“We never know the worth of water ’till the well is dry.” - Thomas Fuller Some years back a close friend was preparing to run for public oft ce, and she asked me to bring her up to speed on major environmental concerns. I told her fi rst and foremost to remember only one word, “watersheds,” but to learn everything she possibly could about them. For starters she needed to fi nd out what watersheds are, how they work, what changes or pollutes them, how the economy is related to them, and what their relationship is to the health of every living thing. For a visual understanding, I also gave her a picture of what looked like gashes of green veins snaking across a plain. Those life-providing veins actually were watercourses making their way to the sea through heavy vegetation.
We rarely think about where our water comes from, how much of it there actually is, and what kind of stuff is in it and what shouldn’t be.
Arkansawyers have been getting a crash course in the last few years on some major water issues, but as a society it seems we are not truly grasping how seriously we need to think about this ingredient that makes up around 60 percent of our adult bodies.
One recent example of a major water catastrophe is the Exxon tar sands oil leak from a pipeline in the small town of Mayfl ower, near Conway, which happened on March 29 in a residential neighborhood.
This pipe break has destroyed a wetland area and killed wildlife, as well as providing Lake Conway with a variety of contaminants, some known only because of lab tests paid for by individuals independent of Exxon. The world’s largest company still wants us to believe the chemicals from their crude oil are in the lake cove as if the cove’s water is somehow not also the lake’s water.
They’redreaming, of course, and Little Rock needs to take a hard look at a watershed map and a lesson in oil and water chemistry before relaxing in Exxon’s reassuring arms.
For several years people in central Arkansas living near gas fracking wells have become increasingly alarmed at the careless, and sometimes clandestine, handling of chemical-laden frack water. A percentage of these millions of toxic gallons returns out ofwells after the water’s high pressure job of releasing gas from shale strata is done. This poisoned waste should be removed permanently from the water system of the planet, but humans haven’t fi gured out yet how to get rid of things on our global ball.
There are always ongoing watershed disputes about private developments near reservoirs, and septic systems continue to plague water quality across the state. Irrigation in excessdips down the water table, and two years of drought have shown us what happens to our trees, gardens, crops and fresh water supplies when the heat goes up and rain won’t fall down. And, there is that persistent problem with Oklahoma over poultry waste, and its effect on the water that crosses our mutual state line, nor should we forget hog farms near precious waterways.
Fortunately, the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission is in the process of updating and revising the state’s water plan,” a comprehensive program for the orderly development and management of water and related land resources - the state policy for water.” The last plan was done in 1990 so we are long overdue for re-assessing water use and abuse in our state. Information on the Arkansas Water Plan can be found at: http://www.
arwaterplan.arkansas.gov or by contacting Edward Swaim at 501-682-3979.
According to their web site, public input meetings have been ongoing forsome time “… to discuss the ways to calculate water demand and forecast future demand. Feedback from the public will be essential.
Everyone is welcome to be involved or observe the process, and public comment is encouraged at any time.” Our opportunity to attend a meeting in Fayetteville is this Tuesday, June 11, at the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Center, 1333 W. Knapp St.
from 3 to 5:30pm.
With a burgeoning population in our corner of the state and the increasing demands on water resources for industry, agriculture, tourism, recreation and domestic use, we should all understand we are stakeholders in this water plan. Most of us have a water drinking habit.
I can’t think of a more personal reason to care and to get involved with planning our water’s environmental future.
FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONGSTANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.
Opinion, Pages 11 on 06/09/2013