El Dorado Insider Spring-Summer 2022 - 77

BEST IN CONSERVATION
Ouachita River provides solution to critical groundwater issues
Text by: Sherrel Johnson | Photography: contributed by Paul Waschka
wenty-five years ago, Union County was
pumping water from a rapidly declining Sparta
groundwater aquifer; the only source of drinking
and industrial water for the county. Some wells'
water levels were falling as much as 7 feet a year
and the county had no alternative source for pumping water.
Consequently, the State of Arkansas declared Union County
among the state's first Critical Groundwater areas. Research
showed that the county must decrease the amount of water
raised by pumping, by 72 percent; which meant reducing from
21 million gallons per day to just 7 million gallons per day
(mgd) or risk causing irreparable damage to the aquifer.
Local leadership agreed on a plan to establish public policy,
secure funding, collect data, initiate engineering, and most
importantly, create a governing body to execute the plan. And,
in 1999, the Arkansas Legislature established the Union
County Water Conservation Board (UCWCB).
T
Six years later, the UCWCB had built $65 million worth of
infrastructure to deliver alternative surface water from the
Ouachita River to three industries that once relied solely on
the Sparta ground water in the operation of their plants. These
included Delek Refinery, Lanxess Central Plant, and El Dorado
Chemical.
Today, Union County pumps 7 to 8 mgd Sparta groundwater
and uses 18 to 21 mgd per day of Ouachita River water. As
of April 2021, Sparta groundwater levels have risen 116.7' in
one monitoring well. The Sparta is no longer threatened and
Union County has an abundance of both drinking water from
the aquifer and industrial water from Ouachita River.
The work of the UCWCB has been recognized by the
Department of Interior with a Cooperative Conservation
Award in 2008, as a finalist for the ENVY Award by the
Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality in 2018, and
ultimately winning the ADEQ ENVY Award in 2021. p
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El Dorado Insider Spring-Summer 2022

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https://www.nxtbook.com/allen/eldi/el-dorado-dining-guide-2023
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