Sanders Issues Executive Order for Updated Arkansas Water Plan Report

The site of the Dardanelle Levee breach on the Arkansas River in July 2019. (Karen E. Segrave)

More: Read this week’s cover story on the state’s levee infrastructure.

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders issued an executive order Monday calling for a comprehensive analysis and update of the Arkansas Water Plan.

That plan, not updated in almost a decade, provides guidance for the preservation and conservation of the state’s water resources and related infrastructure, including drainage systems, dams and levees.

Arkansas Business’ cover story this week focuses on the state’s levee infrastructure and what challenges remain in making sure it can withstand increasingly severe flood events. Funding remains a dire concern for repairs and upkeep. There are an untold number of levees that are not yet included on state or federal maps.

Today’s executive order calls for the Arkansas Department of Agriculture and its Natural Resources Division to “model and assess water availability, water demand projections, and water quality trends, and identify basins with projected challenges or opportunities where significant changes are known or expected from the 2014 Arkansas Water Plan,” the order said.

It also directs the agencies to identify the “most pressing current issues” and to develop solutions “in collaboration with representatives from all water use sectors, including, but not limited to, interested water planning groups, state and federal agencies, legislators and local entities.”

“The state must investigate all possible solutions to reduce groundwater depletion and provide a sustainable source of water for household, agricultural, and industrial uses,” the executive order said.

“A comprehensive strategy, to include an updated Arkansas Water Plan, is necessary to address water demand projections, aging infrastructure, supply depletion and flood mitigation capabilities by incorporating the most recent science and data,” it said.

The first phase of the assessment is due in 12 months.