As Chris Colclasure puts it, “Water falls free from the sky.” But it’s not free if you want it to come out of a pipe clean enough to drink.

Colclasure is director of the Arkansas Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Division. He would help administer a $500 million bond issue for water and wastewater projects if voters approve it this November.

Issue 4 represents the fifth time legislators have asked voters to give the state such authority. Voters have said yes the previous four times. The first was in 1982, and the most recent was in 2008. The latter was for $300 million, with the last of the bonds issued in August. 

The state has identified $20.1 billion in needed upgrades over the next 20 years through its soon-to-be-released State Water Plan update. Issue 4 would help provide that funding for the next 16 years. It would help the state pay for its 20% share for federal matching funds and allow it to fund projects directly with general obligation bonds. The state would loan proceeds to communities, often at a better interest rate than they could obtain on their own.

Leaky pipes lose water

Colclasure said Arkansas’ community water systems lose an average of 21% of their water because of leaky pipes. In some systems, that number is as high as 70%. Chris Harris, Arkansas Rural Water Association executive director, said the goal is to keep leakage under 15%. All systems face continual challenges with leakage because the ground surrounding the pipes shifts as it dries out. 

“A lot of the systems were built between the ’50s and the ’70s and ‘80s,” Colclasure said. “So, overall, most of our infrastructure is over 30 years old. And a lot of the pumps and other components are well beyond their expected life, so they’re just hanging on by a thread and need to be replaced.”

Some systems need significant upgrades because of their age or because they need to account for population shifts. Conway Corp has asked Conway residents this summer to limit watering their lawns to one day a week. (Which wouldn’t be a problem at the Brawner household.) That system needs a transmission line to Greers Ferry Lake. Likewise, the Benton Washington Regional Public Water Authority in northwest Arkansas has asked customers not to water their lawns. Fort Smith needs to spend $500 million on improvements. Smaller communities might need a $5 million fix.

“Really, to be honest, we have to get out of pipe fixing mode and get into pipe replacing mode,” Colclasure said.

Up to $150 million of the $500 million water bonds could go to surface water irrigation projects if Issue 4 passes. Colclasure and Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward said those projects would protect the groundwater aquifers on which many eastern Arkansas communities depend for drinking water. 

Ward said the state currently is financing about $2.8 billion in water/wastewater projects across all 75 counties.

“It’s literally with no exaggeration, every week, some mayor, county judge, city official’s calling with, they’ve got brown water, they’ve got systems fail or something that they’re needing help trying to fix,” he said.

What are the downsides to Issue 4? One, of course, is that it creates debt. Instead, the state of Arkansas could pay for the program with the money it has. It had a general revenue surplus of $655 million last fiscal year and has total reserve funds of $4 billion.

The other is that the state would be on the hook for projects that might not pan out. 

Colclasure acknowledged the latter is an issue but said the $500 million bond issue proposal includes checks and balances. The state could only distribute a maximum of $60 million every two years, and the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission must present a work plan that ultimately goes to the Legislature and the governor. Harris said utilities have a good track record of paying back their loans.

Unless something changes, I’ll be voting yes. I don’t want my fellow Arkansans getting their water from leaky pipes. Plus, sometimes I might travel to those places, and I might be thirsty.

© 2026 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Steve Brawner’s column is syndicated to 24 news outlets in Arkansas. Email him at brawnersteve@mac.com.