
THIS IS AN OPINION
We'd also like to hear yours.
Tweet us @ArkBusiness or email us
A state that can’t guarantee its citizens — all its citizens — abundant and safe water is a failed state.
Helena-West Helena is again in the midst of a water crisis, the second in less than a year. Many residents and businesses lack access to running water because of the failure of the city’s water system.
The reasons for the failure are many. They include an old and decrepit infrastructure, inadequate staffing, and not enough wells to serve as a water source. The city, which has been losing population, put off needed repairs and upgrades to save money. But as any homeowner or business owner knows, delaying necessary repairs only means they’ll be more expensive when the crisis comes. And it has come.
The state of Arkansas has tried to help by approving a loan of up to $100,000 to help the city tackle the system’s most urgent needs. And Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has also encouraged the state Natural Resources Commission to lend another $100,000 to address the water system’s issues. But that’s nowhere near the millions of dollars needed to solve Helena-West Helena’s water problems.
We’d like to see the state take the initiative and prioritize working with the city to provide its citizens with that most basic of services: running water.