Arkansas Land Conservation Assistance Network

Arkansas seems to straddle a line between the arid west and the eastern US where rainfall is plentiful. Whether it suits a thrifty inclination to avoid waste and save on water bills or whether motivated by a larger sense of meeting climate challenges, individual households and landowners in Arkansas can make a difference by conserving in their everyday water use. In fact, an analysis performed by Tetra Tech consulting firm in 2010 for the Natural Resources Defense Council found that more than 1,100 counties - one-third of all counties in the lower 48 - will face higher risks of water shortages by mid-century as the result of climate change. More than 400 of these counties will face extremely high risks of water shortages. In Arkansas, the study projected that at total of 64 counties, or 85% of the total, will be at risk for water shortage, with 24 at extreme risk. The value of all crops produced in those at-risk counties was $2.7 billion.

The Illinois River Watershed in Arkansas

The Illinois River in Arkansas has its source in the northwest corner of the state in the Ozark Mountains of Washington County. It then flows into the state of Oklahoma, where it is a state-designated scenic river popular for its bass fishing, finally flowing into the Arkansas river, which heads back into its namesake state.

Oklahoma has long complained that phosphorus-rich chicken waste, often used as fertilizer, runs off Arkansas farms and into Oklahoma streams. For decades, the states of Oklahoma and Arkansas have clashed over water quality impacts and standards for the river. One lawsuit led to a Supreme Court decision that ruled a downstream state’s water quality laws must be met at the state line. With additional lawsuits filed and at least one agreement between both states concerning phosphorus standards for sewage treatment plants, the controversy continues. The phosphorus standard in Oklahoma has been set at roughly 1/10 the level of phosphorus in the Arkansas portion of the river.

However, federal and state agencies in Arkansas have put numerous programs in place to address phosphorus pollution in the Illinois River. On one hand, limits on treated sewage water emissions from the major and growing urban areas in northwest Arkansas - Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Bentonville and Siloam Springs - are in place. In addition, both research and cost-share programs to assist agricultural producers in reducing the runoff of phosphorus and other pollutants derived from poultry litter have increased. Among these are:

• Several 319 grants under the Clean Water Act have studied and improved best management practices for poultry manure management.
• State laws designate northwest Arkansas counties as “nutrient-surplus,” where only those who are certified and trained according to state standards can spread litter; farmers in this area must also follow state-approved nutrient management plans.
• Poultry growers must register with the state to track their poultry concentrations.
• The Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program, or CREP for the Illinois River Watershed, initiated by USDA in 2009 is providing funds to enroll 15,000 acres in northwest Arkansas in the program.
• The Natural Resources Conservation Service's (NRCS) Environmental Quality Incetives Program (EQIP) is used for funding water quality, plant and soil health, wildlife management, and energy efficiency in the Illinois River Watershed in 2015-2018.

The Arkansas Illinois River CREP is supported by the Farm Services Agency and the State of Arkansas. It seeks to address Illinois River water quality issues by enrolling 15,000 acres of marginal pasture or farmland in 14 to 15 year contracts. The contracts generally cost-share and require the restoration of riparian areas and grasses that act as filters for runoff and stabilize streambanks, the erosion of which can be a powerful contributor to in-stream pollution.

The USDA estimates the total cost for the Arkansas Illinois River Watershed CREP over the life of the project will be $25 million for a total enrollment of 15,000 acres. The state of Arkansas will contribute about $6 million as support of the overall program cost.

For more information on CRP continuous sign-up which funds riparian and other types of habitat restoration, contact the Farm Services Agency office in Benton County Arkansas.

Mississippi River Conservation Programs

According to Ducks Unlimited, in most years, Arkansas winters more mallards than any other place in North America. Much of that wintering habitat is located in the lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley of eastern Arkansas. The Mississippi River forms nearly the entire eastern boundary of Arkansas and nourishes its floodplain forests, making it of great significance to the state of Arkansas.

The Arkansas State Wildlife Action Plan states, “The Mississippi Alluvial Plain has been widely cleared and drained for cultivation; this widespread loss or degradation of forest and wetland habitat has impacted wildlife and reduced bird populations. Presently, most of the northern and central sections of this ecoregion are in cropland . . .soybeans, cotton and rice are the major crops and aquaculture is also important. Agricultural runoff containing fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides and livestock waste have degraded surficial water quality.

“Concentrations of total suspended solids, total dissolved solids, total phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen, sulfates, turbidity, biological oxygen demand, chlorophyll a and fecal coliform are high in the rivers, streams and ditches that flow from this region into the Mississippi River.” Ultimately these pollutants contribute to the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” caused by excessive nutrient runoff and resulting low oxygen.

Moreover, Old Man River is not what it once was, having been confined, over the past hundred years or so by 1600 miles worth of levees meant to control its flooding. However, in the aftermath of recent flood events and increasing recognition of the value of ecosystem services provided by a functioning river system, recent studies and some organizations have argued for ecological restoration in the form of levee setbacks and large-scale, controlled diversions of water and sediment from the Mississippi River to reconnect it to the delta. There is also a movement to promote natural heritage tourism throughout the lower Mississippi region.

Currently, there are at least nine multi-state or regional initiatives and coalitions that focus on various aspects of conserving or promoting the Mississippi River, and by extension parts of Arkansas State. These initiatives have implications for the citizens and private landowners of Arkansas, some through direct availability of resources and others by shaping the broad nature of development and policy priorities in years to come.

