Efforts Now Can Preserve Water Quality

REGION SHOULD ACT QUICKLY ON BEAVER LAKE, LAWMAKERS TOLD

By By Doug Thompson <a href="mailto:DTHOMPSON@NWAONLI

Posted: November 1, 2009 at 2:34 a.m.

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ROGERS — Volunteer e◊orts now should be able to preserve Beaver Lake’s water quality without future government regulation, lawmakers were told Saturday.

Preserving that quality will prevent greater expense to treat the water in the future, said Larry Lloyd, chief operating o◊cer for the Beaver Water District. Utilities that draw water from the lake provide drinking water to about one-eighth of the state’s population, Lloyd told the Legislatures Joint Performance Review Committee. The lawmakers met at the Center for Nonprofits in Rogers to hear about water quality issues.

The Northwest Arkansas Council, a group of business and civic leaders, are working on a water quality study, council executive director Mike Malone told the committee. The report should be out in November. The latest draft versions show that water quality is still good but that incidents of silt, taste and odor are becoming more frequent.

About 71 percent of the lake’s 764,000-acre watershed - the area draining into the lake - is still forest, but more of that landis being used each year for farming or urban development, Lloyd said. There is still plenty of room for development without impairing water quality if private property owners cooperate, he and Malone said.

All measures proposed by the council will be voluntary and encourage property owners to cooperate and minimize costs, Malone said. Measures taken now, as simple as using hay bales for water breaks in some areas, will safeguard the lake later and stave off future government intervention, he said.

Other speakers to the committee included Audubon Arkansas, the League of Women Voters, the Nature Conservancy and state agency representatives. They encouraged lawmakers to increase public education on water issues and take a more detailed look at water issues and needs.

The state has a water use plan but it has not been updated since the 1990s, a spokesman for the state Natural Resources Commission said. This was before natural gas exploration in the Fayetteville Shale geological formation began, a water-intensive process that also has an impact on streams throughout north Arkansas, lawmakers were told.

News, Pages 1 on 11/01/2009

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