Fayetteville, Arkansas Water Outage Today

Fayetteville tap water system, by the numbers

Fayetteville Waterworks is the water system EPA lists for Fayetteville, serving about 116,398 people. Customers know it as City of Fayetteville Water & Sewer; the name on your bill is the one to call.

Source water and treatment in Fayetteville

Fayetteville does not collect its own raw water. Fayetteville Waterworks buys surface water from Beaver Water District and distributes it through its own mains.

What this means in an outage. Local crews can fix local mains, but not a failure at Beaver Water District. When that supplier cuts flow, Fayetteville has only its tanks to fall back on, so check both its notices and those from City of Fayetteville Water & Sewer.

Main breaks and shutoffs in Fayetteville: the usual causes

Water outages are local, so the likely cause depends on weather, pipe age and the grid. For Fayetteville, these stand out.

• Freezing weather. Fayetteville sees about 77 days a year with a low at or below 32°F, and 14 days at or below 20°F. The coldest morning in the 2015 through 2025 record came on February 16, 2021. The longest stretch with highs that never rose above freezing ran 7 days, ending February 18, 2021. Frozen service lines and meters cause single-address outages, while ground frost and thaw cycles crack older mains and produce the street-wide breaks.
• Flooding and heavy rain. NOAA logged 71 flood, flash flood and heavy rain reports in Washington County from 2015 through 2026, and 11 days a year bring an inch of rain or more. Flooding is hard on water systems in three ways: it erodes soil around pipe crossings, drowns pumps and electrical equipment, and can let contaminated runoff into the mains, which triggers precautionary boil notices.
• Storm-driven power loss. Thunderstorm wind, hail and tornado reports in Washington County number 286 since 2015. Pump stations and treatment plants that depend on SWEPCO run on the electric grid, so a storm that downs power lines can lower water pressure even when no pipe is damaged.
• Summer demand. Fayetteville has about 19 days a year at or above 95°F and 5 at or above 100°F, and the hottest day in the record came on July 20, 2022. Lawn irrigation and cooling push demand to its yearly high, so pumps run hard, tanks drain faster than they refill and pressure sags on high ground in the evening.
• Younger pipe, different risks. Only 13.8% of occupied homes in Fayetteville predate 1970 (US 35.5%), so more of the network is newer plastic or ductile iron. Breaks tend to come from construction damage, pressure surges and weather rather than age.
• Damage from other crews. Water mains share the ground with gas, power and telecom lines, and a strike by any contractor can dry up a block in seconds.

Freeze, heat and rain: the Fayetteville weather record

Main break season in Fayetteville runs from late fall into early spring, with the coldest stretch around December through February.

These counts come from a gridded reanalysis, which smooths out single-day extremes and can differ by a few degrees from an airport thermometer. Use them to compare seasons and years, not as official station records.

Fayetteville boil water notices and EPA compliance record

EPA lists no health-based violations for Fayetteville Waterworks since 2015.

Boil water notices in Fayetteville are precautions, not findings. When pressure drops, City of Fayetteville Water & Sewer tells affected customers to boil water until two rounds of lab tests are clean, a process that normally takes 24 to 48 hours after service is restored, under oversight from the Arkansas Department of Health Engineering Section.

What the lead tests and housing age say about Fayetteville

The most recent 90th-percentile lead result filed for Fayetteville Waterworks is 1 ppb (2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb, so that result is well under it.

The age of the housing matters more than the utility's test average: 13.8% of occupied homes in Fayetteville predate 1970 and 1986 was the year lead pipe and solder were banned. Flush the cold tap after an outage and ask City of Fayetteville Water & Sewer whether your service line is on its lead inventory.

How long a water outage lasts in Fayetteville

Most repairs of an ordinary main break in Fayetteville take half a day once the crew is on site. Bigger mains, deep bury and busy roads stretch that to a day or more.

For a break that affects many customers, City of Fayetteville Water & Sewer usually posts an estimated restoration time. When you call, ask the dispatcher what the crew has told them.

Preparing for a long water outage in Fayetteville

Census figures put the typical Fayetteville household at about 2.4 people. At one gallon per person per day that is 7 gallons for three days or 34 gallons for a two-week supply.

• 58.2% of households rent. Tell your landlord or property manager about a leak or outage right away, since the shutoff valve may be theirs.
• Your water heater tank holds 30 to 50 gallons of clean water. Turn off the power or gas to it first, then drain from the valve at the bottom.
• Fill the bathtub and a few large pots as soon as you hear a break is likely; that water is for flushing and washing, not drinking.

Water systems near Fayetteville, side by side

Water outage pages for nearby cities

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