House & Senate - Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development

College meeting of the. Senate house ag agriculture fortune economic development the joint meeting to order. I'll ask you for the. My co chair has any comments. You're good okay. Okay we will hear from universe of Arkansas division of agriculture Dr DQ feels is he here yes Sir say you would please come to the table. Welcome doctor feels your mom friends here today so that you would please state your name for the record and you're recognized. thank you feels vice president universe of Arkansas division of agriculture. Representive all does the recall will members of the committee first I just wanna say thank for this opportunity to introduce myself and then talk a little bit about we're we hated as the division of agriculture so briefly up to a little about my background and and then some updates so from a small town with or Louisiana about five thousand people about sixty miles from the Arkansas border so grew up cotton it with great grandparents as cotton soybean farmers my dad and I had a show cattle operation that he gave me to charges start at the age of thirteen and we kept that operation to a few years ago now I have a fifteen year old son who that federal high school started I heard on a farm in Farmington may twenty six years three sons wanted junior if you have a in engineering and one a freshman at Arkansas tech. So. Just wanna talk about my my background so I've been affiliated with six different mainframe institutions up throughout my career first Southern University where I did my undergraduate degree university Missouri data masses there and my first job after that actually was as a budget analyst for the state of Missouri working under governor Mel Carnahan but after about six months transition to Florida in university working over there small farm outreach program after a few years there I decided to go back to issue to do PhD and spent sixteen years at Auburn University at last five as department head after leaving LSU. so is actually exactly five years ago today that I had the opportunity to interview for dean of the deal purpose because it back to life sciences at university of Arkansas and came to that position in may of two thousand eighteen and honored to have the opportunity to become the vice president for the division of ag on July first of twenty twenty two so glad to be here so one thing I want to talk about is is what does it mean to be a land grant and how does the U. of a division of agriculture to fulfill the overall land grant mission so the University of Arkansas is a land grant has the mandate of serving the state of through the three missions of the land grant which is teaching research and extension and outreach. So the university of Arkansas Fayetteville campus primarily handles that the academic component of the academic programs component the teaching part of the University of Arkansas division of ag has the mandate to cover of the majority of the research and extension or outreach components of the that mission so cover that could aid research and then actually delivering cutting edge research to the citizens in Lehman of of the state. So the extension program I would say is what I was the the primary difference between of a land grant institution and what every other university does you have of universities who do you do teaching and who do research but the component of delivering that two of the citizens of the state is what we do through our extension mission and you know what that gives us the opportunity we have a presence in every county which is different than than most entities in the State of through our county offices through four H. through finding consumer sciences who are us the paid unit we have that presence and so you know one of my goals is to actually leverage that that powerful relationship that we have to be able to be more effective in carrying out the mission of the land grant institution. it can be difficult to explain our relationship with the university of Arkansas Fayetteville their relationship between you a DA and and you A. L. so I have the unique opportunity to serve as dean which in that dean's position my percentages were fifty one percent university of Arkansas Fayetteville forty nine percent University of Arkansas division of a. And so the way I explain is that one wouldn't exist without the other the university of Arkansas Fayetteville wouldn't exist without you A. D. A. in you A. DA wouldn't exist without the university of Arkansas Fayetteville about of forty percent of all the research expenditures for the universe of Arkansas Fayetteville campus come from research conducted by the university of Arkansas division of agriculture so very important to University of Arkansas maintaining its overall research one status is that research done by the Division of AA so about seventy five over seventy five percent of the faculty in the bumpers college at the U. of a have a joint appointment with the division of ag and also those faculty about half of those in bile in ag engineer and also have a joint appointment with you the University of Arkansas division of ag what that means is that salary support is provided by the Division of a. We're gets complicated is that the budgets for the two are mutually exclusive so what happened for the University of Arkansas Fay Advil actually has no impact on the University of Arkansas division of agriculture their formula funded and the division of ag is not so what happens you know as denial always faces this challenge when the University of Arkansas federal have the opportunity to raise salaries to do things support faculty as based on tuition or other reasons the