five and oh six and even into in 2012.

So we know, when people are using a lot of water, we have automated metering infrastructure that allows us to know, when people are using a lot of water, when irrigation really picks up, we can see that in oh five and oh six.

We really didn't know in 2012, we really didn't know.

And so, I think that that, it is certainly precautionary and the city has grown, let's be honest, in in 2005 and 2006, we had about 55,000 people.

Now we have about 71,000 people.

So there has been some growth.

Now, I would say that our water sales over the past ten years, have increased.

The compound annual growth rate is 0.7 5%.

So it's not been, not been dramatic.

Okay.

But we just want to make sure that we've got, that we protect the level of the lake.

And the data that we have now allows us to make more informed decisions, and we've moved to that stage quicker than we have in the past.

Also, the timing, you know, we're it's very hot when we're in the later stages of the summer.

Right.

So it's just it just we felt prudent.

It was prudent citizen to to go to phase three at this point in time.

And this is for residential.

It's for forever.

It's for every it's.

For every points for anybody that irrigates I mean, you know, 90% of our meters are residential, 60% of our water usage is residential.

But anybody who irrigates residential, commercial, industrial, we're asking them to be to be conservation minded and to reduce their irrigation.

And when you are there any consequences to those who ignore.

Their.

Are our accountability?

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, we do have the ability to lock meters.

Okay.

If that's the case.

And and we did that a little bit already, I think there are about 20m that we locked in.

What we found was it that that oftentimes that people thought that they were following the guidelines and maybe they just they, they got their their irrigation system on the wrong day?

We also identified some leaks.

So we were monitoring Wednesday.

You couldn't water on Wednesday.

And we had some indication that there were some irrigation taking place.

And what we found is that there were leaks and so people weren't actually watering, but there were leaks in their system.

So they're able to fix those.

So that's been a really positive thing that's come from this as we've identified, some leaks in people systems, customer systems, and they've been able to rectify that.

So that's been a very positive thing.

So in general, we don't want to punish anybody.

We don't we don't want there to be any punitive damage.

But we do want people to conserve.

We want everyone to do their part.

And thus far our customers have responded really well.

What about supplemental measures?

What are you guys doing right now to try and bring more resources?

The great question.

So thankful for Cabin Creek, which used to be our primary water source.

Okay.

Until about 1984.

That's when Lake Brewer was completed.

But Canyon Creek was our primary water source.

And so we're using about 6 million gallons a day from Canyon Creek.

We're taking about six from the lake, and we're purchasing about a million gallons a day from community water systems.

So we have, interconnection with them on the east side of town.

It's not a lot that we can get, but every every bit helps.

And so we can get about 1 million to 1 million, five gallons per day from them.

And so we're purchasing that water, every day.

And so, so in addition to Lake Brewer, Kedron Creek and, and community water systems, when.

You have valuable resources around with the opportunity to take that, these are measures, too, that I know are carefully planned out and done so in a way that you guys feel like you're keeping your rates low enough.

That's right.

Right.

Because I know that that that's got to be so important.

And something you've always prided yourself on is exceptional service, but also rates that are lower.

Yeah, we really understand that that that for a lot of people it's a struggle mostly just to make ends meet.

So we want to provide a good value.

I mean I don't expect our rates to be the lowest in the state.

They're among the lowest in the state.

But we need enough we need to generate enough revenue to take care of our infrastructure to plan for the future.

And so you have to balance the needs with affordability and with making sure you're being proactive and taking care of your infrastructure.

And meteorologists on this program, said that 10 to 11in or 10 to 15, I think you reference saying that would be for a statewide be something that would be beneficial.

And that's, you know, in the end, what is realistic in terms of what you all would like to see or hope to see when it comes to Bear Lake and some of the supplemental options that you pull from right now to get at least to a point where it's not depleting.

Still.

Sure?

Sure.

Yeah, that's a good question.

And, you know, it really depends on not only the amount of rain, but the time in which we get it.

And our reference to the year 2005, 2006, I'm a reference 2012.

And we didn't go into any kind of, curtailment in 2012.

We had a full lake when the year started.

And we had a lot of demand during the course of the year, but but we never got to a really low level and we able to to get enough rain in the fall and winter to recharge the lake if we could get, you know, 4 to 6in over 2 to 3 day period, that would be real helpful.

That could very likely take us to two phase two of the curtailment.

