LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A group has begun a study of how the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality should implement its policy to protect the state’s waters from degradation.
The department says it’ll take the focus group’s recommendations to a stakeholder group under the Continuing Planning Process, which outlines how a state will implement its water-quality programs.
The Continuing Planning Process is required under the Clean Water Act that passed in 1975.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that the state must classify its water bodies by quality and significance in a tiered system to comply with the law.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says Arkansas and New Mexico are the only states nationwide without implementation plans.
Department officials submitted their proposed outline to the group on April 5. The group plans to meet next month.