KATV

ADEQ report lists Arkansas waterways as "impaired", including portions of Buffalo River

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — It's a list the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is mandated to submit to the EPA every two years, in accordance with the federal Clean Waters Act - a list that compiles water quality data on all of Arkansas's rivers, lakes and streams.

"They're waters in the state that are not meeting water quality standards and that would fall in a category that might need a regulatory mechanism to be put in place," said Caleb Osborne, associate director of ADEQ's water quality division.

The biannual report is known as the 303d List, and the 2018 draft list released on Thursday lists hundreds of segments, comprising thousands of miles of Arkansas waterway, to be "impaired".

According to ADEQ officials, an "impairment" refers to a situation where the level of a pollutant or other water-quality measure fails to meet state-set standards. 

Included in the 2018 draft 303d List are four segments of the Buffalo River Watershed - three of which reported elevated E. coli levels. Those "impaired" Buffalo River segments are not far from the controversial C&H Hog Farm located outside Mt. Judea in Newton County, a place that's already been under public scrutiny over existing concerns of possible liquid waste contamination leaking into the Buffalo.

"The relationship between that facility and these impairments - that's not something that this data tells us," said Osborne.

Osborne said what the data simply suggests is the existence of the pathogens in the water surrounding C&H Hog Farm and not where it is coming from. ADEQ had no comment on whether at even a correlation exists between the farm and bacteria in the water, citing an ongoing appeal by the hog farm regarding the agency's rejection of a new liquid waste permit in January.

"With these impairments being noted and going into 4B classification, future research projects, future research efforts in that vicinity to better understand what's going on or could contribute to those impacts - that will help answer that question," said Osborne aboutthe potential of liquid animal waste runoff being the cause of increased E. coli levels.

ADEQ officials stress that despite the water impairment data, they're not suggesting it's unsafe to recreate in the effected areas. Osborne said the data is based on trends and multiple years of data and don't suggest an "immediate emergency".