Water in Arkansas
The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) has comprehensive planning and water-quantity authority and is responsible for protection of diminishing groundwater supplies in areas where agricultural, public, and industrial needs have placed unsustainable demands on production capacities of certain aquifers.
On the other hand, contamination from nonpoint sources, such as agricultural activities, may be areally extensive with minimal effect on the use of the groundwater for drinking-water supply or other purposes.
Most nonpoint sources are related to agriculture and other land-use activities and commonly are addressed by joint efforts of several agencies, with lead oversight relegated to the ANRC.
Restoring aquifers to beneficial use and minimizing human exposure to contaminants can be very costly when protection mechanisms have failed or were not in place.
This section describes various State programs initiated with the intended purpose of preventing potential contamination of drinking water and its sources.
Originally, the Federal SDWA focused primarily on treatment as the means of providing safe drinking water at the tap.
The WHPP is a voluntary program that is maintained by the public water systems and local communities with technical assistance and guidance provided by the ADH.
The goal of the program is to develop strategies and methods for managing a wellhead protection area for groundwater sources of public supply.
The 1996 amendments greatly enhanced the existing law by recognizing source-water protection of all public drinking-water supplies (surface and groundwater).
Those systems that are considered vulnerable are advised to take action through community education programs or by passing city ordinances to protect water sources.
The Arkansas State Plant Board (ASPB) is the lead agency for implementing the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) of 1996 (7 USC §136 et seq .
Projects may include implementation of best management programs (BMPs), demonstrations of effective techniques, technical assistance, education, and monitoring.
The SDWA authorizes the EPA to set national health-based standards that protect against naturally occurring and manmade contaminants in drinking water.
and amendments require that all actions sponsored, funded, permitted, or approved by Federal agencies undergo planning to ensure that environmental considerations (including impacts to groundwater) are given due weight in project decision making.
Corresponding Federal regulations found in 40 CFR parts 144, 145, and 146 provide performance standards for location, design, installation, construction, and maintenance of permitted facilities.
Class I wells inject hazardous and nonhazardous wastes into saline formations found at depths between 2,500 and 8,700 ft below ground surface.
If there is improper management of hazardous wastes, the program requires that actions be taken to remedy the situation and to restore, to the extent possible, quality of the affected groundwater.
If constituents in groundwater around the landfill exceed the EPA MCLs for drinking-water supplies, corrective action is required to bring the facility into compliance.
Permit procedures for liquid animal waste-management systems are described in APCEC Regulation 5 enacted in May 2012 (Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, 2012b).
The inclusion of multiuse reserve pits in the rules (General Rule B–17 [Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission, 2013] and APCEC Regulation 34 [Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, 2011a]) encourages reuse and recycling of return flow waters from gas-production operations for hydraulic fracturing purposes.
Urban stormwater discharges are generated by runoff from paved surfaces including streets, parking lots, and other impervious areas (for example, buildings) during rainfall and snow events, which often contain pollutants in quantities that could adversely affect water quality.
Most urban and industrial stormwater discharges are considered point sources and therefore require coverage by a NPDES permit under APCEC Regulation 2 (Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission, 2011b).
There are a variety of traditional and low-impact BMPs, including retention and detention ponds, biofilters, grassed filter strips, porous pavement, wetlands, and others.
Preliminary remediation goals are established after an evaluation of risks to human health and the environment; consideration is given to the current and reasonably anticipated future land use, including groundwater usage.
It is not necessary for groundwater to be defined as an aquifer (that is, a saturated permeable geologic formation that can produce a significant quantity of water) in order to be protected.
The Federal Superfund program, authorized by CERCLA, was established to identify, prioritize, and clean up hazardous wastes sites posing threats to human health and the environment.
ADEQ HWD ensures that State requirements are met during investigation and cleanup of sites designated under this Federal Superfund program.
ADEQ's HWD administers a similar cleanup program for abandoned hazardous wastes sites under authority of the Remedial Action Trust Fund Act (RATFA) of 1985.
The Arkansas RATFA State Priority List identifies those hazardous substance sites for which expenditures to investigate and remediate are authorized.
The SMRD currently uses state-of-the-art surveying and computer-aided design systems to perform the functions necessary to produce reclamation plans or the AML sites in Arkansas.
