Water in Arkansas is an important issue encompassing the conservation, protection, management, distribution and use of the water resource in the state. Arkansas contains a mixture of groundwater and surface water, with a variety of state and federal agencies responsible for the regulation of the water resource. In accordance with agency rules, state, and federal law, the state's water treatment facilities utilize engineering, chemistry, science and technology to treat raw water from the environment to potable water standards and distribute it through water mains to homes, farms, business and industrial customers. Following use, wastewater is collected in collection and conveyance systems (sanitary sewers and combined sewers), decentralized sewer systems or septic tanks and treated in accordance with regulations at publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) before being discharged to the environment.
Although Arkansas is not classified as an arid state, certain regions of the state have experienced supply depletion, especially in areas of heavy reliance upon aquifers for agricultural water. Currently, the state does not have direct or indirect potable reuse (DPR, IPR), or even water reuse regulations, although one instance of non potable reuse is currently permitted in Rogers.
Regulation
Groundwater Protection and Management Programs There are three main components of groundwater protection and management: ensuring the available quantity necessary for the various uses protecting and restoring groundwater quality ambient monitoring of groundwater quality on a continuous basis.
State water-resources protection authority is generally divided among various State agencies. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) has primary water-quality protection authority, and the Arkansas Department of Health (ADH) has authority over public drinking-water-supply programs. 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. The broad scope of groundwater protection and management activities requires a multiagency approach to address groundwater quantity and quality issues.
Groundwater Quality Protection and Restoration There are numerous potential and actual sources of groundwater contamination in the State, both natural and manmade. Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (2012) identified the ten major sources of contamination in Arkansas to be animal feedlots, fertilizers, pesticides, underground storage tanks, surface impoundments, landfills, septic systems, hazardous wastes sites, saltwater intrusion, and spills. It is difficult to define which sources have the greatest effect on groundwater quality because each source varies in areal extent and degree of alteration of groundwater quality. For example, a point source, such as a landfill, may result in severe impact to groundwater with numerous organic chemicals exceeding safe drinking-water standards, but the areal extent of the plume may be limited with no offsite migration and no known groundwater users at risk. 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. Point-source prevention programs are almost entirely established as regulatory programs and are administered primarily by ADEQ. 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.
Despite the threat to groundwater resources, no Federal or State statute comprehensively addresses groundwater protection. There are currently only patchworks of law at the Federal and State levels that address groundwater protection. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA, or just EPA) has been designated by Congress to be the primary Federal agency responsible for groundwater protection; however, there is no comprehensive Federal groundwater law comparable to the legislation addressing surface-water pollution. Instead, the EPA enforces requirements of a myriad of Federal laws having provisions that protect groundwater quality. These laws include among others: the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) of 1974 (42 USC §300f et seq.[and the following]) and amendments; the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976 (42 USC §6901 et seq.); and the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980 (42 USC §9601 et seq.) and amendments. The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 (33 USC §1251 et seq.), including the 1977 amendments, is the primary Federal law in the United States that governs the discharge of pollutants into the Nation's waters. The CWA's primary regulatory mechanism is the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), which requires permits to be issued for discharges of any pollutant or combination of pollutants into navigable waters. Certain sections specifically address groundwater, but it is unclear whether the CWA's pollution-control provisions apply to groundwater. Some provisions of the CWA clearly apply to groundwater. For example, Section 106 provides for regional monitoring of surface water and groundwater; and Section 304 provides for development of specific water-quality criteria, which would include groundwater quality (Quatrochi, 1996).
Act 472 of 1949, the Arkansas Water and Air Pollution Control Act, codified as Arkansas Code Annotated (ACA §8–4–101 et seq.), defines groundwater as a part of "waters of the state" that are subject to protection. This act is the primary statute providing authority to State agencies for the regulation of various programs that protect human health and the environment; however, Act 472 of 1949 does not contain reporting requirements for groundwater contamination nor does it contain numerical standards or other guidance for monitoring or remediating groundwater contamination. ADEQ is the State's delegated authority responsible for implementing various EPA programs and enforces environmental policies set by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APCEC); however, other State agencies also have authority to enact rules and regulations that address groundwater protection. 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. Most remedial activities are the responsibility of ADEQ.
Groundwater Contamination Prevention Programs There are a number of potential threats to groundwater drinking-water supplies from point and nonpoint sources of contamination. This section describes various State programs initiated with the intended purpose of preventing potential contamination of drinking water and its sources.
Wellhead Protection Originally, the Federal SDWA focused primarily on treatment as the means of providing safe drinking water at the tap. The law was amended in 1986 and 1996 and required many actions to protect drinking water and its sources. The amendments of 1986 specified that certain program activities, such as delineation, contaminant-source inventory, and source-management plans, be incorporated into state Wellhead Protection Programs (WHPP). Implementation of Arkansas's WHPP began in the early 1990s. 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). States were asked to develop and implement Source Water Assessment Programs (SWAPs) to evaluate the vulnerability of public drinking-water systems to possible sources of contamination throughout the State and use this information as a management tool for the benefit and protection of public water systems. In Arkansas, the WHPP is now part of the SWAP. Arkansas' SWAP includes delineating the source-water assessment areas, conducting contaminant source inventories, determining the susceptibility of each public water supply source to contamination from the inventoried sources, and releasing the results of the assessments to the public (Arkansas Department of Health, 2009). Those systems that are considered vulnerable are advised to take action through community education programs or by passing city ordinances to protect water sources.
Water Well Construction
The Arkansas Water Well Construction Commission (AWWCC) regulates the development of groundwater supplies to provide safe water for public consumption, and Act 855 of 2003 (ACA §17–50–401 et seq.) provides a means of holding persons who violate Arkansas law regarding water-well construction accountable for their actions. AWWCC licenses water-well contractors and registers drillers, pump installers, and their apprentices. The rules and regulations of the Arkansas Water Well Construction Commission (2011) provide minimum standards for the construction and abandonment of water wells (that is, water supply, geothermal, and monitoring) so that groundwater is protected from contamination. Water-well contractors must file a well-completion report for each well. Well-completion data are maintained in an ANRC database that is linked to the USGS water-use database (https://water.usgs.gov/watuse/).
Water-well records also may be obtained from Arkansas Geological Survey (AGS), which has over 145,000 water-well construction records on file by county and township/range that date from the early 1970s. Administrative and investigative functions are carried out by ANRC. ANRC responds to complaints from the public about water-well construction, as well as inspecting wells for violations of the rules and regulations. ANRC also works closely with ADH and its Environmental Health Specialist in each county and conducts well inspections in each county. These inspections are to ensure the protection of groundwater through compliance with the rules and regulations established by the ANRC.
Pesticide Management