FORT SMITH — Oklahoma officials for the first time Wednesday revealed how they will re-evaluate a phosphorous standard for the Illinois River and other streams that affect Arkansas cities and poultry producers.
Under the plan, delivered to an environmental committee of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Arkansas River Compact Commission, a technical advisory group with representatives from both states will begin work next month with a goal of completing the evaluation of Oklahoma’s phosphorous standard by October 2011.
High levels of phosphorus in streams and rivers contribute to overgrowth of plants such as algae, which can degrade water quality.
The Oklahoma Water Resources Board in 2002 established a limit of 0.037 milligrams of phosphorus per liter of water in six of the state’s “scenic rivers,” including the Illinois, which starts in Northwest Arkansas.
Pressured by Oklahoma, Northwest Arkansas cities and farmers, along with poultry companies that operate in the area, have taken steps to reduce phosphorous runoff and emissions.
Cities such as Fayetteville, Springdale and Rogers have spent millions of dollars revamping sewer plants so they discharge less phosphorus in streams that flow into Oklahoma as part of a 2003 agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.Poultry companies such as Tyson Foods Inc. and George’s Inc., both based in Springdale, pay to have phosphorus-rich poultry manure hauled out of the Illinois River watershed.
Farmers, meanwhile, are spreading less poultry manure on their fields as fertilizer.
“There’s not a lack of effort up in that part of Arkansas,” said Ken Brazil of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission.
Water-quality data that the committee reviewed Wednesday show phosphorous levels in the Illinois are dropping, but the river last year had levelstwice as high as Oklahoma’s standard.
In the 2003 agreement with Arkansas and the EPA, Oklahoma promised to re-evaluate the standard by mid-2012.
“It may be too low or too high,” said Derek Smithee, water-quality director for the Oklahoma Water Resources Board. “This is to decide that it’s in or it’s out.”
Smithee told committee members that he wants to determine whether “science supports 0.037” and whether “that number is in the strike zone of scientific viability.”
The EPA, which approved Oklahoma’s re-evaluation plan, contributed $43,080 for the review.
The eight-member review group will include representatives of the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, the EPA, the Cherokee Nation and four Oklahoma state agencies.
A public hearing on the group’s work is planned for July.
The group will make a recommendation to the Oklahoma Water Resources Board on whether 0.037 milligrams per liter is an acceptable amount of phosphorus in the waterways. If the committee finds it unacceptable and the board agrees, Oklahoma officials would establish a new number, Smithee said.
Asked after Wednesday’s meeting if he favors keeping the current standard, Smithee said he does.
“I’ve seen a lot of new science, and I think that number is still in the strike zone,” he said. “The EPA is going to push us to lower it and say it’s too liberal.”
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 09/25/2010