Good water -- not!
A correspondent contributes additional information on a policy advisory council meeting last night held to discuss watershed management plans for Lake Maumelle. The Democrat-Gazette reported that, as expected, the group couldn't reach a consensus on the critical question of whether the watershed management plan should prohibit development on a small amount of acreage close to the water intake.
This process has been marked all along by Deltic Timber's efforts to string out action on watershed management to defeat Central Arkansas Water's effort to condemn the property and protect the water supply from residential development. (That issue could be clarified by a hearing today in Circuit Judge Mackie Pierce's court. Deltic is trying to have a full-blown trial on whether or not its 700 acres should be condemned, though it has already taken the money the utility offered for the property. Normally, if you want to contest the legality of a condemnation -- and not just the price -- you don't take the money. Of course it's nice to have $3.8 million to produce interest to finance your lawsuit.)
From our correspondent:
The DemGaz article in this morning's paper was incomplete. There are 22 people sitting at the table of the PAC representing all the interest competing over Lake Maumelle and its watershed. We were asked to vote on a resolution last night that says that the WMP will not allow treated sewage to be dumped into Lake Maumelle .
Last night only one member of the 22 members at the table would not agree to a resolution to not allow dumping of treated sewage into Lake Maumelle and that was Deltic. [Ed. note: The correspondent means only one party, Deltic, refused to endorse a ban on putting treated sewage in the lake.]
Shame on Deltic. What does that tell us about their stewardship of the lake? The last question we are asked before a vote is "We know that you may not like this but can you live with it?" I guess Deltic cannot live with any restrictions on dumping treated swage in Lake Maumelle, the lake that provides drinking water to 400,000 people.
There were two reasons the PAC members were asked to vote for that resolution last night. The first reason is that the computer model of Lake Maumelle tells us how much "loading" the lake can take before the water quality drops below acceptable levels. If treated sewage is allow to be dumped into Lake Maumelle all the loading the lake can tolerate will rapidly be met and leave no room for loading from other sources.
The effect of such loading is so significant that very little new development could be allowed on the lake because the lake could not tolerate additional pollution from those sources. For this reason all the charts graphs and statistics that have been used by the PAC members for discussion and negotiations over the past several months have been based on the fact that no treated sewage would not be allowed to be dumped in the lake.
Second reason is that take a lot of time and effort to pass a new state law to stop such dumping of treated swage. Experts in state political tell us that is not going to be easy to do. To pass this law is going to take time and the resolution would enable the work to begin the process. The next general assembly begins in January.
Comments
Central Arkansas Water isn't interested in the rights of land owners. They have taken our land once and will do it again. My friends who have been to the meetings tell me that the plan is based on "science" that is bought and paid for. Our leaders will take a stand against them in the next session and will solve this problem. The elites of Little Rock need to learn that they can't dictate what happens to the rest of the state. First our schools, then our land. What next?
Posted by: Perry County | August 18, 2006 08:28 AM
Why would anyone want waste, treated or not, dumped into their drinking water supply? Am I missing something here other than the obvious self interest of greed? Isn't this something of a no brainer as far as common sense is concerned?
Posted by: Anonymous | August 18, 2006 08:43 AM
Get a clue, Perry County. This is about 400,000 CAW customers, not the "elite" of Little Rock. When there is a greater good at stake, your rights are secondary.
Posted by: Runner | August 18, 2006 08:49 AM
Am I getting this right? Deltic wants to let people put poop in our water? And there's actually a debate about this!?
Posted by: water | August 18, 2006 08:55 AM
why doesn't LRWW do what everyone upstream seems to do and dump the treated waste water in the Arkansas River
Posted by: anoncow | August 18, 2006 08:57 AM
"the fact that no treated sewage would not be allowed to be dumped in the lake."
Max, would you clarify this sentence. The double negatives are throwing me off.
Posted by: Jake | August 18, 2006 09:10 AM
I agree with "Water" on this. Who in God's name would even CONSIDER allowing sewage to be dumped -- treated or untreated -- into the water supply used by the majority of Central Arkansas residents?