University of Arkansas division of Agnes than five percent of these folks in the bumpers college that we have to react to in some type of way in a lot of times to try to just that would be an unfunded mandate or we couldn't do anything so if you had a fifty one percent university of Arkansas Fayetteville appointment in a forty nine percent you A. DA appointment and the Arkansas federal decide to give a three percent raise. You as a faculty member. Would get zero if you're majority you eighty appointment your your rates back to be zero and the guy next to you may be in a similar position would have an appointment that's majority campus appointment and he gets an increase so as dean I face the challenge of how do you manage morale when if was at one peer that was six years in a role that the university of Arkansas Fayetteville's they've given increasing division was and so at that point we have to look at how do we manage the relationship between the two we drop down a lot to try to to change that. But I do want to say you know thank you for the support that you provided that you do receive the last session approve the governor's request to increase the funding to address some of the inequities that exist between of you A. DA and UA Fairfield campus I want to go on record now it and and make sure that everyone knows that I have absolutely no intention no thoughts of seven any you ADA landed anytime soon so will make sure that they we we address that so Division rag it is really primarily. State funded about fifty two percent of our funds actually come from the state so very important to who we are my primary goal is actually to figure out how we better leverage of this by increasing our effort to compete for extramural funds which is really odd next largest source of funding right now. What I want to be able to do is make it where when you look at the University of Arkansas division of by and you think about you know things that we need to see it as an investment versus the donation when you do a donation you don't expect anything in return you don't expect return on that but when you look at something as an investment you think of it of what return you get from that investment and I think we have programs throughout the state that show a return on investment what we have to do would be to better articulate what return you get from the investment that you make in the division of agriculture. you know I I think you know you A. D. A. we've been evaluating things and look at how we look at duplicate positions and twenty twenty we became one U. A. DA and at that point you know we we merge systems but right now we look at how do we streamline to become leaner and meaner I'll say of to make sure we're not duplicating in Fayetteville the same thing we have in Little Rock we also returned up of four hundred and twenty two position that you see when you from the personnel committee out of the all university that think they're eleven to twelve hundred and four hundred twenty two of those have come back from the division of agriculture we are looking at how we organize better across the the overall state you know one of the things that I see that the University of Arkansas division back has to be the leader that helps to move the land grant mission helps to change things for agriculture so we are working with all campuses that have a a component in as well as of secretary ward to look at how do we collaborate and come up with some big issues that we can address as a state I would universe of Arkansas division of ag taking the lead. I know we always talk about how big added we know that extremely important talk about the twenty billion dollars that adds to the economy I took a step further looking at the fact we have about ten billion dollars in farm gate sales that rates about fourth in our region behind Texas North Carolina and slightly behind Missouri but I've been look at the fact we only have three million people in the state and so when we take that and look at per capita we exceed every other state in the region when it comes to the contribution of actor capital so we're about three thousand two hundred and five dollars per person that AGD adds to the value of the state next behind us be Mississippi at about two thousand ninety three dollars Oklahoma eighteen eighty six to go down to Texas eight hundred and fifty five in Tennessee five hundred fifty so not only is AG B. but it's really important it's a large contribution the citizen of the state. so when someone hears you A. DA and I want to be able to think about being a top lingering institution of throughout our region we're doing some outstanding research that that I think some of you know about we also have programs in family and consumer sciences that are impacted every county in the state we have our programs in C. paired with community of professional economic development and also everybody's aware of what we do for each you know right now we have about sixteen thousand youth in four H. throughout the state and we touch about three hundred thousand students each year to the programs that we offer in those students are you know future leaders for our for our state and for the economy of of Arkansas so I'll stop there but really want to just say thank you for the opportunity open up for questions and you know really that you think about what value investing when you think of the universe of Arkansas division of a. Darfield thank you very much members anyone have questions. So feel thank you Mr chairman. Right over here K. can you give me three four of your investments that you actually make money I'll. That we make money on so We think about I'll give you a couple things so when we think of of research