Missed Deadline

Meanwhile, back at the majestic Buffalo National River, one of our state’s brightest jewels for recreation and tourism.

Kevin Cheri, superintendent of the Buffalo River National Park Service office at Harrison, in October sent a letter to Becky Keogh, the latest director of our state’s Department of Environmental Quality (cough) asking that agency to place three tributaries of the Buffalo on its annual list of “impaired waterbodies.”

Such a designation falls under requirements cited in the federal Clean Water Act.

Cheri’s request included his agency’s documentation of sustained fecal E. coli contamination in Mill Creek, as well as significantly low levels of dissolved oxygen in Bear Creek and Big Creek, the stream that flows alongside C&H Hog Farms at Mount Judea.

Did our agency for preserving water quality, which allowed the hog factory to set up shop on the Buffalo watershed, agree with Cheri and include these three creeks with obvious environmental problems?

Why, of course not. These streams won’t even be considered for inclusion on the list until 2018. It seems folks at the Buffalo National River didn’t make the March 31, 2015, deadline for inclusion in its latest list. And heaven forbid our state’s official environmental watchdogs add three contaminated streams to their official list (despite documentation) after their deadline.

How could the Park Service possibly have met the deadline since its summer-long study didn’t even begin until four months after the deadline had passed?

Cheri’s letter cited findings of this contamination was documented over the summer primarily by the agency’s aquatic ecologist Faron Usrey.

The water-quality studies showed E. coli levels in Mill Creek were significantly elevated during July, August and September to the point where Cheri said the pollution was likely to place the Buffalo River “out of compliance for primary contact recreation.”

Other summer studies showed the levels of dissolved oxygen in Bear and Big Creeks had reached levels well below acceptable standards for maintaining healthy aquatic life. Bear Creek does continue to be listed, as it has for years, because of the inordinate amount of “total dissolved solids” contained in its flow.

The U.S. Geological Survey says: “The oxygen dissolved in lakes, rivers and oceans is crucial for the organisms and creatures living in it. As the amount of dissolved oxygen drops below normal levels … the water quality is harmed and creatures begin to die off … a process called eutrophication.”

Rapidly moving water as in Ozark streams tends to contain a lot of dissolved oxygen; stagnant water contains less, the agency says. “Bacteria in water can consume oxygen as organic matter decays. Thus, excess organic material can cause eutrophic conditions, which is an oxygen-deficient situation that can cause a water body ‘to die.’ Aquatic life can have a hard time in stagnant water that contains a lot of rotting, organic material in it, especially in summer (the concentration of dissolved oxygen is inversely related to water temperature), when dissolved-oxygen levels are at a seasonal low.”

In Cheri’s letter to Keogh advocating adding the streams to the Impaired Waterbodies list, he noted that species such as freshwater mussels “are part of the suite of scenic and scientific resources Congress expected to be conserved when the Buffalo National River was established. [The National Park Service] needs the assistance of [the Department of Environmental Quality] in determining the sources of low dissolved oxygen and reducing or eliminating these sources.”

Katherine Benenati, Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson, explained her department’s response this way: The three creeks mentioned in the National Park Service’s letter have not been listed on the most current proposed draft list.

“The period of record reviewed for the 2016 list ended March 31, 2015. ADEQ staff is currently reviewing the data and it will also be considered as part of the data record which will be evaluated for the next cycle occurring in 2018,” she continued.

“Our staff has had an ongoing dialogue with the National Park Service. ADEQ employees reached out to NPS staffers via phone after the most recent letter to address their concerns and have had several conversations. We have a very open line of communication with the National Park Service and will continue such discussions.”

I asked Cheri about any response or conversations he’s had with Keogh or others at the agency in response to his letter. He said he’d heard nothing as of last week, but one of his staffers might have indeed communicated with someone there about the three streams.

The department has scheduled a public hearing for March 1 at its office in North Little Rock where the state’s 2016 list of impaired waterbodies is expected to be be discussed. Those interested best not miss that deadline.

 

This article appeared in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on February 7, 2016. Used by permission.