Springdale, Tontitown Water Contract Hits Another Snag
Power Plant Unsure How Much Water It Needs For Cooling
Last updated Saturday, July 19, 2008 10:29 PM CDT in News
By Bob Caudle
The Morning News
The AEP-SWEPCO Mattison Power Plant, in Tontitown, needs water to function, but no one is quite sure how much water it needs.
The facility is a "peak" plant, meaning it kicks in when consumers are using peak loads of electricity.
The plant uses the water to cool the turbines. Springdale sells water to Tontitown which in turns sells it sell it to AEP-SWEPCO. Springdale was scheduled to increase the volume of the transmission lines to handle the additional capacity needed by the power plant.
The problem is, nobody knows exactly what that added capacity is.
Springdale and Tontitown were poised to sign a contract that included a $4,500 surcharge to Tontitown to cover construction of the improved lines.
Tontitown would of course pass the surcharge on to AEP-SWEPCO.
Sounds simple, but there is a fly in the ointment, engineers are now saying the plant won't need as much water as previous predicted, said Mick Wagner, executive director of the Tontitown Water and Sewer Department.
" The numbers AEP now say that they need are about a tenth of the original volumes which drove the need for a new contract," Wagner said.
Tontitown's five-year contract became effective July 7, 2004. A contract amendment, effective Oct. 24, 2007, caps Tontitown's use at 458,000 gallons per day, up from the original 350,000 gallons per day.
The volume agreed to in 2007 is sufficient for Tontitown today, "provided that AEP-SWEPCO doesn't exceed what they now say they will use," Wagner said.
Tommy Deweese, manager of external affairs for AEP-SWEPCO, said the efficiency of the machines dictate that the plant will use less water.
"We're going to get it worked out," Deweese said. "We're still negotiating."
Springdale officials are leaving the negotiations to Tontitown and AEP-SWEPCO representatives, said Rene Langston, executive director for the Springdale Water Utilities.
"That's who the contractual agreement will be between," Langston said. "Apparently, SWEPCO is not needing as much water as they thought they were going to need. I'm not sure if they've defined the level of service they're going to need yet," Langston continued.
Right now, a new contract between Springdale and Tontitown is on hold at the request of Tontitown, Langston added.
"We'll continue to provide water service under the current contract, which expires next year," Langston said.
Fast Fact
The AEP-SWEPCO power plant in Tontitown is named for Harry D. Mattison, who was president and chief executive officer of SWEPCO from 1988 through 1990. A 33-year employee, Mattison is a native Arkansan and a graduate of the University of Arkansas.
Source: Staff Report
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