Illinois River becoming cleaner

BY ROBERT J. SMITH

Posted on Sunday, February 12, 2006

Ed Fite thinks the Illinois River is better than it was only a few years ago despite all the continued political wrangling about the phosphorus that flows in it.

Oh, the river isn’t as clean as the Oklahoma Scenic Rivers Commission director would like it to be someday, but a Dec. 29 airplane flight over the river showed it looked pristine and clear.

“I think we’ve made considerable headway,” Fite said.

That’s in part because Northwest Arkansas cities are removing more of the phosphorus before treated sewage is discharged into tributaries leading to the Illinois River. When the river runs low in Oklahoma, a large percentage of the water that is flowing is what’s discharged from sewer plants in Northwest Arkansas.

What remains worrisome to Fite and others is Oklahoma’s ongoing disagreement with Arkansas’ poultry industry and poultry litter that contains phosphorus.

Farmers in Oklahoma and Arkansas who raise chickens and turkeys for poultry companies use litter to fertilize hayfields and pastures. The litter contains phosphorus, a nutrient that at high levels can degrade water quality. Rain can carry it from fields into streams.

Because of poultry litter, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson sued eight poultry companies in U. S. District Court, blaming them for letting phosphorus reach the Illinois River, one of Oklahoma’s protected waterways that’s been designated a scenic river.

The companies Edmondson sued are Cargill Inc. of Minneapolis ; Cobb-Vantress Inc. and Simmons Foods Inc., both of Siloam Springs ; George’s Inc. of Springdale ; Peterson Farms Inc. of Decatur ; Tyson Foods Inc. of Springdale ; Willow Brook Foods of Springfield, Mo. ; and Cal-Maine Foods Inc. of Jackson, Miss.

Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe has asked the U. S. Supreme Court to take over the case, saying the two-state dispute between Arkansas, its poultry companies and Oklahoma isn’t something that should be handled in U. S. District Court. Edmondson said the case can be handled well in district court.

It’s not just the poultry industry’s impact on the river that’s remained worrisome.

Northwest Arkansas’ rapid population growth has impacted Oklahoma’s scenic rivers, said Marc Nelson, director of the Arkansas Water Resources Center water-quality laboratory.

Nelson said the number of houses and businesses being built in Benton and Washington counties has increased the amount of sediment that’s reaching the Illinois River. That exposed soil can be carried into streams where it can smother bottom-dwelling, red bloodworms and harm other aquatic life.

It’s been far less contentious on the sewer-plant side. What’s been accomplished and promised by Northwest Arkansas cities is remarkable, Fite said.

Under an EPA-approved agreement with Oklahoma in December 2003, Northwest Arkansas cities must make sure sewer plants discharge 1 milligram or less of phosphorus per liter into streams. Rogers had to comply by 2005, Springdale by 2007 and Siloam Springs by 2009.

Fayetteville already met the limit when the deal was approved by the EPA.

Bentonville, which has a plant discharging sewage outside the Illinois River watershed, wants to send some of its future sewage to a new plant planned by the Northwest Arkansas Conservation Authority. The authority’s plant, which is expected to be built by 2008 on an Illinois River tributary called Osage Creek, will meet the 1-milligram goal.

Nelson said his water sampling at a site on the Illinois River south of Siloam Springs shows the sewer plant discharges are improving.

At what’s called base flow, which is measured when rainfall is low and sewer plant discharges make up a higher percentage of water flowing in streams, phosphorus ran at 0. 11 milligrams per liter in 2004.

That doesn’t meet Oklahoma’s long-term goal of having 0. 037 milligrams per litter in the state’s six scenic rivers by 2012, but it’s far less than the 0. 31 milligrams per liter that flowed in the river in 2001.

“It’s still going down and I expect it to continue to go down,” he said. “The sewer-plant improvement had a dramatic effect on the river.”

It’s more difficult to measure the impact of poultry litter on streams because the amount of rainfall determines how much of it reaches streams. In a dry year, far less phosphorus from fields reaches streams.

Arkansas has passed three state laws meant to curtail the impact of poultry litter on streams.

One law requires poultry farmers who raise more than 2, 500 birds to register their farms. Another law forces people who spread poultry litter on fields to be state-certified, and the third requires specialized training for the people who write nutrient management plans that determine how much litter can be safely spread on fields.