Vicksburg, Miss. – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Vicksburg District (Corps) commander Colonel Jeff Eckstein recently met with Hot Springs, Arkansas Mayor Ruth Carney to jointly sign a Memorandum of Agreement on behalf of the Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance (MAWA) to explore the possibility of drawing water from Lake Ouachita for municipal use. MAWA is a consortium of 27 public water utilities, associations, and municipalities representing 750,000 consumers, more than one fourth the population of the State. The entity demonstrating an urgent need for additional drinking water is Hot Springs, which was authorized by MAWA to sign on behalf of the association.