Water challenges examined for NW Ark.
Posted on Wednesday, July 9, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/hl/News/24990/
BENTON COUNTY — With all the current preoccupation with oil, when some area people think of the needs and challenges of the future — say, the next five to 10 years — it’s water and how best to protect and use it that’s on their minds.
One of those activists is Jim Gately of Rogers, president of the Multi-Basin Regional Water Council.
Organized last year, his group early on identified several water-related challenges, one of which is stormwater runoff, Gately said.
Some people need to be more aware of the problem, he said.
“ Some people don’t believe it ruins lakes, ” Gately said.
He also cited unplanned development and public apathy as other water-related problems.
Even a boon to the region like Beaver Lake can’t be taken for granted, but must be protected, he said. “(It won’t be protected )... if we can’t take care of it and plan in advance, ” he said.
There’s another water-related concern, said Jim Ecker, Benton County Environmental Services director.
To protect the water supply, it’s necessary to dispose of unused prescription drugs in an environmentally-friendly way,, he said.
Before the program, a lot of unused prescription drugs went into sinks or toilets, and made their way into the water supply, but the county program is changing that, Ecker said.
“ What we do at the county level is to accept the prescription drugs and have the people place them in non-retrievable containers. We never touch the drugs, but make the people place them in the containers. We use empty five-gallon paint buckets that we buy from the paint store. They are cheap and they are tamper proof because when the lid is placed on them they have to be cut off to remove the contents, ” he said.
The County Environmental Office has certified officers to oversee cleanup drives.
When the cleanup drive is over, the drugs are transferred to the Bella Vista Police Department through a chain of custody form, he said. “ They weigh the drugs with a set of electronic scales that we bought for that purpose and then dispose of them through incineration, ” Ecker said. The program uses an Environmental Protection Agency-approved incinerator.
“ I think that the program is an excellent example of how a local program should work. It is simple and inexpensive and it has taken hundreds of pounds of harmful chemicals out of the environment, that’s a win-win for everyone, ” he said.
Ecker lauded Bella Vista Police Chief Jim Wozniak, who he said was one of the original members of a committee that started the county’s prescription drug disposal program. Bella Vista has its own such program, and he hoped other Benton County cities would follow its example, too, Ecker said.
U. S. Rep. John Boozman, RArk. — the ranking Republican member of the House Water Resources Subcommittee — said it’s also important to see that Benton County and northwest Arkansas get and maintain adequate sewage treatment facilities to accommodate growing population.
Boozman said another issue, water quality, is also getting his attention, and should be a concern of all Benton County and northwest Arkansas residents.
“ Water quality is going to be an issue. We need to make sure we have good water quality, ” Boozman said.
He’s closely watching a water allocation study now in progress, Boozman said.