May 17, 2016
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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Darcia Routh, M.S., P.G. undertook a presentation at the May 1st Arkansas Water Works & Water Environment Association titled Source Water Protection in Arkansas: Connecting the Public to the Science (“Presentation”).
Ms. Routh is a Geologist Supervisor Manager/Source for Protection in the Engineering Section of the Arkansas Department of Health (“DOH”).
Ms. Routh desribes the challenges faced by DOH in the context of source water protection, which includes:
- Distilling highly technical information for non-experts
- Agency role as interpreter
She provides examples of how DOH undertakes these tasks.
The Presentation notes the interpretative context in view of:
- Source water protection
- Safe Drinking Water Act
The Presentation cites the agency’s core responsibility of designating an area to be protected around each drinking water source.
The Presentation also addresses:
- Groundwater supplies in Arkansas
- Surface water supplies in Arkansas
- Details of drinking water in Northwest Arkansas
- Details of drinking water in Southeast Arkansas
- Potential assistance DOH can provide
- Designation of protection areas
- Well recommendations
- Cutting reviews/Grout casing
- Casing & Grout Determination
- SWAP model
- Geospatial data
- New and Improved SWAP
- Wellhead deficiency surveys
- An East Ozark Example
- Calculating WHPAs
- Potential sources of Contamination
- West Coastal Plain Leaking Underground Storage Tank Case
- Inter-Agency Coordination
By way of summary, Ms. Routh notes that undertaking these tasks involves:
- Do good science
- Know your audience
- Craft understandable message
- Avoid jargon
- Show eyes
- Help the public value the shared resource
- Interpret the science
Click here to download a copy of the slides.
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