Water

Fort Smith Water

The City of Fort Smith currently provides drinking water services to approximately 150,000 customers, which includes residents of Fort Smith and the Western Arkansas River Valley Region.

The City of Fort Smith Utility Department’s water programs include Water Treatment, Water Line & Meter Maintenance, Environmental Quality, Watershed Management, Utility Engineering,  and Easement, Building, & Station Maintenance.

Water services were first brought to Fort Smith in the 1930s. After the Great Depression, the federal government’s “New Deal” brought public works projects to the area, and federal workers built the dam for our first water source, Lake Fort Smith, located in Mountainburg, AR. The original water transmission pipe was brought to Fort Smith in 1935. Lake Fort Smith was enlarged in 2006 to meet the growing demand for water services in the River Valley. Lee Creek Reservoir, a secondary water source, was built in the early 1990s.

Today, our water programs are responsible for over 700 miles of water transmission and distribution water mains, two treatment plants, 16 pump stations, 11 pressure reducing stations, 13 water storage tanks, and producing over 10.5 billion gallons of safe drinking water per year. The Department also operates a state-certified laboratory and monitors the drinking water supply and watersheds.