Officials identify goals for Arkansas Water Plan, estimate $3.3 million completion cost
Environmental officials — who one year ago were tasked with updating a comprehensive plan that informs water policy in Arkansas — recently announced goals, future plans and an estimated completion cost of $3.3 million for the Arkansas Water Plan.
By: Mary Hennigan
Arkansas Advocate
Environmental officials — who one year ago were tasked with updating a comprehensive plan that informs water policy in Arkansas — recently announced goals, future plans and an estimated completion cost of $3.3 million for the Arkansas Water Plan.
The most recent iteration of the Arkansas Water Plan was published a decade ago, and while it was expected to guide leaders through 2050, Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an executive order last August calling on state officials with the Department of Agriculture to update it as risks to water quality and resources have heightened.
Since last year, a combination of federal and state funds have trickled into towns struggling with failing water systems. In July, state officials allocated $5 million to projects in three dozen Arkansas counties to fix critical infrastructure problems.
Sanders’ office announced the completion of Phase I of the water plan in a press release on Tuesday, noting that it was “a significant milestone” in the development of a comprehensive plan to address a range of water issues, from quality drinking water to flood management.
Sanders highlighted the importance of moving forward with the project and Secretary of Agriculture Wes Ward touted Sanders’ efforts in the press release.
Phase I included a review of the most recent water plan, published in 2014, to determine areas that need to be reevaluated or updated. Seven stakeholder meetings were held during the first phase, and residents were encouraged to provide feedback through a survey.
The meetings and survey answers helped identify six goals that officials should address in Phase II:
- Provide drinking water that supports public health and well-being
- Provide water that supports environmental and economic benefits to the state and supports interstate agreements
- Use the best available science, data, tools, practices and technologies to support water resource planning and management for current and future needs
- Maintain and improve water supply, wastewater, stormwater and flood control infrastructure, and plan for future infrastructure needs
- Maintain, protect and improve water quality to support designated uses of waterbodies
- Reduce the impacts of future flooding events on people, property, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and the environment
Read more here.