And if we could get those ten inches, I think there's a good chance that would get the lake up to, to, to a very manageable level to like that we'd feel comfortable maybe just even doing voluntary for Talman, but, but we're we're hopeful for rain.

You know, we were in a drought situation, and it's interesting.

At that time, we sent out three newsletters.

That's what we sent out to people.

We didn't have social media at that time, so it changed our interactions with customers and and the feedback that we received from customers.

But we got a lot of rain in the fall and winter, and the lake was full.

And that's that's been the case, except for 2025 and in 2005.

But those other years, we've got enough rain to fill the lake and county has grown.

But our studies have shown, we did a water supply study in 2019.

And it showed that we thought we would need an, an additional source of water by 2035 to 2037.

That is the time frame.

So our plan is to have a new water treatment plant and a new source of water by 2035.

That is that is the current plan.

So that's what we're working towards.

And I know that's something to that came in the news recently in the last few months.

Yeah.

Not so.

And like you said this is something that's, you know, is not just being decided on now.

You did the study in 2019.

We talked about it several years ago.

That's right.

And it now is more in the news because of what's happening in our lake.

But tell everybody what that plan entails and, and the feasibility of it because it is something to where it's going to be.

You know, there are some challenges along the way of getting that water.

And how are you going to do it?

Sure.

Yeah.

I'm happy to talk about that.

It's, when you get into these kind of situations and customers have to conserve the first question as well.

Well, what have you been doing to plan for it?

Have we ever gotten too big?

Have we not gotten enough water to to serve our community with the growth that we have?

And we have been planning, these projects take a long time.

We received.

So we belong to the Mid Arkansas water lines.

And so they interact with the Corps of Engineers.

The Corps of Engineers manages groups very like they're the ones who decide how those allocations, those water use rights are allocated and distributed amongst, water providers in the state.

And we received our first water allocation in 2010.

So that's been 16 years ago.

So so we really our plan all along has been to go to groups for since really since 2010.

But at the time we were allocated 3 million gallons a day.

Well, you're not going to spend, all of the capital that's required to get that that water from groups for you to Conway, just for 3 million gallons a day.

So.

So we kept working through the process.

We received another 3 million gallons in 2018, and then another million gallons, in 2020.

And then we have partnered with Community Water Systems, and they have about 14 million gallons a day of allocation.

So there we are right, at 21 million gallons a day.

And now you've got enough water to make it worthwhile to invest in an intake.

At the lake, a raw water line from Greers Ferry to our community, and then a new water treatment plant that's going to be on the northeast side of town.

So that is the plan.

And it just takes a while.

I wish it didn't take this long, but, you know, there are governmental agencies you have to work with to get permitting.

There are landowners that you have to work with to have right of way acquisition, for 42 inch raw water line.

Yeah.

And then, you know, the, the funding that takes the money you have to borrow to construct a project like this.

And so I wish it didn't take this long, but these projects are just very, very just take a long time.

And we've been planning for this for some time.

How much would something like that 21 million gallons insulate you from future issues?

Like we're seeing a brewer, like.

Yeah.

Yeah, well, we believe that, that this water plan will carry us, into the into the 2100s.

Wow.

Yeah.

Now, now, the immediate plans, the water plant that will build the new one is about 60 million gallons a day, so it won't get us there.

But obviously there's enough.

There's enough, acreage on the property we bought, that the footprint will allow greater expansion of that, of that water treatment facility.

And then also, we're hopeful for, for additional allocation from grocery when the Corps believes that that's appropriate.

But that's what we're hoping for there as well.

All right.

Let's talk about some other things going on in county court.

Now, I know you a lot has been focused on water, deservedly.

Yeah.

But, tell us about what you all have been working on to continue to serve the community as you continue to grow.

You mentioned.

Yeah, just the growth in the last 10 to 15 years in Conway, outside of Northwest Arkansas, is still the fastest growing city in the state.

Yeah, yeah.

So there's a there is a lot going on.

I mentioned earlier, I've been here 28 years.

If we've ever been busier or had more going on, I do not remember it.

Yeah.

But there's a lot going on and, and I just try to think about it in terms of the electric department, the water department, wastewater and telecommunications as well.

So as you as you've seen, there's we have ownership in a couple of generating facilities that that are going to cease operations in 2028 and 2030.

The what will plant in the independence plant.

And so we're planning for replacement generation for those facilities.

And so that's a big project.

We've been working with the Arkansas electric cooperatives.

