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Data doesn't support Buffalo National River pollution theories - Harrison Daily Times

26 Apr 2019 3:26 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

Harrison Daily Times



Data doesn't support Buffalo National River pollution theories

Staff Report news@harrisondaily.com 

  • Apr 26, 2019

The junior high school science fair asks students to form a hypothesis and then use scientific methods to determine if the hypothesis is correct. In some cases the hypothesis is found to be incorrect or the scientific evidence is found to be lacking.

Where the Buffalo National River is concerned, scientists, park staff, landowners and other stakeholders have made their hypotheses on what is impacting the river's water quality. During a science symposium on water-related research held Tuesday evening at the Durand Center, it was found that some of the research that has been conducted is inconclusive.

The symposium was held to share water quality data that has been collected to date, said Shawn Hodges, an ecologist for the Buffalo National River.


He said some of the water quality studies date back about 30 years. The presentations provide an at-the-moment look at the investigations that have been conducted by a wide range of public and privately funded research.

Hodges said he believes hydrology plays a big role in how the river has evolved and continues to evolve. There has been recent flooding on the river and now it is trying to reset itself, he said.

Impacts on the river could be further investigated, he agreed, particularly the effects of less water being drawn out of the local aquifer due to the Ozark Mountain Regional Water Authority now serving community water districts within the Buffalo River watershed with drinking water drawn out of Bull Shoals Lake and transmitted via pipeline. Those same customers are now discharging greater amounts of waste water.

Some conservation organizations blame the C&H Hog Farms located near Big Creek, which flows into the Buffalo National River for polluting the river. Scientists have been studying the river above Big Creek and below.

A US Geological Survey says in a study conducted over two years that researchers didn't see any statistical differences in the nutrient concentrations between upstream or downstream. Scientists say a lot more data is needed before they come to a definitive conclusion.

During the drop-in poster session, analysts explained the information charts attached along a wall. One large poster described studies of bacterial counts and metabolic activity from water samples along the Buffalo National River. These studies were conducted by the US Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center of Lafayette, Louisiana, and the University of Louisiana along with other academic institutions.

The joint study conducted in 2017 investigated nutrients in water at six sites along the river. Water samples were taken from Big Creek where the confined animal feeding operation is located, as well as two upstream sites and three downstream sites on the river. Water samples were collected monthly and shipped on ice overnight for laboratory processing.

The poster describes the scientific processes used to analyze the samples.

The groups' hypothesis was that metabolic activity would differ among sites along this section of the river. Bacterial counts were significantly different among sites for 73% of the monthly samplings and 45% of those were highest at Big Creek.

Metabolic activity was significantly different among sites for 94% of the samplings, with the Big Creek site showing the lowest activity for 75% of those months. Generally, bacterial metabolic activity close to Big Creek was depressed compared with the other sites. Additional analyses to examine relationships among water quality parameters and fecal indicators are planned.

The poster shows the teams' conclusions.

• Although higher bacterial metabolic activity was hypothesized to occur at Big Creek due to likely introduction of organic nutrients into BNR from the swine CAFO, Big Creek showed the lowest metabolic activity for 71% of the months analyzed.

• Overall bacterial metabolic activity at all sites was lower in the colder, winter months.

• Highest live bacterial counts were generally associated with local rain events.

• The results presented in this study are part of a 19-month project and will be combined with other environmental water-quality data and fecal bacterial indicators.

• Nutrients/organics and bacteria may originate from other sources in the Big Creek watershed.

Another chart prepared by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission showed documentation of filamentous algae occurrences in the river dating back as far as a 1974 survey. The report focuses on the seasonal dominance of two genera, Spirogyra and Oedogonium.


Over the past two years filamentous algae occurrence has increased in the lower half of the river. September 2016 brought the first significant public reporting of a filamentous event extending 11 miles near Maumee access. By the end of 2016 the filamentous coverage was approximately 20 miles. Filamentous algae from the 2016 event were dominated by Oedogonium. In July 2017, the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality released a browser and mobile Nuisance Algae Reporting tool to track occurrence, extent and duration of filamentous algae events. Starting in August 2017 and extending for four months, ADEQ received 17 notifications of large extents of filamentous algae; all of which were in the Buffalo River or its tributaries. By November 2017, reports extended from Mt. Hersey to below Rush access into the Lower Wilderness Area. Findings showed it was primarily Spirogyra and Oedognimum. In 2018, the first report was received in May with a total of 36 notifications received covering approximately 90 river miles.

A historical timeline marks reports of algae beginning in 1975 when it was dominate in late spring and summer.

Copious Spirogyra in deep pools were noted along with blue-green algae in 1978.

Numerous algae clumps were reported in 1991.

A 10-year water quality report noted in 1997 that phytoplankton increased turbidity during base flow conditions.

In 2004 the Buffalo National River Water Resource Management plan noted limited research on algae noting blooms have posed problems extensive enough to warrant complaints. Spirogyra was most common, occurring in dense, floating mats in the middle to lower river.

In 2016 blooms were reported Sept. 15 in a stretch of river 20 miles long.

Blooms were reported in 2017, first on Aug. 7, 70 miles long.

The last entry on the chart was a bloom first reported May 15, 2018. It stretched 90 miles long. Thirty-six individual reports were made.

No direct cause for any of the algae outbreaks were determined.

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