that we do so one of the what are big programs is is blackberry research and so we invest in that program that is in our Clarksville research station of that program returns from our role to the about two million dollars to the division of ag each year think of blackberry production alone every blackberry that you consume has University of Arkansas DNA and no more no matter where you are in the in the in the country if you consume in a blackberry that come from the Division of AA Other things that we could say invested I have to make a little bit in terms of where we see our returns most of our things in a lot of that we're not doing our research is not done us strictly thinking of you know how to with the dollars they come back so I research centers are farms or whatever our goal is to educate our goal is to make sure that we're doing things that are the cutting edge research that others can emulate to make sure that we see a return to the state not always the return the return come directly to the division of a but we do have some programs we will be using great dollars and everything to try to say this is returned so not a lot of the programs that we call this profit centers yes so you so you really don't have a lot of investments that you make that you get a an actual return on. Not not necessarily okay thank you Mr chairman. Senator hill. Thank you Sir what are some of the programs of the University of Arkansas could do better. What we could do better so you know I think when I think of when I take a look at where we are I think that do not just go say specific program but I think we can be a lot more competitive collaborating to address extramural funds I think that there's an opportunity there to when we look at our portfolio of of state federal funds I think Irish meal funding and in research dollars could could grow by collaborative efforts I think I incentives that we have right now for new faculty company and encourage new faculty to go for individual grants that are half a million dollars two million dollars versus having a collective where we look at a big issue and go for of thirty to fifty million dollar grant and so I think that we see returns on doing things like that right now we are in the process of submitting a fifty million dollar grant with four different states that I can see is is something that we can do differently. Represent later. Thank you Mr chairman I appreciate you let me ask questions I'll answer maybe but Sir one of the things that you do I believe is the Constitutional amendments you do research on that. And I believe you do the best job of anybody in the state I had I ran a bill it became an amendment and I know the betting that was done. And when people ask me about these amendments which are very difficult to understand for the average person is making a living every day I pointing to your research because I think you do the best job of my question is up how long has the Department been doing that what some of the background behind that. Well I can't say I know it's been going on for quite some time I've been here just a few years I know it's been the whole time I've been here that that a ballot issues publications been coming out is actually one of our most downloaded in one thing that we consistently distribute a lot of but no so an example of what we do for unbiased education and I think that that's you know something that we will continue to do and look at how we make sure we get in the hands of more people is our biggest goal right now we know is valuable but we want to make sure that you know everyone knows that is out there you know I think that you know having information is important to to every voter and I think a lot of times people you know go in and pull up push a button and they don't know all the details of why so it's our goal to create a level of education and that's our CPA community of professional economic development group that developed that publication each year. Any other questions. Seeing none dock feels thank you very much the welcome aboard we look forward to working with you thank you thank you yes Sir. Okay moving on to item D. the we got a presentation about the San Antonio water system Greg Eckardt if you would please come forward. Welcome if you would to state your name for the record and you're recognized you need closure button. There you go thank you Sir thank you my name is Greg Eckhart with stand twenty water system. At good morning Mr chairman and members will mark a little closer okay you may not pull you committee if the thank you breaking the table all right I think I speak right into it. Thank you Sir I'm very grateful and happy to be here this morning to tell you a little bit about our utility in San Antonio in some of the successes and challenges we've had in in managing our water resources in in South Texas Chris Kocher sure in west ward were in San Antonio a few weeks ago and I was able to to tour them at our facilities Mr chairman and you could make it in line with the vice chair Helen so the invitation is still open we love to have you come down there and and see what we're doing. But Chris asked me to come in and and sort of describe to you a little bit of what he saw. Well it that size because our water utility sauce and twenty water system were one of the biggest water and wastewater utilities in the nation we've got to a more than two million customers now. More than thirteen thousand miles of water and wastewater pipes and in the next five years well Spender more than two and a half a billion dollars on capital projects. As far as our our governance goes. We have a relatively independent board of trustees were owned by the city of San Antonio but works