Planning Session for Central Arkansas Water Forum - Aug 11

Dear Friends,

Please join us on Tuesday, August 11th at 4pm at Lilly's Dim Sum meeting room in Little Rock to share your thoughts and advice on how a public forum on Water in Central Arkansas might be able to support your efforts as a leader on water issues as well as help encourage better water policy from state leaders.

The Nature Conservancy, Audubon Arkansas and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel are collaborating on a project to build awareness of critical water issues across Arkansas in anticipation of a new state water plan.

The purpose of our meeting August 11th is to plan a public forum on water with you and other Central Arkansas leaders to be held in Conway later this summer/fall. We need your input on how we can be most helpful in supporting the ongoing work and issues in Central Arkansas.

We want to make sure that our efforts are complementary and helpful to yours. We want this effort to inform and advance new state policy to better manage our water resources, but also help advance some of your goals. Arkansas faces a variety of enormous challenges to providing enough clean water for people and wildlife, a sustainable water future. We are holding similar meetings in other parts of the state as well.

Planning Session for Central Arkansas Water Forum
Tuesday, August 11, 4pm
Lilly's Dim Sum meeting room
11121 N Rodney Parham Rd # 34B

We will have refreshments and expect the meeting to last no more than 2 hours.

Lilly's is just West of I-430 at the Rodney Parham exit, in the Market Place Shopping Center. Here's a link to google maps where you can also get directions. Lilly's phone number is (501) 716-2700‎.

TNC, Audubon Arkansas and the Panel, will be holding a number of forums around the state over the course of the next nine months to:

• educate people about water issues in their region and across the state;
• listen and learn from participants so we can define concerns, questions, and water policy goals of citizens;
• recruit people to participate in a follow up in-depth workshop on water issues
• facing Arkansas; and
• develop a core group of leaders interested in working with us on state water policy issues.

Please join us August 11th to help us plan a water forum for Central Arkansas.

Please RSVP to Bill Kopsky at bill@ARPanel.org, or 501-376-7913 x 12, or call if you have any questions or comments.

We hope to see you on August 11th and to learn more about your work. Thank you.

Sincerely,

- Bill Kopsky, Arkansas Public Policy Panel

- Tim Snell, The Nature Conservancy

- Ken Smith, Audubon Arkansas

PS: Please let us know if there are others who you think should be invited to this early planning meeting. Thanks!!

===============

Bill Kopsky

Executive Director

The Arkansas Public Policy Panel

1308 West Second Street

Little Rock, AR 72201

501-376-7913 x 12

fax: 374-3935

www.ARPanel.org

The Panel is a 501(c)(3) putting the PUBLIC back in Arkansas public policy since 1963.

Organize to win.

Nutrient Concentrations Remained Stable in Many Streams from 1993 to 2003

The U.S. Geological Survey National Water-Quality Assessment program conducted national- and regional-scale trend assessments (1993 to 2003) of nutrient concentrations and loads in streams and how these trends corresponded to changes in streamflow and nutrient sources, such as fertilizer applications, animal manure, population, and atmospheric deposition. Phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations remained relatively stable in about half of the streams assessed nationwide from 1993 to 2003; however, the pattern did vary in some regions, including increases in phosphorus concentrations in more than half of the streams assessed in the Mississippi/Atchafalaya River Basin. Linking trends in stream nutrient levels to changes in nutrient sources will enhance our understanding of the effectiveness of land management actions.

Regional-scale assessments of examined trends in nutrient and suspended-sediment concentrations and loads in the Upper Mississippi, Ohio, Red, and Great Lakes River Basin, Missouri River Basin, Lower Mississippi, Arkansas-White-Red, and Texas-Gulf River Basin, and the Pacific Northwest River Basin.

For more information on how nutrients vary over time in streams assessed across the Nation, contact:
Lori Sprague (lsprague@usgs.gov).

For more information on how nutrients and sediment vary over time in selected major river basins, contact:
David Lorenz (lorenz@usgs.gov) — Upper Mississippi, Ohio, Red, and Great Lakes River Basin
Lori Sprague (lsprague@usgs.gov) — Missouri River Basin
Richard Rebich (rarebich@usgs.gov) — Lower Mississippi, Arkansas-White-Red, and Texas-Gulf River Basin
Daniel Wise (dawise@usgs.gov) — Pacific Northwest River Basin

Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority Sets Meetings June 30/July 1

June 30 at Gaston Visitor Center and July 1 at Diamond City Community Center. I personally support the general idea of a regional water authority taking water from large reservoirs and providing public drinking water for counties. A far better alternative than damming more streams. Friends has not taken a public position on this, pending more information.

Water authority lowers amount asked from lake

BY ROBERT J. SMITH

Posted on Tuesday, June 16, 2009

URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/262121/

The Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority will ask to pull less water from Bull Shoals Lake to serve 22 water systems in rural Northwest Arkansas.

Tim Mays, the authority's project engineer, said Monday that the Ozark Mountain group promised the Army Corps of Engineers that it will reduce its water storage request from 12 million gallons a day to 4 million-6 million gallons per day.

