Dogtown Wire

Officials from UALR, Central Arkansas Water , and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Arkansas Water Science Center entered a partnership today that will integrate environmental education with valuable research aimed at protecting and enhancing the area’s drinking water sources.

The agreement, announced at the shore of Lake Maumelle , creates the Central Arkansas Watershed Center of Excellence. The collaboration will allow UALR students and faculty and USGS scientists to work together to improve water quality in Central Arkansas and to inspire students to pursue graduate education in scientific careers.

“Our partnership naturally derives from the extensive study and heightened community concern about protecting Lake Maumelle, our primary drinking water source,” said Graham W. Rich, P.E., chief executive officer of CAW. “During the past two and a half years, a forefront issue for us locally has been better understanding of the impact of land-use changes and land disturbances on the water quality of the lake and taking the necessary measures to safeguard the reservoir now and in the future. The Center of Excellence makes further study in this area a focal point."

John Terry, director of the USGS Arkansas Water Science Center, said the Center of Excellence will build on the continuing USGS partnership with CAW to understand the water resources of Lake Maumelle and Lake Winona.

“This venture, which broadens our scope by adding the resources that UALR can offer, will be helpful to each of us – and to the citizens of central Arkansas," he said. "As the primary science agency within the Department of the Interior, the USGS provides reliable, impartial, and timely water-resources information to our partners and stakeholders for a broad suite of purposes, including education and resource management.”

 Dr. Michael Gealt, dean of UALR’s College of Science and Math , said the Watershed Center of Excellence will include four programs:

A science-based monitoring, research, and information-gathering program that will provide long-term observations of water quality. And a management strategies for lake, reservoir, and stream protection in central Arkansas. A research program that encompasses the scientific investigation of water quality and quantity issues related to source security of drinking, agricultural, and industrial water supplies, as well as the engineering processes that can be developed to enhance security.

The Watershed Stewardship Program, a community-based program designed to educate the public about conservation, preservation, and stewardship issues of particular water bodies and ecosystems within central Arkansas.

The Research and Educational Outreach Program that will develop research and outreach opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in limnology – the division of hydrology that studies inland waters – hydrogeology, and watershed science. The program will communicate the research results to the community by working through local teachers and schools and with workshops on citizen-based watershed projects.

“Overall, the Central Arkansas Watershed Center of Excellence will contribute substantially to the development of human resources knowledgeable about the environment,” Gealt said at the lakefront, where students, faculty and scientists were on hand collecting water and soil samples.

Lake Winona, a 44.4 square-mile watershed, is located in the Ouachita Mountains physiographic province – a region in which the landforms are similar in geologic structure and differ significantly from the landform patterns in adjacent regions. Lake Maumelle, with a 137 square-mile watershed, is in the Arkansas Valley province. Central Arkansas Water owns and operates both lakes, which are the major sources of potable water for the Little Rock metropolitan area.

“Ecosystem characteristics and functions differ between the two systems, and the natural features of the two ecosystems show the complexity and connectivity of ecological systems,” Gealt said. “The proximity of the Central Arkansas Watershed Center of Excellence to these two ecosystems will facilitate research and investigations comparing the two systems’ characteristics and function.”

Central Arkansas Water provides drinking water from Lakes Maumelle and Winona to 400,000 people in 17 cities and communities including North Little Rock, Little Rock, Alexander, Cammack Village, College Station, Sherwood, Wrightsville, Brushy Island, and parts of unincorporated Pulaski County.

In addition, the utility provides treated water to Jacksonville and North Pulaski Water Works Association, as well as Shannon Hills, Bryant, Salem Water Users Association, and Sardis Water Association in Saline County.

The year 2008 marks the 70th anniversary of the metropolitan area’s use of Lake Winona as a drinking water supply and the 50th anniversary of Lake Maumelle. Water first flowed into the public water system from Lake Winona in April 1938 and from Lake Maumelle in June 1958. Lake Winona ended the area’s reliance on the salty and unpalatable Arkansas River. Together, the two reservoirs supply an average of 65 million gallons of water a day.

Win the new iPhone from Apple! Enter Here

0 Comments