Simple Answers Are Wrong, Illinois River Study Finds

FILE PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Scott Hodge, left, Siloam Springs parks and recreation manager, and David Vansandt with the city’s parks advisory board, have a look at the whitewater park being built on the Illinois River on the south edge of Siloam Springs. A new U.S. Geological Survey study says whether a stream in the river’s watershed is healthy depends on more than whether there’s a poultry farm.
FILE PHOTO FLIP PUTTHOFF Scott Hodge, left, Siloam Springs parks and recreation manager, and David Vansandt with the city’s parks advisory board, have a look at the whitewater park being built on the Illinois River on the south edge of Siloam Springs. A new U.S. Geological Survey study says whether a stream in the river’s watershed is healthy depends on more than whether there’s a poultry farm.

Whether a stream in the Illinois River watershed is healthy depends on more than whether there's a poultry farm, cattle ranch or waste water treatment plant nearby, according to a recently released study by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Any one factor can be mitigated or worsened by others, the study of 18 sites in two years found. Researchers found thriving habitats in streams flowing through agricultural areas and some struggling habitats in forested areas, said lead author James Petersen. The survey is a branch of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

Web Watch

Watershed Study

A recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey on 18 sites in the Illinois River watershed is available for internet download at http://pubs.er.usgs….

The study sampled aquatic life and other factors in sites chosen to provide a cross-section of the watershed. The 1 million-acre watershed covers much of Northwest Arkansas and northeastern Oklahoma.

The cleanliness of the Illinois River has been an issue of both cooperation and contention between Arkansas and Oklahoma. The two states have agreements to monitor water quality. The most recent cooperative agreement was signed last year. Oklahoma sued Arkansas poultry companies over the water's quality. The 2005 federal lawsuit was unsuccessful, with a judge in the case declining to rule on the matter.

Save the Illinois River, a nonprofit group maintaining the Northwest Arkansas poultry industry is largely responsible for past declines in water quality in the river, was contacted for comment and provided a copy of the study Wednesday. They were contacted again Thursday and replied they would have a statement soon. As of the end of the busines Friday, the group hadn't responded.

In general, the sites showing the most disruption were sites with the most "urban land use in their associated basin," the study summary said. Few factors could be isolated from their surroundings, Petersen said. An unpaved road by itself is more harmful than a paved one.

"A paved road is less of an erosion factor than an unpaved one, for instance, but a paved road is more likely to have rooftops and parking lots along it," he said.

That build-up accompanying the road can reduce the absorption of rainwater. The unabsorbed water rapidly runs into streams, he said. The increased flow, in turn, increases the likelihood water will wash more material into a stream.

The study's findings are sound, said Delia Haak, executive director of the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, a volunteer group with the goal of improving the Illinois River through public education, community outreach, water quality monitoring, and promotion of conservation and restoration practices.

"There is nothing better for rainwater to hit than ground it can soak into," Haak said. "When we pave over things, that increases the amount and velocity of the water that flows in at any one time, and it increases the temperature of the water too," Haak said. "There's more of it, moving faster and heated up."

The partnership is arranging public meetings on the study where interested people can ask questions, Haak said.

Most of the controversies between Arkansas and Oklahoma groups have been over the amount of nutrient in the river, such as phosphorus, which is a part of chicken litter and cattle waste.

The amount of nutrient harmful isn't immune to other factors, Petersen said.

"Compare it to a lawn: Somebody with a lot of shade on his lawn can spread a lot of fertilizer and not have a lot of grass," he said. "Somebody else can spread exactly the same amount of fertilizer, but, if he has no shade, his grass grows like wildfire."

Researchers found that same problem with algae growth in streams. Shaded areas might have little, while similar areas where forest cover had been removed had more.

NW News on 03/15/2014

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