Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Arkansas, Louisiana To Conserve Aquifer

Water users on both sides of the Arkansas-Louisiana line are teaming up to help save the Sparta aquifer's water quality and quantity.

"Here's the problem. The aquifer which supplies over 80 percent of our water in South Arkansas is being depleted because of overdraft," says Rhonda Martin. Martin is an associate for water quality for the Cooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas.

"The Soil and Water Commission declared this area the first critical water use region in the state, Martin says. "What that means is that they're wanting the citizens in this part of the state to take charge and determine a course of action that will save their water supply so the government doesn't have to do it for them."

That's where the job of the nonprofit Arkansas-Louisiana Sparta Coalition, says Martin, who serves as co-executive administrator.

Jack Beard, president of the Lincoln, La., Parish Police Jury, Louisiana's equivalent of a quorum court, serves as co-chairman of the coalition's executive committee.

The bi-state effort is important because "What happens in one area is going to affect, either directly or indirectly, the whole area," Beard said. "We need to start preserving this aquifer. It didn't get put there overnight and with the population increasing, there's going to be more demand for it."