1. Lower Mississippi River Conservation Committee
2. The Lower Mississippi River Aquatic Resource Management Plan
3. GreenTrees sucessfully completes planting over 4 million trees
4. Lower Mississippi River Conservation Initiative
5. Mississippi River Commission
6. NRCS Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative
7. Audubon Mississippi River Initiative
8. Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund
9. Lower Mississippi Valley Joint Venture
10. Gulf Coastal Plains and Ozarks Landscape Conservation Cooperative

For just about every form of agricultural or habitat manipulation, there are “best management practices” designed to maintain water quality and avoid negative impacts. BMPs, as they are called, are sometimes voluntary, as they apply to water, and sometimes regulatory. For example, a minimum level of BMPs are required on land that receives cost share under the Conservation Reserve Program.

Developed by experienced practitioners or management and research organizations, BMPs are tested and based upon the best available science. BMPs will often save landowners money in the long term even as they improve conditions for wildlife and people in the short term.

Courtesy Exams

Arkansas BMP staff offer water quality courtesy exams as a public service. The objective is to convey a BMP/Water Quality Plan that addresses the BMPs needed to ensure water quality protection during an activity. An on-site training of landowners, logging contractors, road contractors, site-preparation contractors and foresters ensures everyone involved in the activity is aware of the applicable BMPs for the operation. Courtesy exams are simply to provide assistance. BMP staff will not enforce implementation of any recommendations.

The following are a selection of BMPs culled from various national, regional, state and local sources. Each is available for download as a pdf.

Water Saving Measures (“BMPs”) for Arkansas Homeowners

While agricultural water conservation is the most important because it uses the most water, there are also several relatively easy ways to conserve water at home:

• Water your lawn only when it needs it. Deep soak the lawn rather than sprinkling lightly which tends to evaporate quickly.
• Water during the cool part of the day such as early morning. Don't waste water on gutters, driveways, and sidewalks.
• Put a layer of mulch around trees and plants. Mulch will hold moisture longer and slow evaporation.
• Purchase a rain barrel that captures water from your house gutter for irrigation use during summer.
• Use automatic dishwashers and washing machines only with full loads.
• Don't let the faucet run when cleaning vegetables or washing dishes. Rinse them in a stoppered sink or pan or clean water. Similarly, don't let the water continuously run when brushing your teeth or shaving.
• Keep a bottle of drinking water in the refrigerator. Running tap water to cool it off for drinking is wasteful.
• Check faucets, pipes, and toilets for drips or leaks.
• Install water saving showerheads or flow restrictions.

Summary of Arkansas’ Surface and Ground Waters: Quality, Uses, and Supply

Arkansas’ nickname, the Natural State, could easily be applied to many of its surface waters. The northern Ozark Mountains are the origin of rivers designated “extraordinary resource waters” by the state, and the Boston and Ouachita Mountains both have exceptionally high quality water. However, the natural variation of Arkansas’s landscape has also endowed the state with a variety of resources - river valleys and rich soils - which have long been put to use for development, animal husbandry or crops - sometimes to the detriment of its water quality.

Impacts to surface water quality have been greatest in the Arkansas River basin, which is urbanizing rapidly and experienced a rapid expansion of confined animal operations in the 1990s. These factors combined with highly erosive soils often lead to high levels of long-lasting turbidity. These problems, along with removal of gravel, are the same ones that cause water quality problems in the extraordinarily clean spring-fed waters of the Ozark highlands in northern Arkansas. In southern Arkansas, where the dominant resource harvested is timber, water quality impairments stem mainly from historical mining and extraction activities.

While agricultural activities have been the major source of waterbody impairment in the Razorback state, in recent years overall surface erosion - not solely due to agriculture - has caused high stream turbidity. Impaired waters in the row-crop dominated Delta and relatively new TMDLs (or “total maximum daily load” standards for pollutants in waters that do not meet state water quality standards Compiled List of Arkansas TMDLs) have spurred the formation of watershed groups to address these problems through improved management, habitat restoration and education. However, “the vast majority of waterways in this region form a network of extensively channelized ditches,” according to the Arkansas Dept. of Environmental Quality’s 2008 water quality report. About this area, the agency states, “the best that can be expected in terms of a fishery is an altered fishery. Once a natural stream has been channelized, only those organisms which do not require in-stream cover and can exist in highly turbid waters will survive. Within these systems the fishable goal of the Clean Water Act is being met, even though the aquatic life communities have been substantially altered.”

Approximately 60% of total water use in Arkansas comes from ground water. Shallow, freshwater aquifer systems are found throughout Arkansas, and comprehensive sampling of the aquifers was completed in 2006. Both nonpoint and point sources of contamination occur in Arkansas, as well as overdrawn aquifers. In eastern Arkansas, the Mississippi Alluvial Valley aquifer and the Sparta aquifer are the most important, together supplying more than 95% of water used in this region.

However, aquifer water levels have declined and large “cones of depression” have developed in several areas. A cone of depression is a depression in a water table caused by a pumping well. This level of use is unsustainable and 11 counties have been designated as critical ground water areas for both aquifers.

The Groundwater Section of the Department of Environmental Quality is currently developing statewide groundwater standards and guidelines for management of remediation projects. For more information, see the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Division of Water’s Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report of 2008.

Another concern was recently highlighted by researchers at the University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station. At current and projected rates of use including water export to other states, the Diamond State “will not be in a position to provide water to all the potential claimants outside the state and still have adequate flows for expanded uses within the state.”

An excellent and detailed source of information is ArkansasWater.org, self named “Your one-stop for Arkansas water quality information.” The website compiles and shares water quality information and resources. It is a collaborative effort to which many people and agencies have contributed.