Last week, a coalition of water, agriculture and environmental experts and PR actioners filled the Don Tyson Center for Agricultural Sciences located in the agriculture park of the the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
The annual Agriculture, Forests and Water Conference is hosted by the University of Arkansas Water Resources Center. The event brings together industry professionals, government representatives, researchers and students to present research projects, talk about emerging trends and network with people across sectors.
One of those researchers is Brynnen Beck, a student at the University of Arkansas. Beck points back to her poster board, with pictures of soil, color-coded graphs and a smattering of statistics. She explains the project she's presenting today is on soil testing she did in Arkansas rice fields.
"Basically, I went out to eastern Arkansas. I took some sediment cores, brought them back, and we did a whole experiment on them,” she said. “We're analyzing for nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide in vegetated and non-vegetated sediment cores.”
She said while her project may be niche, it—like so many other projects here today—is part of a bigger system.
"And everybody needs water,” Beck said. “Hey, no farmers, no food. That's like a sticker on my laptop... We need water for the farms to make the food. And so I see water quality and environmental science as this beautiful cycle. And that's kind of why I got into it, is because everything is so circular and comes back to one another, and we're all impacted by it, and we impact it in ways that we may not even realize every day."
Brian Haggard is the head of the Water Resources Center putting on the conference and said some of the biggest issues Arkansas faces when it comes to water are usage and quality.
"We have a big focus on water quality...but when you look statewide, it's more than just water quality. Water quantity is an issue,” Haggard said. ”It's the flooding. The farmers had a challenge this spring with getting their crops out because it just kept raining and raining and raining, but now their challenge is there's not enough water and it's the drought side of things. And so they're having to use, you know, surface water reuse groundwaters to sustain their crops. And so we try to have a balance across all water issues at the conference. But we generally have a definitely a more of a water quality flavor."
This year the state is embarking on an update to its Water Plan, last revised in 2014. Chris Colclasure is the director of the natural resources division of the state Department of Agriculture and is heading that effort.
"So the water plan is really a comprehensive look at our water needs across the state,” he said. “It looks at how much water we have, so how much supply we have. And then the demands that we as the people in Arkansas need across the state. And that can be for drinking water, it can be for industry. And so we look at all aspects of water."
The Department of Agriculture has been holding input sessions with stakeholders like Haggard to determine the major water issues Arkansas will face in the coming years.
"What are some of the things since 2014 that they think have changed,” he said. “What are some of the things that we need to consider? And so we're going to be getting feedback as we adjust the scope of what we hope to look at as part of this update."
One of those big issues, particularly for the northwest region of the state, is the exponential population growth.
James McCarty is a water quality manager for
Beaver Water District, which supplies drinking water to Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville.
“And so we would like to see,” McCarty said, “the plan moving forward really highlight some significant areas where additional resources and things like that can go in order to help with the unprecedented growth that those areas are seeing.”
From 2010 to 2020 Benton County alone grew by almost 30% in population, which McCarty and Colclasure said the 2014 plan did not account for. McCarty said while that needs adjusting, consumers should not be alarmed.
“We also meet very regularly with the other utilities on Beaver Lake,” he said. “And they're all feeling kind of the extreme pressure of the growth in the area and the higher demand for water. And so like us, they're thinking about their future water needs too. Like we have this contract for this amount of storage. And we expect that within this many years, we're going to be exceeding that contract. And so, you know, they're thinking about just like us, what's the future going to look like? And where's that water going to come from? It's in Beaver Lake. It's available. There's not a risk of running out. It's just a matter of who owns that pot of water and who gets to use it.”
Beaver Lake, which is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers, splits its supply of water between three other utilities providers: Carroll-Boone Water District, the Madison County Regional Water District and the Benton/Washington Regional Public Water Authority. They treat the water and distribute it to municipalities who then sell that to their customers. Each has a contract for how much water they can pull from the reservoir. Presently Beaver Lake provides water to one in every seven Arkansans, according to numbers from the University of Arkansas Extension Service.
Something else McCarty wants addressed in the upcoming plan is how to tackle the effect of climate change on water supply and quality.
"It seems like we're getting a lot more water and fewer events,” he said. “Even natural systems—pristine—have a really hard time coping with that level of change. So then you start throwing in other land uses, impervious surfaces, things like that. And suddenly, you know, our streams are having to deal with these big pulses of water. You know, climate change is definitely an issue bigger than the state of Arkansas. But I'm kind of hoping to see if they're going to address it within the plan."
Brian Haggard said seeing the trends is easy, but finding out what is driving them is harder. He wants more emphasis on resources for water quality research and how to stop some emerging environmental contamination.
“We have emerging issues like harmful algal blooms, PFAS, the forever chemicals,” he said. “Making sure we preserve those streams and lakes…so that they're there for future generations. And then also in the areas where we need to, [we need to] start implementing those best management practices to improve water quality.”
In May, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders approved $79 million in assistance for 25 water and wastewater infrastructure projects in Arkansas. The Natural Resources Commission said in a press release it intends to deliver a project work plan to the governor’s office by August.
Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. The authoritative record of KUAF programming is the audio record.
