Environmental officials who a year ago were tasked with updating a comprehensive plan that informs water policy in Arkansas – recently announced goals, future plans, and estimated completion cost of $3.3 million for the Arkansas Water Plan.

The most recent version of the Arkansas Water Plan was released a decade ago, and although it was expected to accompany state leaders through 2050, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed an implementing regulation Last August, he asked state agencies at the Department of Agriculture to update the list because risks to water quality and water resources had increased.

Since last year a combination of federal and state funds have trickled down into cities struggling with failing water systems. In July, state officials allocated $5 million for projects in three dozen counties of Arkansas to resolve critical infrastructure issues.

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Sanders’ office announced the completion of the first phase of the water plan in a press release Tuesday, noting that it was a “significant milestone” in developing a comprehensive plan to address a range of water issues, from drinking water quality to flood protection.

Sanders stressed the importance of moving the project forward, and Agriculture Secretary Wes Ward praised Sanders’ efforts in a press release.

Phase I included a review of the most recent water plan, published in 2014to identify areas that need to be reassessed or updated. The first phase involved seven stakeholder meetings and residents were invited to provide feedback through a survey.

The meetings and survey responses helped identify six goals that leaders should address in Phase II:

• Providing drinking water that promotes public health and well-being
• Providing water that brings environmental and economic benefits to the state and supports intergovernmental agreements
• Use the best available science, data, tools, practices and technologies to support water resource planning and management for current and future needs.
• Maintaining and improving infrastructure for water supply, wastewater, stormwater and flood protection and planning for future infrastructure needs
• Preservation, protection and improvement of water quality to support the intended water use
• Reduce the impacts of future floods on people, property, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and the environment

What happens next?

Officials are now expected to build on the information they gathered in Phase I in Phase II, while “refining specific areas of gaps rather than revising the entire (2014) plan,” according to a detailed report produced by Michael Baker International, a technical consultant to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The report describes the process of updating the Arkansas Water Plan, including two funding plans for Phase II. The cost for the second phase is either $3.30 million over two years or $3.36 million over three years. The second phase is expected to include a series of data collection and analysis.

The cost difference is an additional $50,000 for project management in the third year.

Later this year, officials will launch Phase II with project management and scheduling procedures and then conduct a regional review to assess methods used in other states, while engaging with stakeholders.

The two most expensive parts of Phase II are the updated water plan ($1,516,570) and the development of the first-ever flood plan for Arkansas ($956,450).

With regard to the water plan, officials are expected to evaluate existing infrastructure and water availability. Specific aspects of water use that must be analyzed include population and economic projections, drinking water, industry, mining, thermoelectric power, crop irrigation, livestock production, duck hunting and habitat conservation, and fish and wildlife protection.

Officials should consider the impacts of extreme weather events in their sector-specific analyses, the report says. In recent years, Arkansas has seen an increase in extreme weather events, such as Tornadoes, Winter storms, Droughts And flooding.

As part of the flood plan, officials will also conduct data collection and assessment, but based on specific “hotspots” that they identify using geographic information systems (GIS).

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The plan is intended to inform authorities about ways to reduce the impacts of flooding on “people, property, infrastructure, industry, agriculture and the environment in Arkansas” and to avoid increasing flood risk in the future, the report said.

The final part of Phase II is described as an “interactive dashboard” that will allow the public to view the results of the project.

Once the reports are completed, the content can be used as policy recommendations. The updated Arkansas Water Plan is expected to include mitigation strategies, a water reuse action plan, groundwater treatment methods, and groundwater recharge.

The Arkansas Flood Plan is also expected to include proposals for flood mitigation solutions and strategies.

Although Phase II will continue for at least two more years, Sanders’ 2023 executive order states that an interim status report is due by December 31 detailing the progress of the water plan update as well as “any supplemental reports and analyses, and preliminary needs and recommendations.”