Water, Water Everywhere: A History of the El Dorado Water Company
By Bob Lee Rimmer, Glenn Holmes and Worth Camp
Note: This article is a modified version of a presentation on the El Dorado Water Company first given by General Manager Bob Lee Rimmer in 1964 and a similar presentation given by Glenn Holmes in 2006, with added research and photographs by Worth Camp.
HOW TO GROW A CITY . . . EL DORADO!
The water service that enjoyed by El Dorado had its beginning in 1907 or 1908. Ross Morgan installed the first water system, which consisted of shallow wells and a meager distribution system. It likely carried the name of El Dorado Water Company from the beginning. This name was chiseled in the concrete ground tank retainer/reservoir wall on Miles at South Jackson streets in 1950.
At that time, the company offered both water and electric service to the community officially as El Dorado Light & Water Co. A 1909 advertisement asked El Doradans: “Use water from the deep wells of the Eldorado Light and Water Co.”
Morgan sold the property to the Arkansas Power and Light Company in 1915. AP&L received a fifty-year franchise agreement from the El Dorado City Council to continue to provide utilities to the city, though neither the water company nor the electric company would be controlled by the city.
Well sources, pipelines, and reservoirs were gradually added to the water company infrastructure. In 1921, the first Sparta (Sand/Aquifer) water well was drilled near the old Rock Island Depot behind the Presbyterian Cemetery on Pony Street. Known as the Rock Island Well, it was later abandoned and subsequently used by the United States Geological Survey as an observation well for the Sparta Aquifer for many years. In 1924, a 500,000-gallon concrete storage reservoir with a wooden roof was built behind Hays Iron Works (Spencer Iron Works since 1969) on South Jackson Street. The same year, the water company started metering selected large water users. In 1935, the Hillsboro Street Viaduct was built adjacent to and overlooking the water company properties by the Arkansas Highway Department.
The serviceman at that time was J.L. Caldwell, first employed in 1921. His vehicle for rendering service was a wagon with a team of horses. He rose to the position of Superintendent of Distribution in his 43 years of service with the water company before his death in 1964.
In 1936, the Federal Power Commission ordered AP & L to divest itself of all utilities except one. Ice plants and natural gas distribution systems were the first to be sold, however, it was not until 1942 that the remaining eighteen water properties were sold to a bond house firm in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These properties later became known as General Waterworks Corporation, headquartered in Pine Bluff, also the headquarters of AP & L.
Prior to 1942, Arkansas Power and Light offered all cities where they operated water properties a chance to buy their water systems at the appraised price. The asking price was approximately $500,000 for El Dorado in 1942, but the El Dorado City Council did not elect to buy the water company at that time.
By 1946, the price had increased to $600,000, and local proponents for purchase of the water system requested the city council pass an ordinance to allow the sale. The council agreed, and the measure was placed on the ballot. It was defeated in the election.
Nevertheless, improvements continued to be made to the city’s water systems to meet the population and industrial needs of the community. In 1949, General Waterworks Corporation started and completed the following improvements to the El Dorado water system:
1. A downtown pumping plant on South Jackson with a 7,000 gallon per minute capacity achieved with three pumps with the following gallons per minute capacity; 3,000 GPM, 2,500 GPM, and 1,500 GPM.
2. A ground storage tank for one-half million-gallon capacity.
3. A 500,000 gallon elevated storage tank near the downtown Post Office on Elm Street. This tall downtown tank was the first El Dorado high-rise since the Lion Oil Building. It was on the highest ground in El Dorado and could be seen from great distances in the air and from all around.
For several years, some like resident Paul Hyde had a hard time getting used to the new tank. He had a house, wife, four daughters, and a wholesale dry goods business at the base of the tank. Hyde referred to El Dorado as Tank Town, and reportedly influenced many in the local Lion’s Club to do the same.
A fully automatic delivery system was in operation when this project was completed in 1950. Probes were installed in the ground storage tanks to turn the four wells on and off. High-pressure service pumps refill an elevated tank. A pressure gauge at ground level indicates when the elevated tank needed to be filled back up to maintain the required system water pressure.
By 1951, the Gas, Water, and Power & Light business offices were all in a row on the East Side of North Washington Street, North of East Oak. The corner office had a pot- bellied stove for heating in the middle of the large room. Customers could pay all three utility bills in one convenient location for many years.
