Algae agreement
By Mike Masterson
Posted: January 21, 2017 at 2:58 a.m.
A milestone event occurred last month, one could say right beneath our noses. That's when, after three years of studies and debate between Oklahoma and Arkansas, a six-member committee representing both states agreed on the amount of phosphorus allowed in the scenic rivers of Oklahoma, including the Illinois that flows along the states' shared border.
This consensus is significant. It signals a new day after three decades of interstate dispute over just how much fertilizer runoff should be legally allowed to enter the Illinois that feeds into eastern Oklahoma's Lake Tenkiller.
Final answer: Minuscule.
D.E. Smoot of the Muskogee Phoenix did first-rate reports on this unanimous agreement beginning in early December. His initial story on Dec. 3 quoted Denise Deason-Toyne saying the committee's final recommendation wound up validating Oklahoma's phosphorus limits in its scenic rivers. The latest findings were based to a large degree on two years of water-quality studies by a Baylor professor.
In reaching accord, she said, the way was cleared for Arkansas and Oklahoma to cooperate to protect the Illinois River and Lake Tenkiller by adding limits to nitrogen, sediment and bacteria levels, as well as mining activity.
This meeting of the minds also resolved the dispute over the diminishing water quality in the Illinois due to a burgeoning population and unregulated agricultural practices, Smoot wrote. The Illinois flows near steadily growing Prairie Grove through farmlands and numerous poultry operations in westernmost Arkansas.
The arguments always boiled down to deciding just how much phosphorus is acceptable in scenic streams. Phosphorus and nitrogen can dramatically affect aquatic life in free-flowing creeks and rivers by promoting rampant blooms of algae that consume dissolved oxygen from water.
At the risk of boring valued readers with statistics, a phosphorus level of 0.037 mg/l (based on geometric mean), the maximum allowable limit set in 2003, was reduced at the December meeting to 0.035 mg/l based on a six-month average of samples drawn from the Illinois when surface runoff isn't a factor.
An Oklahoma water resources official said now that the exhaustive debate's been settled, the changes in the duration and frequency of sampling phosphorus levels shouldn't affect overall water quality. The level all committee members could agree upon was essentially a necessary compromise.
Despite reaching accord, research will continue into several aspects of potential contamination. The committee agrees, while over enrichment of streams with phosphorus is one area of significant concern. They also would like to see riparian zones established along with basic habitat protection.
The committee's work finally done, its members have headed home to their respective states. The biggest questions now are who will enforce the agreement and how that tricky job will be achieved. The recommendations have gone to the Arkansas and Oklahoma governors who hopefully will see these questions resolved.
The recommendations both governors received included a two-year study headed by Baylor Professor Ryan S. King.
King's research over two years at three dozen sites along scenic streams in both states essentially dealt with "'the total phosphorus threshold response level' that produces a 'statistically significant shift' in 'algal species composition or ... biomass production' that results in 'undesirable aesthetic or water quality conditions'," Smoot writes.
As a rank layman who's waded Arkansas streams throughout my life, I interpret that to say the professor looked at the stream's phosphorus levels and precisely determined how much of the stuff it took to cause an ugly and/or unhealthy stream.
Count me among those pleased to see our state and its westernmost neighbor reach accord after so many years. Yet, as committee co-chairman and University of Arkansas professor Brian Haggard reiterated to Smoot, the work to cleanse and preserve the Illinois and other scenic streams is ongoing.
"Phosphorus is one component, but we really need to be looking at what is going on in the landscape that changes the hydrology, what is going on in the riparian zones ... that affect stream-bank failures and impact habitats within the streams," Haggard said. "We could get phosphorus levels down to where we want to see them but not see the biological response in terms of fish habitats and different things we might be interested in if we don't look at those."
Haggard certainly makes a crucial point. The habitats of our natural and scenic rivers and the creatures that live there are not only critical, but reliable indicators of any stream's health.
As a footnote, I believe most Arkansans would wholeheartedly agree that if Oklahoma and Arkansas can spend decades to finally cooperate in ensuring the purity of the Illinois and other Oklahoma rivers, these same (now proven) phosphorus limits along with habitat concerns must be applied to our state's scenic rivers, particularly the country's first national river, our precious Buffalo.
Drop the governor a message with your feelings should you agree.
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Mike Masterson's column appears regularly in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Email him at mmasterson@arkansasonline.com.
Editorial on 01/21/2017