Water Quality of Eleven Lakes in Eastern and Southern Arkansas from August 2004 - July 2005

In 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Region VI (USEPA), determined that historic data and observations
indicated that nine lakes were in violation of either narrative
or numeric water-quality standards for Arkansas. Using a
weight of evidence approach, USEPA determined that the narrative
nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus, for example) standard
was violated at six lakes—five lakes located in eastern Arkansas
in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain Ecoregion and one lake
located in southeastern Arkansas in the South Central Plains
Ecoregion. USEPA also determined that chloride standards
were violated at two lakes located in the South Central Plains
Ecoregion in south-central Arkansas, and that turbidity standards
were violated at one lake located on Crowleys Ridge in
northeastern Arkansas in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain Ecoregion.
USEPA added all nine lakes to the Arkansas 2002 Clean
Water Act section 303(d) list of impaired waterbodies.