General Waterworks Corporation continued to operate the utilities until December 9, 1952, when the property was sold to Stephens Investment Company, a municipal bond house in Little Rock, for $1,600,000. Under this new ownership, a 12-inch water main was constructed on the Strong Highway (US 82 East) with a 10-inch main extended into the Industrial area to a point just beyond the new Prescolite Plant.
Stephens Investment Company operated the utility until July 31, 1959, at which time the city of El Dorado purchased it for $2,728,000. The bond issue was passed for $3,300,000. This price included the purchase price of both the water system property, and $172,000 for Stephens’s improvements to the water system, together with an additional $400,000 for a sewer treatment plant.
The El Dorado City Council put the city’s newly purchased water system under the control of the El Dorado Water and Sewer Commission. At the request of the General Manager, Bob Rimmer, the word sewer was dropped out of the title of the utility. The El Dorado Water and Sewer Systems have been operated since 1959 by the El Dorado Water Utilities.
On April 1, 1959, the city created the Water and Sewer Commission to help oversee the operations of the utility. The members of the El Dorado Water and Sewer Commission were appointed by the mayor with the approval of the city council. Members serve five year terms, with one coming off or being reappointed every year. Of the five members, one would serve as chairman. M. C. Hoover, E. W. Gaston, W. Louis Pratt, L. E. Tinnell, and Russell Marks served as the original members.
In 1960, the State Department of Health advised the El Dorado Water Commission that their emergency equipment was not large enough in case of emergency to meet requirements in a city as large as El Dorado. At this time the Commission required the water company to install chlorinators, and by 1964, all water was chlorinated.
Also in 1960, the city installed the second one-half million gallon elevated water tank off North College past 19th Street. This tank is located in the northwest part of the city, at the same elevation as the downtown tank. A new well was drilled by the side of the tank, with its own chlorinator, to help meet the residential growth on the west and north side of El Dorado.
In 1964, five acres of land was purchased on Mt. Holly Road for a second water pumping plant. Well #17 was completed with a capacity of 1,000 gallons per minute. A new one million gallon ground storage tank was constructed with a new brick pump house with one pump with a 1,500 GPM capacity with space to install another pump at a later date. This plant was connected back to town with a 16-inch cast-iron main to Timberlane and Mt. Holly.
In 1967, a one million gallon steel tank was constructed inside the old 1942 reservoir at the downtown plant.
Under the same contract, both pumping plants and both elevated tanks were connected with twelve inch or larger mains. The 16-inch line at Mt. Holly and Timberlane was extended back up Mt. Holly to College and north on College Street to 5th Street. A 12-inch was extended North on College to an existing 12-inch water main at College and 8th Street. Another twelve inch took off from College and 5th and went east to Madison and 5th streets tying into an existing twelve inch line.
Under this same contract, a twelve-inch line was constructed from South Quaker (now Martin Luther King Drive) and East Main Street, east to Industrial Road, and south to Prescolite Drive. This gave the industrial area a looped system with a large capacity reserve for future growth. By 1970, 1,438,000,000 gallons were pumped for the entire year. This was an average of 3,940,397 gallons daily. The peak day was July 1, 1970, with 6,765,400 gallons pumped. The most ever pumped in one day was 9,080,000 gallons. By comparison, capacity by 2006 stood at 11,000,000 gallons per day.
By 1971, the second million-gallon ground storage steel tank was constructed at the downtown plant. This gave the El Dorado Water Utilities a ground storage capacity of 3,000,000 gallons and met the Arkansas State Department of Health suggested criteria of storage equal to the average daily usage at that time.
Between the time the city purchased the water company and its properties in 1959 and 1970, some $1,657,562 was spent on new construction to modernize the system and $313,258 spent on replacements — a capital improvement over 11 years of $2,000,000.
These improvements created a better distribution system, more fire protection, and better service to the consumers. This gave the city a fifth-class rating by the Arkansas Inspection and Rating Bureau, among the other factors which are used by the Rating Bureau in determining a city’s class for insurance purposes. By 2006, the City of El Dorado had moved up to a Class Three rating.
Rimmer died suddenly in 1981 and was succeeded in the general manager position by Camden native and University of Arkansas graduate Jack C. Godwin, Jr. Godwin had served as the engineer for the water company for a number of years earlier. Godwin retired from this position in 1987, to be succeeded by Glenn Holmes.