were set up sort of as a separate corporation of the city council appoints our board based on geographic districts and the and the mayor serves on the board. And the city council approves our rates and bonds and otherwise are board acts relatively independently this this was set up this way to create a level of independence and insulation for the city for the water utility from you know the everyday politics of things it's wishful thinking that you're going to keep politics out of water completely but I think it's a a structure that is served our our city pretty well. Our main water supply historically in San Antonio has been the the Edwards aquifer and this is a very large prolific limestone aquifer truly one of the greatest natural resources on earth the dark blue area there is is called the Artesians on of the Edwards senator and he was at the bottom center there we occupy most of bear county that's a scale there about fifty miles wide. The the dark blue area is the Artesians on it turns out you can go anywhere in that blue zone you drill well punch a hole in the ground and you get drinking water delivered to your doorstep we don't even have to treat Edwards water in most places you you measure the production of a well and you know maybe hundreds of gallons per minute and we measure our production of wells in the tens of thousands of gallons per minute we have single wells that can produce twenty million gallons a day there is really no other article for like this in the world and is the reason that San Antonio historically was able to grow and develop in and become going on two million people no other city was able to do that relying on an offer like this. As it turns out there's also a number of threatened and endangered species that rely on natural spring flows from this offer there some very large spring flows near San Antonio to just up to the north and east. And there there's a total of eight threatened and endangered species that depend on spring flows from this offer well in nineteen ninety one there was a federal lawsuit filed over insurance spring flows for endangered species habitats and the short story is that the endangered species one that lawsuit and San Antonio was was ordered by a federal judge to limit its pumping from the Edwards aquifer as were all other and we're talk for uses users that's that's federal judge Lucious button who implemented that order. One of my early gigs in the water business was I worked a little bit on the management plan that he impose and I know he didn't didn't want to do that because it meant the federal government would be in control of the arc for what he wanted was the state to solve the problem on its own in the state did that by forming a district that now regulates a pumping from the Edwards aquifer and and limits it to a certain amount per year. But that endangered species lawsuit and the regulation that was put in place afterwards became the catalyst for all the water supply development that we have done since then since the mid nineteen nineties this is our water supply inventory today the green section there is the yet we're talking for twenty five years ago the whole pie with whipped cream we have no other water source and today we have all these other sources we we draw from if you add those up you usually get the forty five billion dollars and water projects we have a a small there's two slices there that are surface water we have a very small service water component we are still mostly a groundwater. And the purple slice is recycled water we built the largest direct recycled water system in the country to reuse wastewater after we treat it and you know we have we have been able to do this through a lots of public outreach and by building a culture of water in San Antonio we have a very water literate of population down there and they're very engaged and they want to do the right thing and they have been very supportive of the rates and then the moneys that we need to to diversify our water supply and and build all these projects. Water supply water resource development in South Texas is very challenging and one of the reasons is. And we have two different regulatory legal paradigms for surface and groundwater in this graphic here I've I've traced the various pathways by which a drop of water can get follows rain and then get to the Gulf of Mexico and we get about thirty inches if a year of rain in San Antonio this this year we've had only about ten so we're way behind but on this graphic. The green lines are ground water in Texas groundwater is owned by the landowner it can be regulated through a ground water conservation district if one exists and the blue lines are surface water which in Texas is owned by the state of Texas there's a first in time first in right priority system for using state on surface water so as you see there that the same drop of water changes can change ownership several times between the time it falls as rain and gets to the Gulf of Mexico so that this is a very challenging environment in which to develop and and manage any water resource. Here I've I've laid the various jurisdictions over the area that is our main water source the Edwards aquifer in the upper left there so you see there are all these other jurors regulatory jurisdictions there's regional water planning areas groundwater management areas groundwater conservation districts and so everybody has some level of say so and and it is a very challenging to to develop and and manage water resources in in South Texas but instance by that we have been very successful in planning for the future and so I just want to recklessly described several of the projects that we've done this is the facility that the