The Source is a quarterly publication of Beaver Water District Spring 2013 Beaver Water District, Fayetteville Cooperate to Protect Beaver Lake By Bob Morgan, PE, PhD. phosphorus are nutrients that are important Manager of Environmental Quality to aquatic life, but in high concentrations Nutrients. You can't live with them. You they can be contaminants in water. These can't live without them. Well, not exactly, but nutrients occur in a variety of forms. Both when it comes to nutrients in Beaver Lake, are affected by chemical and biological there's a balance to be struck. processes that can change their form and Nutrients refer to elements, such as can transfer them to or from water, soil, nitrogen and phosphorus, which are neces- biological organisms, and the atmosphere." sary for life. Put another way, nutrients are (Mueller and Helsel, 1996) "chemical elements that are essential Continued on page 2 plant and animal nutrition. Nitroger 011141117,-MIL . Mae' ,:ns Branch (Before iTr): .7511-1 Lunservation Resource C (WCRC),in coop- eration with the University of Arkansas and C - y of Fayetteville, implemented a na tral channel design demonstration project on a section of Mullins Branch located on the campus of the University of Arkansas. The sediment and nutrients generated by strearnbank erosion at the project site eventually end up in Beaver Lake, the primary drinking water source for Northwest Arkansas, The project is situ- ated in a highly visible location to provide educational opportunities. The completed restoration will improve water quality and enhance aquatic and terrestrial habitat. For more information on this project, visit- unumwatershedconservatiomorg. (Photographs courtesy of Matt Van Eps.) Fayetteville Cooperate to Protect Beaver Lake continued from page 1 But just as too many nutrients in a per- Bearing all of this in mind, in 2006 the City son's diet can make a person overweight, of Fayetteville and Beaver Water District, with too many nutrients in a water body can lead the support of the Arkansas Department of to undesirable growth of algae and other Environmental Quality (ADEQ), entered into a noxious weeds. unique agreement that recognized the imbal- Algae growth in Beaver Lake, the drink- ance in management described above. ing water source for one in seven Arkansans, Fayetteville's NPDES permit for the Noland is closely related to the concentration of Wastewater Treatment Plant was up for renew- nutrients in the water, especially phospho- al. The plant was facing new "effluent limits" rus. Phosphorus doesn't just appear in the on phosphorus. Beaver Water District and lake, it comes in from the tributaries or Fayetteville approached ADEQ with a proposal streams that flow to the lake - the West that the existing limit not actually be changed, Fork of the White River, White River, but that the city would voluntarily optimize Richland Creek and War Eagle Creek. phosphorus removal at the wastewater plant So why is that of interest to Beaver while also implementing a nonpoint source Water District? Too much algae growth can phosphorus reduction program in the city. lead to increased taste and odor in drinking For our part, Beaver Water District water. While taste and odor is not a health agreed not to insist on the stricter effluent concern for our customers, it is an aes- limits being put in place. The logic behind thetic concern. the agreement is that the money is more Experts agree that the majority of the effectively spent on the nonpoint sources phosphorus in Beaver Lake comes from than on trying to get the last ounce of phos- what are called "nonpoint" sources of pol- phorous out of the wastewater. lution, as well as from "point" sources. Five years on, both the City of Nonpoint sources of pollution are those that Fayetteville and Beaver Water District cannot be specifically identified except by believe the agreement has been a success. categories of land use. Nonpoint source pol- Nonpoint source management projects lution is also sometimes called polluted run- implemented in Fayetteville have included off. For example, a nonpoint source might information and education programs (those refer to stormwater runoff from a lawn that rubber duckies you see in the theater are has been over-fertilized. Point sources of a part of the program), retrofits of stormwater pollutant are those that can be specifically facilities to add water quality management, identified, for instance a pipe discharging stream restoration projects, an ordinance to treated wastewater into a stream. provide for low impact development within In the United States, point sources of the city, and a streamside protection ordi- pollution are managed by the National nance. The wastewater plant has more than Pollutant Discharge Elimination System met its goal of maintaining less than 0.5 (NPDES) program, and permit limits are set parts phosphorus per million in their waste- for dischargers based on the allowable water discharge. And, ultimately, less phos- concentration of a pollutant in a stream. phorus