Arkansas Canoe Club Forums

BNR Park Service Permits for Wastewater Pollution Discharge into Buffalo National River at Buffalo Point.

Public comment period almost over. Don't forget to make your comments. Thought I would share in case you missed the one day notice in the local papers or the park service forgot to let you know so that you could review and make comments.

http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/ftproot/Pub ... 130718.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

And......

http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/ftproot/Pub ... 120831.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

It's a lot to read, but the discharge concentrations are high ( up to 15 mg/l aka ppm), whereas wastewater treatment permits for places on the Illinois river watershed are low (0.1 ppm aka 0.1 mg/l).

Maybe asking for an extended comment period might be a reasonable request since BNR is a national river and releasing minimally treated R.V. Wastewater has been ongoing for a very long time now into the prize jewel river that many people seem to think is pristine otherwise. Or the NPS thought was a good place to discharge wastewater from tourists at the very least.

Maybe a higher standard could be achieved?

Interesting that page six lists no endangered species, because recent tune that has been played by NPS was about endangered species in the area.

Also very off that NPS has no problem with the determination made by USFws about no endangered species.

And then it's ok to have a 22,000 gallon discharge per day or nearly million gallons a into the national river each day.

All interesting notices, Plankton.

However, I must point out that 22,000 gallons of wastewater discharge per day equates to 8 MILLION (8,030,000)gallons of wastewater per year for the "lower discharge" that you are referencing.
Don't dare forget about the "upper discharge" which is 20,000 gallons per day discharged directly into the river each day or 7.3 million gallons per year.

A total of 15.3(15,330,00 0) MILLION GALLONS per year discharged directly into the BNR.

If you do the Math on an average nitrate and ammonium nitrogen concentration (Mg/L or ppm) you get a total of approximately 1,000 lbs of Nitrogen (N) loading into the BNR each year from the upper and lower pollution discharges each year. THEN when you don't see a numerical standard for phosphorus (P) and make a conservative estimate of similar discharge rate as Nitrogen (N) all of a sudden you get 1,000 lbs of P directly discharged into the river each year as well.

So that is 2000 lbs of nutrient discharge into the river each year without counting the BYPASS discharges (untreated wastewater overflows). AND THEN you need to factor in the other emerging contaminants from personal healthcare products (fluoride, birth control, deodorants, pharmaceuticals, and other "emerging pollutants" into the river each year.

All of a sudden Buffalo Point is aptly named as it is a Buffalo Point-Source Pollution Discharge !!!!

I am not sure how many "bypass events" there are each year, but any untreated wastewater overflow is not acceptable inside of the BNR park, and especially from the park service, right? Because they don't want non-point source pollution entering the river from well outside the park.

I think a better standard for the BNR Park Service is to:
1) reduce the Nitrogen (N) concentration in their wastewater discharge into the BNR,
2) place a numerical standard on their phosphorus (P) discharge,
3) Improve the overall treatment process of the 15 MGY wastewater they pipe into the BNR,
4) Improve their public notice to more than 1 day in a local paper,
5) improve their environmental Impact assessment,
6) notify the public better about their permit renewal ( it is a NATIONAL park after all),
7) improve their endangered wildlife assessment,
treat their wastewater beyond the minimal practical extent since this is an Extraordinary, wild and scenic, first ever national river for the US
9) at least meet the standards that they impose on locals,
10) not conduct bypass discharges at all.

Not to mention, I believe they do have more pollution discharges than at the buffalo point source pollution plants they operate just above the Buffalo River Wilderness Area

Thanks John.

Yes, thanks for keeping us informed, John. It's clear that we have a problem and to those of us that notice, you can see it in the water. And equal standards applied to the park that are being applied on locals shouldn't even be a question.

Wow. I heard the Park had wastwater discharges into the river, but didn't realize how much nutrients each year were piped to the river or the primitive standards of treatment that were in place. The Buffalo definitely deserves better!

This where I found to make my comments to ADEQ: http://www.adeq.state.ar.us/water/branc ... rmits.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This is the email address for comments to be made: Water-Draft-Permit-Comment@adeq.state.ar.us

Don't Delay BNR NPS Permit to discharge sewage to river ends today!

http://m.newtoncountytimes.com/mobile/p ... ?success=2" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;