Groundwater usage called unsustainable

Report projects shortage for state’s east through ’50

The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission's annual groundwater report has again projected unsustainable levels of groundwater use in the state's eastern half.

Conservation, education, use of excess surface water and resource management are all ways the state can mitigate the projected increase in the gap between supply and demand, according to the report, which has been done each year since the first state water plan was created in 1991.

"We're a water-rich state," said Todd Fugitt, geology supervisor for the commission. "But we do have some issues to deal with."

The report continues to project increasing groundwater shortages through 2050. Groundwater in Arkansas supplies 63 percent of all water consumption in the state and is used heavily in the Delta.

The report uses 2012 data supplied by the U.S. Geological Survey -- more recent data than the 2010 information supplied for the most recent water plan's projections, although it doesn't drastically vary.

The report comes as the state's second water plan is being reviewed by Gov. Asa Hutchinson's office. That water plan includes recommendations for conservation practices intended to increase efficiency of water use and expanded measurements of water levels.

The $4 million water plan, funded by the Arkansas 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 along bodies of water.

Nearly all of the recommendations are things the state has already started doing, said Edward Swaim, the Natural Resources Commission's water division manager.

Groundwater projections have been disputed by agricultural groups, and the commission 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.

"If conservation and the development of excess surface water are not successfully implemented in the impaired areas in the very near future," the Natural Resources Commission report says, "the State will have to consider regulatory alternatives to preserve the aquifers at a sustainable level."

Arkansas uses more than 8.3 billion gallons of groundwater per day from aquifers, the second-highest total in the United States, behind California. About 8 billion gallons come from the Mississippi River Valley alluvial aquifer, a 537 percent increase from the amount used in 1965.

The highest withdrawals of groundwater are in Poinsett, Cross, Jackson, Arkansas and Clay counties, which use a total of 2.3 billion gallons per day.

The report estimates that sustainable yield for the alluvial aquifer is closer to 3.3 billion gallons per day. That aquifer supplies 95 percent of the groundwater in Arkansas.

On Wednesday, the commission approved up to $20 million in long-term funds to match federal commitments to the Grand Prairie Irrigation Project and up to $11 million in long-term funds from bond issue proceeds for the Bayou Meto Irrigation Project. The projects are designed to increase water availability for irrigation.

The Grand Prairie project will build new reservoirs between the White and Arkansas rivers, doubling the current amount of usable, above-ground water storage. The Bayou Meto project will divert Arkansas River water as a part of a process converting groundwater to surface water for irrigation.

Metro on 03/23/2015

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