We've been working with other cities, Jonesboro, West Memphis, to to construct this new facility.

And our plan is to have, hopefully we're we're getting electrons out of that facility in 2031.

So that's the plan there in the electric department.

And so that's that's a project we've been working on really since 2018.

Yeah.

That's when a settlement was was made to close those plants.

So we've been planning for new generating facilities really since 2018.

On the water side, obviously we've talked about the grocery project, which is important, but we're also, we're running a parallel line from Lake Brewer, a parallel water line from the lake to a water treatment plant.

The one that we have is about 45 years old.

In those don't last forever.

And so we're planning for another line for resiliency, for redundancy.

And then also, we're expanding our water treatment plant, the existing one, by meeting gallons a day.

And we really can't take advantage of that extra treatment capacity unless we have more water coming from the lake.

So so it gives us extra capacity.

And it also provides some redundancy for, for a line that's 45 years old.

I guess it was late in September of 2024.

We had to do some emergency repairs on the Lake line, the Brewer line, and, we had to do mandatory curtailment because we needed our storage.

You know, in September, people are still using a good bit of water.

So we had had to do mentor curtailment to make sure we didn't run out of water in storage.

So our crews got out there.

They did a phenomenal job getting that work done that evening.

And so anyway, so yeah, to have another parallel line from from the lake to Conway and then, not a lot going on in West Water right now.

We're doing some work there to, to, to sort of, to decommission an older wastewater treatment plant.

And so we're working on that.

And on the telecommunication side, we're building fiber throughout our community, always changing.

I'm always like, yeah.

You know, there's a lot of competition, you know, that is that we have competition in that area.

And we have a, you know, we really love serving those customers.

And we have, you know, local customer service, of course.

But, you know, you've got to keep up with, with demand and the products that we're competing with.

And so fiber will allow us to do that.

So that's a that's important project that will take place over the next 3 to 4 years.

Fast, one of the fastest growing cities in the state, Conway and Conway Corp leading the charge and making sure the service is available.

Brett, thank you so much for joining us.

We appreciate the time and hopefully we get that much needed rainfall.

Yeah, I'm hoping for that.

We'll see you next time.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We'll come back after this.

And Arkansas we continue.

Stay with us.

Welcome back to Arkansas Week.

We turn now to extreme heat safety, including how to prevent heat related illness, recognize the warning signs and prepare for a possible power outage.

Joining us now is Doctor Riva Brown, executive director with the American Red cross.

Doctor Brown, thanks so much for joining us and.

For having me, Chris.

We know we are in a cool studio today, fortunately, but there's a lot of folks out there working in the heat or exposed to the heat long term exposure.

And I know the Red cross is stepping in to help out.

Let's talk about the mission.

What is the Red cross to tell everybody at home who may not be as familiar with your mission?

Yes, the Red cross, we've been around for over 100 years, and our mission is to prevent and alleviate human suffering in the face of emergencies.

And we do that through our volunteers and our donors.

But those emergencies for us are normally natural disasters, which could be an extreme heat wave.

It could be floods, tornadoes, wildfires.

So those are the emergencies we like to prevent and alleviate.

And these emergencies come on all times of the year, which is why we know the Red cross is already mobilizing and always ready to mobilize.

Let's talk about this prolonged heatwave that we've been in.

What are some precautions folks should take whenever they're going through this type of oppressive heat?

Yes.

Well, I like to tell people to stay cool, stay hydrated, and stay connected.

We know how important it is for people to stay cool.

We want you in an air conditioned building.

This facility is great.

Thank you for having that AC working here today.

It is so important.

That was a hot walk into this building today.

So if you cannot be in an air conditioned home, if your home doesn't have working air, make sure that you can go to a place where air conditioning is available and that could be a public library.

It could be the mall.

It could be a cooling center anywhere like that where you can make sure that you stay cool.

We have seen cooling centers open up recently and more and more becoming available, which is great to see that the, you know, public, have an opportunity to go in and get that much needed relief.

So when it comes to the greatest at risk folks for this type of heat, who are some of the people that we need to be thinking about more and check on them and make sure that they're doing okay?

Great question Chris.

Definitely our elderly, we have to make sure that we take care of our senior citizens.

Help your neighbor.

Check on your neighbor.

That's very important.

And again, people with disabilities, we need to make sure that they are adequately cared for as well.

And then we have children, people with illnesses, pregnant women.

