A statewide network for monitoring agricultural water quality and water quantity in Arkansas

Michele L. Reba is a research hydrologist at a worksite of the National Sedimentation Laboratory, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Mike Daniels is professor of environmental management and Pearl Daniel is a program technician at the Division of AgricultureCooperative Extension Service, University of Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas. Yushun Chen is an assistant professor of water quality and aquatic ecology at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Andrew Sharpley is a professor of soils and water quality at the Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas. Jennifer Bouldin is the director of the Ecotoxicology Research Facility at Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Tina Gray Teague is a professor in the College of Agriculture and Technology, Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, Arkansas. Chris G. Henry is an assistant professor at the Rice Research and Extension Center, University of Arkansas, Stuttgart, Arkansas. T he world population reached seven billion in 2011, and global population of nine billion is expected by 2050. To sustain agricultural production of food, fiber, feed, and fuel for the world population, agriculture requires water and nutrient inputs, which can impair water resources by decreasing water quality and availability. Both are concerns in the agricultural region of the Lower Mississippi River Basin (LMRB) and specifically in the state of Arkansas, where production of rice, cotton, soybean, and poultry are critical to the state’s economy. Water quality issues are related to excess nutrients running off of fields that subsequently influence local and regional water bodies (Carpenter et al. 1998). Water quantity issues are related to declines in groundwater caused by withdrawal rates that are greater than recharge rates. Conservation practices targeted at improving water resources and promoted through the Mississippi River Basin Healthy Watersheds Initiative (MRBI) are supported by USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS) and include a component dedicated to monitoring the water resources impact of these practices. A statewide monitoring network designed to collect water quality and water quantity data was established in 2010 in Arkansas. The network is made up of approximately 30 monitoring sites on 12 separate farms where rice, soybean, cotton, corn, poultry, and beef are produced (figure 1). The network is described in this article in detail along with targeted conservation practices. Programs and entities that supported the establishment and ongoing infrastructure of the statewide network are also described.