"If we get 4 million gallons, the amount we're asking for is about the thickness of a sheet of paper spread across the whole lake," said Mays, who works for Engineering Services Inc. in Springdale.

The Corps of Engineers has scheduled two public workshops regarding the Ozark Mountain Regional Public Water Authority's plan to pull drinking water from Bull Shoals Lake and send it to areas of Boone, Newton, Searcy and Marion counties.

Those meetings are June 30 at the James A. Gaston Visitor Center at the Bull Shoals-White River State Park near Bull Shoals and July 1 at the Diamond City Community Center, 232 Grand Ave. Both meetings start at 6 p.m.

Corps spokesman P.J. Spaul said those meetings will help "dispel rumors" about how much water the Ozark Mountain group is seeking.

In an interview, Spaul said there are no rumors about how much water the group wants yet, but the Corps doesn't intend to wait for them to start.

During the 1990s, rumors "ran wild" after the Community Water System serving 65,000 people in four counties near Greers Ferry Lake sought additional water from the lake.

"When we talk about dispelling rumors, that's why," Spaul said. "There were fears that it was going to drain the lake. They were flying, but you aren't talking about drastic changes in lake levels. It's relatively small."

The Ozark Mountain authority has received about $7 million in federal and state grants to support its $65 million project that would deliver drinking water to 22 water systems with homes and businesses in areas around the Buffalo National River and north to Bull Shoals, Mays said.

Those 22 systems serve about 22,000 people in the four counties and want $32 million to build a water treatment plant and water intake structure west of Diamond City. There would also be 115 miles of water transmission lines to deliver water to the 22 associations.

The $7 million raised so far isn't enough to start the project and the goal is to seek about $40 million in federal stimulus money later this year, Mays said.

There is federal funding for a $4.5 million part of the project that's considered the "criticalneeds phase," focused on bringing drinking water to the three authority members that deal with high amounts of radium in their groundwater wells.

There's too much radium in the groundwater pulled from water wells by Mount Sherman Waterworks in Newton County, and by the SDM and South Mountain water associations in Searcy County, said Lance Jones, an engineer supervisor for the Arkansas Department of Health. Two of those systems would hook up to Marshall city water; Mount Sherman would connect to Jasper's supply, Mays said.

Leaders of rural water systems in the four counties have been encouraged by the state Health Department for years to rely less on groundwater wells and to seek out surface water supplies. For instance, water systems in Newton County met in 2004 to talk about ways to bring drinking water from Beaver Lake and about the possibility of building a 104-acre lake on the Illinois Bayou in northern Pope County.

They decided the best option would be attaching water pipes to highway bridges that go over the Buffalo National River and to extend those lines from Bull Shoals Lake, the state's biggest lake.

Copyright © 2001-2009 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc. All rights reserved. Contact: webmaster@nwanews.com

RECYCLABLES MARKETING BOARD TO MEET AT BATESVILLE

RECYCLABLES MARKETING BOARD TO MEET AT BATESVILLE

The State Marketing Board for Recyclables will meet at Batesville June 24, 2009, at 9:00 a.m. in the Ramada Inn Conference Room, 1325 N. St. Louis.

Items on the agenda include presentations on recycling efforts in the White River Regional Solid Waste Management District and on solar-powered trash compactors, and a discussion concerning efforts to encourage the use of used roofing shingles to produce asphalt for road paving.

The board advises and assists the ADEQ on finding and maintaining markets for recyclable materials collected in Arkansas.

AGFC Posts Didymo Warnings at Launch Ramps

Some of you may have already seen a new AGFC notice at ramps warning about Didymo (popular name... rock snot) with instructions how to clean boats and equipment. This caution has been recommended as a first step approach to reducing transmission to other water bodies.

If you're not familiar with this invasive alga found in our rivers, here's a web site in New Zealand where they've had lots of experience. http://www.biosecurity.govt.nz/pests-diseases/plants/didymo/

Latest from Jeff Williams, Trout Biologist, AGFC Mountain Home in response to an email thanking him and AGFC for taking this responsible action.

Thanks Gene. Yes, we are hoping to generate awareness and encourage folks to clean their equipment before moving between waters. Although most of our trout waters already have Didymo, we hope these efforts will help prevent the spread to waters not currently affected. I also have some smaller posters that we are going to distribute to local bait/fly shops, outfitters, etc.

As far as treatments to eliminate Didymo from the river, there is still no viable option. I was at a meeting last week of trout managers in the southeast and Didymo was a topic of discussion. One of the biologists from Virginia gave a presentation on a method to semi-quantify Didymo coverage that I think we will try to adopt here in AR. This will basically allow us to monitor coverage over time and might allow us to examine relationships between Didymo and certain water quality parameters as well as the trout populations.

The high flows definitely knocked the Didymo back some, but it's not gone for good. Please let me know if you have any additional questions/comments. take care.

