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Jim McKenzie is not the first to say it, but it’s the first thing he tells others about water resources: “What oil was to the 20th century, water will be to the 21st century.”

As executive director of Metroplan, central Arkansas’ metropolitan planning organization, you can bet he’s paying close attention to the water scarcity issues faced by nearby cities like Atlanta and Fort Worth. But McKenzie’s interest doesn’t stem from concern that Greater Little Rock could face situations similar to Atlanta’s – rapid population growth, past drought and a multi-state legal dispute over the main water source that could result in the loss of 40 percent of the city’s water supply by 2012 – or Fort Worth’s – dwindling supply contrasted with growing demand and Oklahoma’s unwillingness to sell water from the Red River. Instead, he’s paying attention more because it could present economic development opportunities here if companies and people are forced to move to places with water.

“All of Pulaski County and the area south of the Arkansas River are in good shape for the next 200 years,” McKenzie said. That’s not to say that there aren’t obstacles; central Arkansas will have to bring water in from outside areas.

And statewide, the groundwater supply is decreasing. “We certainly have problems we have to address,” said Edward Swaim, water resources division manager for the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission. Groundwater furnishes 63 percent of the state’s total water use, or 7,049 million gallons a day. Less than half of that amount can be withdrawn sustainably, which is part of the reason why Arkansans have noticed surface water levels declining. “As the competition for ground water becomes more intense, the challenge before Arkansas … is to continue to work toward conservation, education, and the conjunctive use of ground water and excess surface water in a manner that brings about the wise and sustainable use of our valuable water resources,” officials wrote in the Arkansas Ground Water Protection & Management Report for 2009.

While the state doesn’t face the challenge it would if water were more scarce, transportation of water is expensive, and the price that will have to be paid to address water issues across the Natural State varies.

Central Arkansas

While central Arkansas doesn’t need outside sources of water now, it will in the future. The area’s primary supply currently comes from Lake Maumelle, which will satisfy demand for another 60 years, according to McKenzie, who praises past leaders for creating the “incredible resource” in the 1950s.

Strong leadership has also ensured that when Lake Maumelle can no longer meet demand, central Arkansas will still have access to water. “We have DeGray Lake as our future water source, something that is just unbelievable to have,” said Dale Kimbrow, manager of planning, regionalism and future water sources for Central Arkansas Water (CAW). The utility has the first rights to 120 million gallons a day from the lake, which is roughly 60 miles away. Access to the supply, which is nearly double the utility’s average daily consumption during the past 10 years, was secured by the now nonexistent Little Rock Municipal Water Works, which signed an agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1988 that gave the region the first right of refusal to the water. “Those leaders had a lot of foresight and saw the possibility,” Kimbrow said. Their actions also ensured that the region would not have to fight over the source with other entities – DeGray Lake could have been an attractive option for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as the downhill flow would limit transportation expenses.

As part of the Mid-Arkansas Water Alliance, which consists of 25 other entities from eight counties, CAW also has access to 1.2 million gallons per day of the Alliance’s 15-million-gallon-per-day allotment from Greers Ferry Lake. Some entities are currently working to secure funding for a line from the lake to Jacksonville that would distribute water along the way. CAW isn’t among them. “For us to become involved in such a project, our allocation would need to be much more than that to justify the costs,” Kimbrow said. Instead, CAW and other members of the Alliance are working to secure 20 million gallons a day from Lake Ouachita, which comprises all of the lake’s excess capacity. “We have a lot of options for the next 100, 150 years compared to other utilities around us,” Kimbrow said.

Northwest Arkansas

Currently, Beaver Lake is more than enough to meet demands for the majority of Northwest Arkansas, and there’s no threat of water-starved entities outside the state’s borders poaching the resource – all of the space in the lake is allocated for drinking water and hydro-electric power, according to Bob Morgan, manager of environmental quality at Beaver Water District. “It literally takes an act of Congress to change the allocation – more than that; you’ve got to get the Corps of Engineers to move,” he said. Of course, that also means that if Northwest Arkansas needs more water, there will be an obstacle.

Beaver Water District currently supplies water to approximately 250,000 people, and daily usage averages about 42 million gallons. The utility could provide roughly 120 million gallons per day with its allocation. “If we find that we’ve got continued population growth, we’ll have to start looking at how we want to extend our source,” Morgan said. “Of course, that would be three times the population we have right now.” A projection made in 2004 – when the region’s population was growing rapidly – estimated that demand would average 120 million gallons per day by 2055. Since then, population growth has slowed.

“I think in the next few decades, our biggest obstacle is going to be maintaining the quality,” Morgan said. The district already struggles occasionally with taste and odor issues. Contributing factors include some wastewater plants that discharge into tributaries, but mostly runoff from nonpoint sources. That problem would be exacerbated if the region’s urban areas begin to extend east into the watershed, Morgan said. Making matters worse, Beaver Lake is not a controlled watershed; no single entity has authority over it.

To preempt water quality issues, the district has worked intensively at public education for the past six years through public schools, special events, public service announcements and more, Morgan said. “People are starting to realize that their actions do have an impact,” he said. He’s noticed homeowners installing rain gardens and rain barrels, heard more people talking about water quality and witnessed better construction site management. “It’s not like we’re in crisis,” Morgan said. “If we can just stay on top of it, we’ll be OK.”

East Arkansas

Agriculture is the leading culprit of groundwater depletion in east Arkansas. It’s a matter of economics, Swaim said. “If it costs more to move surface water than it would to drill and maintain a well, then the farmer’s logical choice is to stick with groundwater. The practical effect in the long run is that the groundwater gets used faster than it recharges and you essentially pump yourself out of the ability to use the water.” The scenario would cause more than economic damage in a region that produces rice for the world – people miles away who rely on groundwater for drinking water would have to find a new source.

“We have to fix the problem of groundwater overdraft,” Swaim said. The commission and the Corps of Engineers are trying to figure out how to deliver surface water at a price that’s comparable or lower than the cost of pumping groundwater “so that the economics play out in a way that irrigators can afford to use the surface water without losing money,” he said. Two large surface water projects are currently under construction in the Stuttgart and England areas, but such projects take years to complete and are expensive, he said.

The El Dorado area had success combating a cone of depression in the aquifer, brought on in large part by water demand from local industries, by forming an entity that could assess taxes for groundwater use. The revenue was used to help finance a surface water project from the Ouachita River to provide an alternative water source. Additionally, the area focused on conservation. Subsequently, there has been a positive change in groundwater levels. Similar models could be implemented elsewhere throughout the state to solve groundwater depletion problems, Swaim said. “Overall, Arkansas has a great abundance of water; it’s just a matter of harnessing the excess surface water and distributing it to places where it needs to be used,” he said.