Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Arkansas Facing Water Quality Threats

That spilled paint in the storm drain or oil spot in the driveway might not seem like much, but they're part of Arkansas' biggest water pollution problem nonpoint source pollution.

"Nonpoint source pollution is caused by rainfall or snowmelt moving over and through the ground. As the runoff moves, it picks up and carries away natural and human made pollutants, finally depositing them into lakes, rivers, wetlands, coastal waters and even our underground sources of drinking water," Rex Roberg, assistant Extension specialist-water quality for the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas, said.

Another problem facing Arkansas is heavy use of the Alluvial and Sparta aquifers.

Roberg says 4.4 billion gallons a day are drawn from the Alluvial Aquifer, most of it for irrigation. About 220 million gallons a day come out of the Sparta.

"Five counties Bradley, Calhoun, Columbia, Ouachita and Union that overlie the Sparta were named by the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission as a critical water use area in 1995 under Act 154 of the Arkansas Legislature," Roberg says.

Overdraft is forcing drilling of deeper wells, increased pumping costs and the increased possibility of salt water seeping into areas that used to be fresh water, Roberg says.