has entered Beaver Lake because However, the Clean Water Act does not of the agreement. have authority over nonpoint sources. That NPDES permits are good for five years. means regulatory programs tend to focus Our agreement expired in 2012 with the on point sources. But in today's world, with NPDES permit. Because of the success, phosphorus limits already in place on and concerned leadership in Fayetteville, wastewater treatment plants, it is very this last January the agreement was expensive to remove any more phosphorus extended for an additional five years. from the wastewater. And, compared to the (Dr. Morgan is Manager of Environmental amount of phosphorus coming from non- Quality for Beaver Water District. For more point sources, there just isn't that much information, email him at rmorganYlnocih2o.org .) more to be removed from the wastewater. Continued on page 3 Fayetteville Cooperate to Protect Beaver Lake ,c1 from page 2 White River Streambank Restoration Project (Before ay,i After): The Wa tersh Conservation Resource Center; in partnership with the City of Fayetteville, implemented a riverbank restoration of 1,000 linear feet on the White River using natural channel design principles. The stabilization and site restoration helps meet multiple local and regional objectives relating to stream channel instability, water quality, and habitat. Objectives include reducing sediment and phosphorus loadings to the river from accelerated erosion. The river flows to Beaver Lake, drinking water for Northwest Arkansas. The Watershed Conservation Resource Center is a non-profit organization that strives to protect, conserve, and restore natural resources by utilizing the watershed approach, environmental outreach, and provid- ing planning and technical assistance to landowners, communities, and government. For more informa- tion on this project, visit www.watershedconservation.org . (Photographs courtesy of Matt Van Eps.) Board Officers Elected; Newest Member Welcomed During the November general elec- Board members set policy, review tion in 2012, Mary L. Gardner of Rogers projects and construction, and oversee was elected to the Board of Directors of the budget and priorities of the District. the Beaver Water District, representing The Board meets on the third Thursday Benton County. She replaces W. Herb of the month at noon (with the exception Hawkins, whose term ended on Dec. 31, of December) at the District's 2012. In addition, Chris Weiser of Administration Center, 301 N. Primrose Springdale was re-elected to the Board. Road in Lowell, AR. Weiser represents Washington County. Beaver Water District supplies drink- On Jan. 17, 2013, Beaver Water ing water from Beaver Lake to more than District's Board of Directors re-elected Bill 300,000 people and industries in Watkins of Rogers as President and Chris Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, Weiser of Springdale as Vice President. Bentonville and surrounding areas. The Additionally, Woody Bassett of Fayetteville District's mission is to serve our custom- was elected Secretary-Treasurer. ers' needs by providing high quality drink- Beaver Water District is governed by ing water that meets or exceeds all regu- a six-member elected board of directors, latory requirements and is economically with three members from Washington priced consistent with our quality stan- County and three from Benton County. dards. For information, visit bwdh2o.org. Board members serve six-year terms, staggered by two years in each county. New Board Member-Mary Gardner Industrial Supply in Springdale with her husband, Jeff. She has a B.S.B.A. degree in Accounting/Computer Information Systems from the University of Arkansas. She also has completed the wives pro- gram within the School of Biblical Studies at Harding University. Her career over 22 years has been in New Automotive Accounting as Controller, working at six franchised dealerships in three states. She has interests in family, healthy living, good stewardship and personal liberty. In addition to serving on the District's f_ board, she is Treasurer for the Washington Beaver Water District's newest County Tea Party and is active within the board member is Mary L. Gardner, of churches of Christ, where she partici- Prairie Creek near Rogers (Benton pates in home group studies. (Benton County). Gardner owns Powerhouse County) Beaver Lake Watershed Research Focuses on "Nutrients" Legend • Monitoring Site A Huntsville VANTP Lake c3 Subwatershed Stream 0 3.5 7 14 21 28 Kilo eters By Bob Morgan, PE, PhD other elements necessary for life — as a In our everyday lives as human good thing. They help to maintain our beings, we tend to think of nutrients - metabolism and promote growth. But nitrogen, phosphorous, and a host of just like too many nutrients can make us Continued on page 6 Watershed Research continued from page 5 fat, too many nutrients in a body of water What he found was that phosphorus can cause undesirable growth of algae concentration in the stream sites, with the and other noxious weeds.