Jeff

ADEQ RELEASES LANDFARM STUDY REPORT

ADEQ RELEASES LANDFARM STUDY REPORT


A study conducted by the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) found that fluids used in natural gas production have been improperly applied by landfarms operating in the state, thus endangering the environment.
The study findings were released in a report Monday. The report indicated that existing practices had, in many cases, caused environmental harm. Particularly, all 11 sites that land applied fluids at some point had improperly discharged the fluids so as to cause runoff into the waters of the state. Also, chloride concentrations in soil used for land application were abnormally high.
ADEQ Director Teresa Marks ordered the department’s study in November 2008 because of repeated permit violations at some of the sites. At that time, Marks also halted consideration of any new landfarm permit applications until the study was completed.
“With the increase in the number of landfarms and applications for landfarms due to expanded drilling activity in the state, concerns about the resulting environmental impact warranted a closer look at these operations,” Marks said.
ADEQ has taken enforcement actions against all 11 landfarms studied and has sought to revoke permits at two of the sites. Additional enforcement actions are pending and other revocations could be forthcoming.
-MORE-

Landfarm report, Page 2

The study supports changes to all existing or new landfarm permits. The changes include requirements that routine soil and water sampling be conducted at specified locations in the presence of an ADEQ inspector and that fencing be erected around all on-site ponds.
“The results of the study have caused us to put additional measures in place to ensure that these facilities are complying with the terms of their permits and are not causing harm to the soils and waters of the state,” Marks said. “We recognize that there is a waste stream created by the drilling practices that must be dealt with, but we want to make sure it is dealt with in a way that will not cause harm to the environment.”
Scientists in ADEQ’s environmental preservation and water divisions prepared the report. ADEQ employees visited the 11 landfarms between November and January.
On many site visits, the department discovered downstream concentrations of chlorides and total dissolved solids that were higher than those taken upstream.
While landfarm permits prohibit land application of any fluid with chloride levels higher than 3,000 milligrams-per-liter, four facilities held fluids with levels over the permitted maximum.
Soil at eight of the sites contained chloride amounts that exceeded permitted limitations.
The study found that the high chloride content at some sites might irrevocably damage the soils there.
In addition, the study found at nine sites concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) in amounts that suggested that application of oil-based drilling fluids had taken place. ADEQ permits strictly prohibit such application.
The full report is available on the department’s Web site, www.adeq.state.ar.us. A link to the report is located in the “Hot Topics” section on ADEQ’s home page.

"Sustainable Stormwater Management Practices" Webinar

Webinars are an easy, free way to learn at home. Context Sensitive Solutions has very good ones every month or so. The next is about stormwater management. Note it's Eastern Time - you can't log in after it starts.

Reminder: Webinar - Thursday, April 16, 2009, 2 pm EST

"Sustainable Stormwater Management Practices"

ContextSensitiveSolutions.org and the Federal Highway Administration are pleased to present a free webinar on April 16, 2009, from 2:00 - 3:30 PM EST. Wendi Goldsmith, President of the Bioengineering Group, Inc., and Clark Wilson, Urban Designer at the EPA Office of Smart Growth, will discuss the importance of sustainable stormwater management practices, along with innovative strategies for natural onsite stormwater storage and treatment. Sustainable stormwater management seeks to eliminate, where possible, the negative impacts of construction activities that disturb the natural hydrologic cycle resulting in elimination or reduction in the permeability of soils, increased "flashy" runoff and general water quality degradation.

Link to Join the Meeting:
http://fhwa.na3.acrobat.com/csseries/
On the login page, enter as a guest by typing your full name and clicking the "Enter Room" button. Please login to the conference at least 10 minutes prior to the start time to secure your space.

Phone Number to Join the Audio Portion of the Conference:
800-779-1509
Password: 4033692

Prior to the meeting, please make sure that you have the necessary Flash Player plug-in installed on your computer. To test your machine, click this link, which should also provide links to the software: http://admin.acrobat.com/common/help/en/support/meeting_test.htm

For a short tutorial on how to participate in a web conference, please visit: https://admin.na3.acrobat.com/_a55098539/wctparticipate. If you are unable to access this link, you may need to install Flash Player (see directions above).

For more information, please contact Aurash Khawarzad at aurash@pps.org. We regret that we are not able to provide professional development credits for this event.

Stay Tuned...
Our next webinar will present "A Guide to Building CSS Knowledge and Skills for Successful Project Delivery," on Thursday, May 14, 2009, from 2:00 - 3:30 PM EST. Leigh Lane and Lisa Murphy of The Louis Berger Group, Inc. will provide background and resources to interested transportation agencies assigned the role of developing or improving an educational program to integrate CSS principles into project development and delivery processes.

The following webinar in the CSS series will be on "Complete Streets and Context Sensitive Solutions," scheduled for Thursday, June 11, 2009, from 2:00 - 3:30 PM EST. Barbara McCann, Executive Director of McCann Consulting, and Hannah Twaddell, Senior Transportation Planner at the Renaissance Planning Group, will be presenting.