Posted by: Awanna Drank | August 18, 2006 09:13 AM
This lake is/was the product of visionaries. In realityit is not that large and must serve a growing population.
This has nothing to do with taking Deltic's property. Deltic has known for YEARS this property was in or near the condemnation zones which are to keep the lake free of extra pollutions. They have millions of acres to feast their developments on.
On the other end of the lake, that Rick Ferguson jerk is trying to rip the tax payers off too. He bought into the condemnation zone, flipped a few lots with his cronies to jack up the prices and is trying to get inflated prices from CAW.
Can we not leave one decent body of water to drink from?
Posted by: pippin | August 18, 2006 09:30 AM
I have been gone for awhile so my orientation to Maumelle is somewhat dated. Tthat is why I am shocked at all of this. Maumelle was always considered sacrosanct because it was the major source of drinking water for LR and the surrounding area. Now I find out that it is subject to all of this development talk and dumping sewage into it.
When did the folks in LR acquiesce to this? In the past it was hands off to development along this body of water. You couldn't even run power boats on the lake.
I thought that the liberal folks who ran the LR government wouldn't go along with this because of the environmental concerns. Somebody educate me on this. What happened?
Posted by: Anonymous | August 18, 2006 09:51 AM
"Central Arkansas Water isn't interested in the rights of land owners. They have taken our land once and will do it again."
When did CAW take your land? I'd like to know the specifics, please. CAW has only condemned a handful of propertiesin the last forty years. In the vast majority of situations, CAW works with the landowner to craft much less drastic solutions (easements, BMPs, etc). But if you have a different story, please let us know the specifics.
"My friends who have been to the meetings tell me that the plan is based on "science" that is bought and paid for."
By who? The science is based on work by TetraTech (a neutral, independent North Carolina firm) and by a technical advisory council (made up of a wide range of folks, including Deltic and their engineers).
I've been to every one of these meetings over the past year. Folks are doing a lot of work and a lot of study to keep the water clean. The biggest obstacle is hardheads who won't even consider the needs of the many over the profits of the few.
Posted by: Lorax | August 18, 2006 09:54 AM
I agree that a clean water supply for people trumps any property rights issues. I am a conservative but this is a common sense public good issue. People can't live without water. They have a right to clean water.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 18, 2006 10:03 AM
I vote we start dumping our sewage on the streets of those who fight for the privilege of continuing to piss in our water. Each and every one deserves to have a chicken house in their yard.
Posted by: Roland | August 18, 2006 10:29 AM
Sewage in Lake Maumelle? I had thought all my life that Maumelle was so stringently regulated that you couldn't even go SWIMMING in the lake.
When did No-Swimming give way to Treated-Sewage-Allowed?
Posted by: Mork Spitz | August 18, 2006 10:39 AM
As I understand it, Deltic owned their land for many, many years prior to the establishment of the watershed protection zones. I believe that this entitles them to a different level of compensation for their land than the other developer who purchased the land knowing that it was inside of the protected area. While it will admittedly be expensive for the water utilities customer's, it seems only fair that Deltic receive compensation for their land based upon different valuations than that other developer who apparently bought the land knowing about the CAW's opposition to the development with the intent to shake down the utility for a quick profit.
Posted by: afotlme | August 18, 2006 12:01 PM
Deltic bought the majority of the land they own in Critical Zone 1 in the 1980s, well after Lake Maumelle had been built specifically for use as a water supply.
Posted by: Runner | August 18, 2006 01:44 PM
I'm surprised that this issue hasn't generated more responses from folks. This is a big dot deal when you consider that this is dealing with your ONLY water supply.
Posted by: Anonymous | August 18, 2006 02:49 PM
Deltic bought the majority of the land they own in Critical Zone 1 in the 1980s, well after Lake Maumelle had been built specifically for use as a water supply.
Are you sure about that? And when was the watershed protection zone esatablished
Posted by: anonymous | August 18, 2006 08:24 PM