Many have asked, so here is the answer: Water pouring from a fire hydrant and a pipe into the creek in Allsopp Park for several weeks is untreated water diverted from Lake Winona. It’s being diverted because the Ozark Point Water Treatment Plant at 3200 Hill Road can’t take it while it is being rebuilt.
The 82-year-old Ozark Point plant, in Knoop Park, was shut down in fall for the $27 million project. A loan from the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission is paying for the work.
The flow of water coming from the pipe and hydrant is significant, changing the sometimes dry creek into a fast-flowing one. The diversion is not affecting ratepayers, spokeswoman Samantha Williams-Davis said. She said the water was “less than one-hundredth of the percentage of the water that flows from Lake Winona daily.”
The hydrant and pipe, an air release valve that serves to regulate flow from Winona, date to the construction of Ozark Point. The hydrant is not part of the system used by firefighters, so it has no effect on water pressure in the neighborhood.