Millions in Stimulus Money Coming to Arkansas Water District

It is the life-blood of any community. But in the Searcy County seat of Marshall, their city water supply comes from this mountain spring.

"A lot of us here that have never had water. A lot of us have got bad water, "James Busbee is the mayor of Marshall. He says the improvement project to be funded by the stimulus money is significant as electricity coming to the Ozarks.

In years past the spring would run dry, leaving a well as Marshall's only water supply.
Rationing is a common practice during dry summers.
But with an abundant supply from Bull Shoals Lake, city officials are looking for a lot of development.

Mayor Busbee says, "We won't like what it going to look like in ten years, it'll change that much. And it will. You can look at what happened to Boone County by having Carol Boone water. Look at what happened to northwest Arkansas. No doubt in my mind all that stuff up there wouldn't happen if they hadn't had the water from the lake."

The water from the springs and the well go a pump station where it's pumped at 400 gallons minute to the town of Marshall six miles away. Once the new water supply is established the spring water will simply flow into the Buffalo River.

That means for the first time in more than 100 years, the spring will no longer serve as a source of drinking water, and the town of Marshall will no longer be hostage to it's unpredictable rate of flow.

It may be a year before work begins. But a brand new water supply could be flowing into Marshall in as little as three years.