# Conway, Morrilton under water conservation orders (Arkansas Times) > *Tier-3 news archive. Arkansas Times report on the mandatory (Phase 2) water curtailment in effect for Conway and Morrilton since Monday 2026-06-01, the state of Brewer Lake, supplementation from Cadron Creek and Community Water Systems (Higden), and Conway Corp CEO Bret Carroll's statements about the proposed data center's water use. The original HTML is preserved alongside this extract.* ## Source metadata - **Publisher:** Arkansas Times (arktimes.com) - **URL:** https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2026/06/05/conway-morrilton-under-water-conservation-orders - **Byline:** Debra Hale-Shelton - **Published:** 2026-06-05T19:16:37Z - **Archived:** 2026-06-11, by Invoke-WebRequest (HTTP 200, 272,008 bytes) - **Wayback snapshot:** https://web.archive.org/web/20260612170103/... — Save Page Now succeeded on the 2026-06-11 submission (snapshot timestamp is UTC); the availability API had shown no prior snapshot. ## Extract Residents of Conway and Morrilton have been under a mandatory water curtailment order since Monday due to a lingering drought. The two cities get drinking water from Brewer Lake, located near Plumerville in Conway County. "Central Arkansas is enduring a historic drought that began in the fall of 2025 and has resulted in severe precipitation deficits," according to Conway Corp., which oversees the water system in Conway in Faulkner County. "In the long term, we need about 27 inches of rain to fill the lake back to 330 feet." But don't panic: The lake doesn't have to be full to end mandatory water-conservation rules. As of Thursday, the lake's mean sea level (MSL) was 320.2, having risen slightly from 318.6 recently. If the lake level rose to 324 – 326 MSL, "we might be able to go back to voluntary" conservation guidelines, which began in April, or even be totally out of curtailment guidelines, said Bret Carroll, Conway Corp.'s chief executive officer. He stressed he would first consult with water management. In layman's terms, if Brewer Lake got 4 to 6 inches of rain in a few days, that could get the area back to normal, Carroll said in an interview Thursday. What does the current water curtailment order mean? Residents with even-numbered addresses may water outside areas on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, while odd-numbered address holders may water on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday. No watering is allowed on Wednesdays. Irrigation for golf courses, parks and playing fields should be reduced, as determined by Conway Corp, and commercial, industrial and institutional water customers may be required to decrease their water usage. Any car washing must be undertaken "at either high pressure, low water usage car washes or, if at home, using a pressure washer or a garden hose with a shut-off nozzle," according to guidance from Conway Corp. Carroll said Conway Corp and the Conway County Regional Water Distribution District, which primarily serves Morrilton, are working in tandem on the conservation rules. Conway's city-operated splash pads never opened this spring due to the water shortage. Swimming pools are less of a problem because owners tend to fill them up once and sometimes use recycled water. To residents complaining about golf courses watering too much, Carroll said many such courses save money by using water from their own ponds. Current restrictions are at the Phase 2 level. While Carroll won't rule out a stricter Phase 3 that would allow outdoor irrigation only once per week, he said, "I don't think Phases 4 and 5 are likely." That's good because in those tougher phases, "All outdoor water use, including irrigation, filling pools and washing cars, is prohibited." To those residents upset about a proposed water-guzzling data center coming to Conway, Carroll and Conway Corp noted that drinking water is not what's used to cool a data center, though handwashing and restroom facilities would be included on the data center campus. Carroll also disputed rumors that Conway's rapid growth in past decades led to the problem. "The main thing is the dry start to this year," he said. That said, the city is supplementing its water supply with 2 million gallons daily from Cadron Creek and a million gallons daily from Community Water Systems in Higden, near Greers Ferry Lake, to help alleviate stress on Brewer Lake, which holds about 9.3 billion gallons when it's full. ## Notes - Tier: 3 — established news outlet (Arkansas Times). - Anchors: mandatory water curtailment "since Monday" (the Monday before the 2026-06-05 publication = 2026-06-01) at the **Phase 2** level for Conway and Morrilton, which share Brewer Lake; lake at 320.2 ft MSL vs. 330 ft full, with ~27 inches of rain needed to refill; supplementation of 2 million gallons/day from Cadron Creek and 1 million gallons/day from Community Water Systems in Higden; Conway Corp CEO Bret Carroll's Thursday (2026-06-04) interview statements that drinking water is not what's used to cool a data center, though handwashing and restroom facilities would be on the campus. - **Terminology nuance:** the article calls it a "mandatory water curtailment order" at "the Phase 2 level" and dates it "since Monday"; it does not use the formal title "Emergency Water Curtailment" or print the date 2026-06-01 — that formal styling would need Conway Corp's own notice (Tier 2) as anchor. - Cited by: (populated by wiki pages that reference this archive)