The Arkansas Water Plan aims to conserve, develop, and protect the state's water resources for long-term sustainable use through comprehensive planning. Two key issues are ensuring sufficient irrigation water supply while conserving aquifers and surface sources, and maintaining infrastructure for water, wastewater, flood control and drainage. Crop irrigation is the largest demand, and while groundwater supplies most current needs, surface water use must increase to reduce groundwater usage to sustainable levels and close a projected 7 million acre-foot gap for irrigation by 2050. Solutions include on-farm conservation and use of excess surface water through new storage and distribution projects.

1. 1
Arkansas Water Plan Mission
The Arkansas Water Plan is the State's
comprehensive planning process for the
conservation, development, and protection of the
State's water resources, with a goal of long-term
sustainable use for the health, well-being,
environmental, and economic benefit of the State.

2. Water Resources “Drivers”
 Agriculture in East Arkansas will continue to
require irrigation, and farmers will extend
irrigation to the remaining acres where it is
physically and economically feasible
 Population will continue to decline in rural
areas

3. The two BIG issues
 Ensuring supply for irrigation while
conserving aquifers and surface sources
 Maintaining and replacing water,
wastewater, flood risk reduction, and
drainage infrastructure

4. Rise in crop irrigation 1936-2010

5. Statewide demand projections
 Current demand is 12.4 million acre-feet per year
 Projected demand in 2050 - 14 million acre-ft. per year
 Largest demands:
 Crop irrigation 80%
 Thermoelectric power 11%
 Public drinking water 3.5%
 Groundwater supplies 71%
 Surface water supplies 29%
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6. Planning tools California lacks…
but Arkansas has
http://waterinthewest.stanford.edu/groundwater/metrics/index.html
1. Drilling logs
2. Groundwater
elevations
3. Water use
reporting
4. Groundwater
quality
monitoring
5. Groundwater
models

7. Supply projections
 We have very abundant surface water supplies
 Water quality is generally good
 Groundwater supplies are abundant, but can
“sustainably” supply only about 20% of what we are
using.
 This leaves a “gap” in East Arkansas by 2050 of as much as 7
million acre feet of water needed for irrigation that the ground
cannot indefinitely supply
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9. Surface water availability
 We have more than
enough surface water on
an annual basis to meet
all needs-in-stream and
out-of-stream
 If we can build the
diversion, storage, and
distribution
infrastructure, there is
plenty of water physically
and legally available
(“excess surface water”)
in most areas to reduce
groundwater use to
“sustainable yield”

10. Crop irrigation recommendations
 Voluntary, incentive based approaches
 On-farm conservation, storage, reuse, and conversion to
surface water
 Large projects for diversion, storage, and distribution of
excess surface water
 The tools should be applied according to the local
severity of the problem

11. Infrastructure recommendations
 Continue state general obligation bond program as a source
of financing
 Motivate operators of water, wastewater, flood hazard
mitigation, and drainage projects to develop plans to
maintain and replace infrastructure and to dedicate a
portion of revenue to implement those plans
 Train boards overseeing public infrastructure and hold
them accountable

12. Closing the groundwater gap
 The “Alternatives Analysis” in the Water Plan concludes we
can reduce demand about 20% through conservation
 Another 15% of the groundwater gap will be closed when
both the Grand Prairie and Bayou Meto projects are fully
operational
 The key to our long-term ability to irrigate is to put more
“excess surface water” to work
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13. Water to work with
 Rainfall: 138 million acre feet per year (MAFY)
 Surface water flow: 92.5 MAFY
 ANRC can permit 25% of “excess surface water”
 After subtracting all the water we legally have to leave in the
stream, for aquifer recharge, navigation, fish and wildlife,
interstate compacts, and future riparian use, and multiplying
that by 25%, ANRC can permit 8.7MAFY
 Groundwater gap statewide : 8.2MAFY
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14. Thank you!
http://anrc.ark.org/
arkansaswaterplan.org/
Edward Swaim, Arkansas Natural
Resources Commission
101 East Capitol Avenue, Suite 350
Little Rock, Arkansas 72201
501-682-3979
edward.swaim@arkansas.gov