Environmental Preservation and Technical Services Division

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ADEQ's Environmental Preservation and Technical Services Division's staff of 21 provides assistance and service through five distinct work groups:

• Environmental Preservation
• Geographical Information (GIS)
• Air Chemistry
• Multimedia Chemistry
• Lab Certification

ENVIRONMENTAL PRESERVATION

The Environmental Preservation (EP) section provides comments on environmental impact issues, assistance on stream restoration, bacterial analyses, and expert sampling of various media. Routine duties include fecal coliform and E. coli testing of samples, sample collections from Bayou Bartholomew, fish collection, and groundwater sampling.

The EP section currently is assessing the sediment problems in the Middle Fork of the White River, studying sources of stream bank instability and water quality. The section oversees the mercury levels in fish at various state lakes to evaluate any changes. The section also routinely evaluates Environmental Impact Statements and other routine documents for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and the U.S. Forest Service projects. Examples of these projects include the U.S. Corps of Engineers Environmental Impact Statements for the proposed Pine Mountain Lake (Crawford County) and minimum flow in the White River System; an NRCS project is an irrigation system for the lower Little Red River.

GIS

ADEQ’s Geographic Information Systems (GIS) section provides mapping of location data, and receives and processes location information from field personnel to correctly locate sites in the ADEQ permit data system. GIS provides maps of environmental issues to better depict or analyze potential problems. The section added 5,316 high quality locations to the Department’s permit data system in FY 2006.

AIR CHEMISTRY

The Air Chemistry section maintains the state’s air monitoring system and provides data to EPA’s national data system.

Air Chemistry is expanding the state’s ozone monitoring to northwest Arkansas. The ozone station will be the sixth in the state. The section monitors for fine particulates (PM2.5) at 16 sites and course particulates (PM10) at two sites throughout the state. The system monitors are being converted from ones that collect a single 24-hour sample every three days to one that will provide continuous data.

MULTIMEDIA CHEMISTRY

The Multimedia Chemistry section uses current technology to provide in-lab analytical services for the Department. The primary workload is generated through the water ambient monitoring network, accounting for over 150 sites collected monthly and 130 bimonthly sample sites.

Other tasks include compliance samples for wastewater and hazardous waste, groundwater samples, and samples from special projects. Current parameters of concern include phosphorus in northwest Arkansas, chlorides in south Arkansas, total dissolved solids in the Arkansas River, turbidity and suspended solids in many areas, and metals, volatile organic chemicals, and semi-volatile organics at regulated sites.
 

Laboratory Certification Program

The Environmental Lab Certification section evaluates laboratories’ quality assurance standards. If the standards are sufficient, the lab is certified. The certificate allows the lab to provide contractual environmental testing in Arkansas for a year.