These are just a few of the people that we need to make sure that we take extra precaution to make sure they're safe.

Communications never been more simple in terms of availability, just a simple message every now and then.

Do you think that would be helpful?

Just a text message or a phone call?

Hey, just checking in on you, making sure you're doing okay.

Absolutely.

Text call.

Also, just knock on the door.

Sometimes old.

Fashioned right.

Fashioned way because we need we need that human connection.

Sometimes, even though I'm okay with text and phone calls, even an instant message on social media sometimes will work as well.

Let's talk about how to beat the heat for a moment.

And what is the Red cross saying in terms of what people should be mindful of what they're in, taking into their bodies right now to stay hydrated?

Yes, definitely.

Get your water.

And I like to add electrolytes to my water.

Some people drink Gatorade.

You need those extra electrolytes because when you're sweating you're losing a lot of salt.

And it's important to replace that.

And even the average person should be drinking about three fourths of a gallon of water per day.

That's very important.

Even if you don't feel thirsty, make sure that you're drinking your water every 20 minutes or so.

Just take a couple of sets.

Keep a water bottle on your desk.

I have my water right here, and.

I've got one right here.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yes.

You're right.

Take a sip of water.

Very important.

Very important.

Yes.

But with the things that you do drink, what should you not drink?

I know it's so tempting.

During the summer, you want to have your sugary drinks and know you want to go through the drive through and grab your coffee.

But the caffeine, that's something that you may need to avoid alcohol.

Some of those things, rely on the water.

I'm going to take myself.

Right?

Yes.

Go right ahead while I get the next question queued up.

Yeah.

It is one of those times a year where everyone's going to be looking for anything to keep them cool, right?

But I know the Red cross, you all caution that maybe fans, depending on the day or the time, may not be enough.

When should someone maybe consider if their conditioning is out?

There have been power outages, so we'll talk about those in a minute.

When those take place, at what point are fans not enough?

And someone should likely consider making their way into a place that does have some central form of AC.

Yes, sometimes the fans just kind of circulate the hot air around.

And one of the things too, that may be surprising to some people.

Sometimes it might be better to be outside in the shade than some indoor places, especially if you don't have the air conditioner.

So that's very important to consider as well.

I remember being on a college campus just a couple of days ago, and some students were outside.

They were outside in a shaded area because for them, it was cooler than where the AC was not working at the time.

And we don't want to have that that hot air kind of circulating.

And people aren't getting the cooling effect that they need.

Whenever it comes to taking measures when someone is having issues with the heat, what are some things that they need to be doing if they experience heat related cramping or other symptoms that could be more serious?

Yes.

So the first thing they need to do is definitely move to a cool place.

That is so very important, wherever you can be cool, even if you're doing something like taking a wet rag and just kind of dabbing, or having something where you can mist yourself to cool off, or even wearing damp clothing that can help you kind of get your body temperature down.

So those things are very important.

But of course, you know, if things last for more than an hour, if you're dealing with heat cramps, it's important to seek medical attention as well.

Okay.

And that meaning, go and find, I'm not just, I should say an emergency room.

Or is this something where someone should maybe go to a, a doctor that's just available in their areas?

It's an, er, visit worthy if they have cramps within an hour.

I know that gives more in to maybe heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Shortness of breath, maybe more like.

Okay, so Brad, if your body temperature is moving past 100.

And for those types of things, that's when we get to the situation where you need to call 911.

Okay.

Yes.

That's what people want to know is at what point is it become an emergency versus I just need to cool off.

I will go take.

A cold bath.

Or something like that, those types of things.

But if you're starting to have some muscle cramps, you're feeling tired or weak or something like that.

You need the medical help.

But when you you're that pulse.

Oh my gosh, if it gets really fast.

That body temperature rises.

You're having headaches or dizziness.

Please call 911.

We want you to be safe.

We want you to be well.

I know you guys work with families all the time.

I have experienced this before where I've had a family member say, I'm fine, I'm fine, but they're not fine.

How would you encourage folks to get those family members to listen to them and say, no, we need to go and get some professional medical help here.

You can't just drink the pickle juice and hope those cramps are going to.

Go, oh my gosh, the pickle juice with the cramps.

Oh my god.

Yeah.

That's what I've I've I've had that in my household growing up.

And eventually I ended up with an er visit at 1 a.m.. Absolutely.

