State water plan heading to Legislature

Commission’s proposal addresses anticipated gap between supply, demand

A plan to avoid water shortages in Arkansas will head to state lawmakers for final approval.

The Arkansas Natural Resources Commission voted Monday to approve the Arkansas Water Plan, which seeks to measure and address the anticipated gap between the demand and availability of water. The projected gap is wide — as much as 2.3 trillion gallons per year by 2050. The plan indicates the state will demand 4.6 trillion gallons per year by that time.

Because farming accounts for about 80 percent of Arkansas’ water use, the plan calls for farmers to find ways to conserve. Its recommendations have faced opposition from several farming groups.

The plan forecasts that if nothing changes, the alluvial aquifer — the Delta’s supply of underground water — will be mostly dry by 2050. The plan proposes making up for this loss by impounding excess surface water.

The first Arkansas Water Plan was published in 1975 and later updated in 1990. The Legislative Council could vote on the current version as soon as next month.

Speaker of the House Jeremy Gillam, R- Judsonia, said he supported it. He said he didn’t see how the plan would adversely affect his berry farm in White County.

“It’ll be well- vetted by the

Legislature, rest assured on that,” he said. “I think agriculture should be pleased on the whole of the plan. There might be some parts of the state affected slightly differently than others.”

Farming is the most popular job among lawmakers.

Evan Teague, director of environmental and regulatory affairs for the Arkansas Farm Bureau, said his organization is “fairly comfortable” with the plan, but farmers would need to support it during the group’s annual convention in early December for him to back it.

“All we’ve looked for is sound, scientific reasoning behind the decisions they’re making and we feel like they’re taking that into consideration,” he said. “It’s been a bit of a give and take and we feel like they worked with everyone in a fair manner.”

Some poultry and rice organizations have voiced concerns about the plan.

Arkansas produces more than half the rice grown in the United States. The water- intense crop used 1.8 trillion gallons of water in 2010 — 55 percent of all irrigation water used — according to the water plan.

The plan doesn’t include any recommendations to limit usage, but it does call for incentives to encourage conservation.

The plan also “may encourage the General Assembly to consider the need for nutrient management plans for the application of poultry litter and animal manure in other regions of the state.”

That’s a change from previous wording, which stated the commission “will encourage” the Legislature to “require” nutrient management plans for the application of poultry litter and animal manure “throughout” the state — as opposed to current requirements just in Northwest Arkansas.

“Discussion about that came up kind of late in the process and there was some concern about whether there should have been more discussion,” said Randy Young, executive director of the Natural Resources Commission. “We softened the language a little bit for more time for discussion, more time for science to be developed.”

Teague said he was much more comfortable with the new language.

To turn the plan’s recommendations into law, legislators will need to enact bills during the regular session in 2017.

Lawmakers would need to vote to finance water storage and wastewater projects and look at enhancing conservation incentives to fully enact recommendations in the plan, Young said.

Changing nutrient plan requirements would also involve a change in law, he said.

“I think you’re going to see the Legislature being very open- minded at the front end of this process,” Gillam said. “I think we do need to have some long- term strategies in place so we don’t end up like California.”

Arkansas uses more than 8.3 billion gallons of groundwater per day from aquifers, the second- highest total in the United States, behind California.

California has faced years of drought and dwindling groundwater available for farming. Gillam said the situation there has been instructive for Arkansas farmers, who have to strike a balance between present needs and future concerns.

“I think this is the beginning of a lot of dialogue,” Gillam said. “This is the plan, but it’s not the end of discussion. It’s kind of the beginning.”