During his career, Rimmer encouraged the building of Rural Water Association systems. He had a consulting service on the side to work with the early Associations. He believed every person should be able to have a clean glass of water. He considered the Sparta Aquifer to be like pure cold spring water, and El Dorado’s early years were free of chlorination. He anticipated the damage that eventually came to the Aquifer but was unable to convince others that the city needed to expend time and money on conservation measures. Because of his outstanding service and dedication to the Arkansas water and wastewater industry, Rimmer was inducted into the Glen T. Kellogg Water and Wastewater Hall of Fame. The Arkansas Water and Wastewater Managers Association also chose him as the Water Manager of the Year.
In 2003, the water company completed a new Northeast Well Field with 5 wells spread out in the Champanolle Road area, each capable of producing 1,000 gallons per minute. The new 2003 Champanolle Plant is at the corner of Commerce Drive just past the El Dorado – Union County Softball Complex. The new plant has two two-million gallon ground storage tanks with four high pressure service pumps. Two of the pumps have 4,000 GPM capacity and two pumps with 2,500 GPM capacity. The pumping plant has its own generator for power failure.
In 2003, the 1964 Mt. Holly Plant, the 1967 and 1971 Downtown Pumping Station ground tanks, and the new 2003 Champanolle Plants were all connected with 12-, 16-, and 24-inch water lines.
The 1949 elevated Downtown Tank (East Elm Street) “Tank Town” holds 500,000 gallons. It is painted silver with no sign painted on it. In the 1950s, El Dorado High School students succeeded in climbing the tank at homecoming and labeling it with their particular class number.
The elevated 1960 North College Tank and well site is painted off-white with no signage and holds 500,000 gallons.
In 1994, the two million gallon Hoover Tank on the south side of town on Beech Street. It is painted with a very big “EL DORADO” that can be seen over the tall pine trees from the US 82 Bypass at its intersection with the old Junction City Road.
In 1994, El Dorado Water Utilities began working with other Union County groups for a save the Sparta Sand/Aquifer plan. State legislation provided for the organization by countywide election of the Union County Water Conservation Board. The new conservation board’s settled water system in conjunction with the new Entegra power plant on US 167 North draws water from the Ouachita River near the U.S. 167 North river bridge.
In 2005, the utility pumped 2,402,615,000 gallons of water with an average daily use of 6,583,000 gallons. In 2006, we added an elevated two million gallon Westside Tank on the north side of US 82 just past the new Social Security Office and Stars movie theater. It is white with a big “EL DORADO” that can be seen from the US 82 Bypass and along US 82 West where they intersect at El Dorado’s newest highway retail, motel, and office commercial zone.
By 2006, the average daily use stood at seven million gallons. The city possessed 5 million gallons of elevated storage and seven million gallons of ground storage and a pumping capacity of 13,000 gallons per minute into the distribution system. The water and sewer system can both be controlled at the Downtown and Champanolle water plants by computer.
Two wastewater treatment plants serve the City of El Dorado. The north plant off North Smith has a 5 MGD capacity, and the South Treatment plant off the US 82 bypass has a 7 MGD capacity. The plants are Dissolved Air Flotation plants. The City of El Dorado was one of the first treatment plants to use this dissolved flotation treatment. The utility can provide over one million gallons per day of Grey Water (treated wastewater) from the North Wastewater Treatment Plant to water the fairways and greens of the Lyon’s Club and El Dorado Country Club Golf Courses.
El Dorado Water Utilities sells water to six rural water associations that surround the city. With the subsequent independent construction of over twenty new rural water associations, that produce their own water, most all of Union County is receiving potable water. Everyone is able to get a clean glass of water. Also rural communities have formed rural fire fighting associations, and there is a greater degree of fire protection and disaster relief though out the county.
An average of five million gallons of settled water per day is piped to El Dorado Chemical, Lion Oil Refinery, and the Great Lakes Plant, now owned by Chemtura. This major grow El Dorado project has substantially reduced the strain on the El Dorado Water Utility’s eleven in-town water wells.
The early test results by the U.S. Geological Survey indicate the Sparta Aquifer in the El Dorado area is beginning to recover after years of environmental damage. The Northeast Well Field was drilled to further relieve pressure on the many older Sparta wells located within the city limits.
Bob Lee Rimmer served as general manager of El Dorado Water Utilities from 1959 to 1981. Glenn Holmes has served as general manager from 1987 to the present. Worth Camp is a retired El Dorado attorney and history enthusiast.
