Hearing set on regional water-quality resources
Posted on Friday, March 7, 2008
BRANSON, Mo. - Southwest Missouri U. S. Rep. Roy Blunt and northwest Arkansas U. S. Rep. John Boozman, both Republicans, have set a congressional hearing.
More than a dozen representatives from public and private agencies tasked with protecting the region's water resources are invited to explain their water resources' conservation projects, and the public is welcome to attend, said Boozman, the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment.
"A number of organizations and institutions have taken the lead on working to safeguard our water resources, but there is more to do," Blunt said in a press release. "Congressman Boozman and I want to stay involved, educated and focused on finding appropriate ways to help those various efforts succeed."
The three-hour hearing will begin at 9: 30 a.m. March 19 in the Keeter Center at the College of the Ozarks in Branson, the press release states.
Representatives from several groups in southern Missouri and northwest Arkansas are invited.
Some that will send representatives include the Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute at Missouri State University, the Environmental Resources Coalition, Table Rock Lake Water Quality Inc., the South Missouri Water Quality Project, the U. S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service; and the Branson City Waste Management Department.
Also participating will be the Ozark Underground Laboratory, the Beaver Lake Water District, the Kings River Watershed Partnership, the U. S. Geological Survey Arkansas Water Science Center, the Applied Sustainability Center, the University of Arkansas Walton College of Business, the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission and the University of Arkansas Center for Excellence in Poultry Science.
During the hearing, participants will discuss the successes and challenges in protecting the region's streams, groundwater and water basins, Boozman said in the release.
Alan D. Fortenberry, CEO of the Beaver Water District, said he will attend the hearing. Like previous such hearings, the event will help to foster better communication not only between members of Congress and groups interested in water resources but among all groups with different perspectives on the resource, Fortenberry predicted.
"I think that what Congressmen Boozman and Blunt have tried to do … (is ) maintain the dialogue to see what the issues are within their region, especially in regard to water. What both men have, I think, been diligent about is staying on top of the issues, which can become contentious at times, in regard to water, specifically the White River," he said.
The White River runs from Arkansas to Missouri and back into Arkansas, Fortenberry said.
Naturally, he will talk about the Beaver Water District and its mission, and will learn all he can from people with other perspectives, also expected to attend the hearing, Fortenberry said.
"I don't know what questions will come from the audience, but all I plan to do is tell the people what we are. We're a drinking-water facility and provide drinking water. We pull water out of Beaver Lake. And I'll talk about that and talk about some of the issues going on, such as the initiative by the Northwest Arkansas Council to strive to look at Beaver Lake and the issue of, how do we preserve the water quality that we have today ? How do we preserve that over this two-year process of consensus-type, bringing-all-stakeholders-in-type situation and talking about it," he said.
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