So definitely work to be that family member or that friend that people know that when you speak, they better listen because you have something valuable to say that could help save their lives or helped keep them from being even in more danger by not seeking the medical help right away.

And if you're one of those hard headed people that don't want to listen to people, let this be a warning for you to please listen.

Because if people are telling you to seek help, get that medical attention, that's very important.

And they care about you, they love you, they're concerned about you.

And please listen so you can get the help that you need.

All right.

So moving through the state recently we have this heat wave.

But in the heat wave we have seen some extreme storms kind of the you know, extremities on both side, extreme heat and then afternoon pop up storms could happen in certain areas.

And we've had several areas with massive power outages in the last couple of weeks.

How does a Red cross mobilize on something like that?

Or at what point does the Red cross mobilize is a have to be widespread?

Or is it something to where, you know, it needs to be a big weather event because as you mentioned, Red cross is going to be there.

Whether it's extreme heat, tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, at what point is the the Red cross going to say, okay, we need to step in and mobilize our units and be out in the community where people are affected, especially by something like power outages.

Absolutely.

This is where community partners come in so handy.

We work with so many emergency management officials, so to help us do our jobs better with that, we would step in if it's a widespread, long term type of thing.

And so one of the things that the Red cross would do is look at opening a shelter, depending on how long it lasts, the power outage last, how widespread it is, and if our partners aren't able to kind of help step in to kind of work with the people who are suffering from the power outages.

I know you have a bunch of great resources as well, that you offer to folks.

Where can people find all the great resources the Red cross has available to be energy, emergency prepared and ready for any type of event that could come their way?

Absolutely.

Visit Red cross.

That or number one we have and slash heat check number one to get some heat related information.

Red cross that org is a valuable source.

We also have an app.

We have an app that gives you all types of information, multiple different types of apps.

So you can visit Red cross that or for it slash apps apps and look maybe tell you Kris, if you don't have one of our apps on the phone when I get off this, please, I'm going to help you download it on your phone because it gives you tips as well that can help keep you safe and alerts you if there's a tornado or something like that coming to your area.

If you need some quick tips on what to do if you're not sure what to do about a heat stroke or heat something heat related, are apps stepping in to help with that?

Is an organization, as you mentioned, over 100 years.

You're the executive director here locally at the American Red cross.

What are some of the changes that you've seen that have been made that excite you the most about what the Red cross continues to do and build upon, and how the foundation that's been laid continues to be grown.

And and you all continue to be able to reach out in new ways.

Like you just said.

Now an app is available where beforehand you probably sending out newsletters or mailers.

And what are some of the big things that you're excited about for the Red cross moving forward to continue to serve the communities that you are all are in?

Well, one of the things that we will be focusing on this year is community mobilization.

So the the Community Mobilization Initiative is so very important.

The Red cross has been around all of these years.

90% of our workforce is volunteer.

We cannot do our work without volunteers.

We don't know what the future of volunteerism looks like for the country as a whole.

And the Community Mobilization Initiative allows us to equip the communities to serve themselves.

Yes, the Red cross will be there for you, but what does it look like for the Red cross to help prepare communities to help themselves?

So that whole idea of neighbors helping neighbors, we want to empower communities to believe that they are the Red cross and that if something happens, the Red cross has equipped them with the training, the resources, that education, the tools that they need to respond to a disaster in their own community.

If the Red cross cannot be there right away, we're always going to be there, but the community is right there.

So the power of that community mobilization initiative to get the communities involved in helping themselves without relying on outside help, how powerful is that?

That's amazing.

That's very powerful.

And that is what the Red cross is moving towards.

And if someone wants to be a volunteer, what's the route they need to take to sign up and be active within the Red cross organization?

Absolutely.

We need our volunteers.

Again, you can visit Red cross that, or you can visit and forward slash volunteer and you can find out all of that great information.

Look me up online, call me, text me, email me, and I will definitely connect you with the right person to get you involved.

Okay?

And involved in so many different ways too, right?

You guys?

Different avenues of volunteering.

So someone who may be right there with a power outage and so may be helping in behind the scenes, right.

Just helping mobilize and the logistics behind what you all do is fascinating.

But we don't have time to get into it.

But I appreciate you stopping by, Doctor Brown.

Thank you so much, executive director with the American Red cross.

And we look forward to seeing you next time.

Stay cool out there.

We'll see.

You so much for having.

Me.

And that's it for this edition of Arkansas Week.

Thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Chris Kane and we'll see you next time.

Thank you.