The state's second-ever water plan is off to the Legislature for review before final adoption, after a 6-2 vote Tuesday by the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and an hour of debate on a provision that would affect poultry farmers.
The plan -- the first since 1990 -- includes recommendations for conservation practices and forecasts of significant groundwater shortfalls across the state, mainly in east Arkansas. As of last month, the plan also included a recommendation that the Legislature pass a law requiring people spreading poultry litter to have and follow a nutrient management plan.
Nutrient management plans outline how to apply nutrients -- including animal waste and commercial fertilizer -- to the ground to achieve the best balance and to mitigate potential runoff into water sources, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
In the recommendation for the Legislature to consider, only farmers spreading poultry litter on their property would be required to have the plans.
"I still think we're getting ahead of ourselves with the nutrient management plan," Commissioner Sloan Hampton of Stuttgart said. "You guys are in way too big of hurry."
Hampton, who eventually voted against passing the plan, noted that the commission doesn't have a phosphorus index for the Delta yet.
Phosphorus is an element not commonly found in water and can negatively affect supplies if found at high levels, according to the EPA.
Commission Executive Director J. Randy Young told Hampton the commission wouldn't be expecting to implement a new law anytime soon. Young also stressed that the Legislature and the public will have a chance to give their input before the plan would be sent back to the commission for final adoption.
"If we leave it in there at this point, it's going to ensure we'll get more input," Young said of the nutrient management plan. "I don't see anything wrong with that. I think that's healthy."
The recommendation came from public comments as large growth was projected for poultry farms in northeast Arkansas. It also has roots in a 1990s civil suit involving poultry farms in Northwest Arkansas that were accused of polluting Arkansas water sources and eventually the Oklahoma bodies of water connected to them, said Edward Swaim, water resources manager for the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. The suit was eventually settled.
Later, in the early 2000s, the state Legislature passed a law requiring everyone in Northwest Arkansas watersheds that drain into neighboring states to have nutrient management plans for applying fertilizer.
In Northwest Arkansas, Swaim has said, farmers consult conservation districts, which are given money by the commission, to implement the plans.
Young, a farmer, said he received a nutrient management plan by contacting the district, which then assessed his situation and prepared a plan for him. Afterward, representatives from the district visited with Young and explained his plan.
Commissioner James Neal Anderson of Lonoke, who voted against moving the plan forward, said he was not concerned about regulation but wanted to make sure the process on any new law would be considered by all interested parties, including agricultural groups.
Anderson, Hampton and a representative from the Agricultural Council of Arkansas said the suggestion for the law arose too recently in water plan deliberations.
The matter was debated and approved last month after Swaim asked the commission to include the recommendation in the water plan.
Commissioner Jerry Hunton of Prairie Grove said that such a law passed separately by the Legislature would be ideal for protecting northeast Arkansas from facing lawsuits and ending up like Northwest Arkansas.
"To me, this vote is a vote for Arkansas," he said. "We don't want people in Pocahontas to end up like Washington and Benton County."
Swaim said he expected the water plan to go before the Legislature's Agriculture Committee. The plan would be reviewed, and regulation changes would need to be approved, but the commission has already moved forward with recommendations on better measurement of groundwater levels throughout the state.
Groundwater projections have been disputed by agricultural groups, and the commission already is working with them to install meters to get better measurements. According to the projections, about 80 percent of eastern Arkansas won't be able to irrigate in 40 years. The gaps between projected water use and supply in other parts of the state are not as wide.
The $4 million plan, funded by the Legislature in 2012, calls for measuring groundwater with meters in certain wells; storing excess surface water; evaluating the effectiveness of existing tax credits and incentives for irrigation water conservation; and a re-evaluation of the limit on water use for homes or businesses not on bodies of water.
As for the legislative review, Swaim said he expects some pushback and intense questioning, particularly on the nutrient management plan.
"That's the controversial part, I think," he said.
Metro on 12/10/2014