Christian west to or couple weeks ago are beautiful H. two oaks center three of our water projects are are located here. And I want to briefly describe those three the first is our aquifer storage and recovery facility this is what water ins in storage looks like the way that the allocation of Edwards water worked after the judge made his ruling in and limited copy from the adwords was that every user got an allocation of a certain amount per year but the doesn't roll over to the next year the end of the year comes in you haven't used your water it goes away so we found a place a sand aquifer we could store Edwards water in year's wait years when we don't need it and we can bring it back to the city during the dry times this thing has far exceeded our expectations we bought six thousand acres down there and we we lease the property right back to the original landowner you still there doing what he always did the water is protected from evaporation and contamination it is just really worked out well. This is our our volume of water in storage we started this in two thousand four so we start on the left there with just a little bit of water in storage and on Saturday morning we had a hundred and eighty six thousand acre feet of water in storage there underground. A San Antonio last year our total water demand was about two hundred and fifty thousand acre feet so we have about seventy five percent of a whole year supply of water stored underground here and you can see some of the dips up there where the where the green mountain gets high and then it dips back down low like this last summer we we were recovering from this site AT AT or at a rate of about fifty million gallons a day about twenty percent of all the water that we needed this last summer so this this facility has worked out really great for us. In fact some of the water that is stored there is stored on behalf of the region this is a federally mandated habitat conservation plan that was required for a as a result of the endangered species lawsuit. And so we realized that we could offer up some of our storage capacity there and store water on behalf of the region so the Edwards aquifer authority that's the entity that the state created to regulate pumping from the adwords in wet years when farmers don't need their irrigation water rights stay they lease them from the farmers and we store this water underground there on behalf of the region. At the other another project we have there on the same site is a desalination plant the AS our water our for storage and recovery that water is is being stored up to a depth of about eight hundred feet deep and then below that below up to about two thousand feet deep there's another article for the Wilcox aquifer which is contain slightly brackish groundwater and nobody has ever used it because it's it's it's nowhere near the salinity of sea water but it's too salty to even uses cattle swill so nobody has ever used it so we drove twelve wells and we built a reverse osmosis plant and we're producing water the first people I think to produce water from the well **** talk for down there south of San Antonio. So that getting back to the politics for just a moment here this is a graphic here of our twelve desalination wells. And you see that they're all laid out there to be what within bear county. And the reason for that is because of the difficulty in dealing with groundwater conservation district in the adjacent county in Wilson county. M. and so we put all the wells and a County because this district doesn't regulate this offer in bear county on the other hand the to read lines into red dots are injection wells where we're injecting the the very salty to concentrate we call it from this R. O. process rejecting the concentrate and we're doing that just across the the county line in Wilson county because the the authority that regulates the offer in bear county wouldn't let us inject water in bear county so we had to go across the county line to Wilson county to injected there is in fact we want to use to the electrical utility in our county and so for these wells in fact the electrical gear is on one side of the county line in the wells are on the other side of the county line so these are some of the things that that we've had to deal with. As far as our legislative issues go our legislature meets every two years and taxes we have a session coming up next year we're gonna be pursuing them some things like a long term permit stability and I think. All most water providers in Texas are are going to be interested in these things you know it's very it's very difficult for somebody to spend a couple hundred million dollars on a water project when you get a five year permit from the water ground water conservation district and beyond that you don't know if you're going to have access to that supply so long term permit stability from groundwater conservation districts this is one issue there's a map there of all the groundwater conservation districts in Texas some areas there there aren't any there are cases where you have several ground water districts that are regulating the same mark for different counties. And then beyond that we would like to see management decisions based on on science not necessarily just how you know people feel about things but I'm really based on on on science and how much not for can provide over over the long term. This my last slide so we really feel like I'm all of this water planning has done good things for San Antonio did a presentation for a rotary club and afterwards lady came up to me and she said that she was the the finance director at this corporation that's United services automobile association it's the it's the biggest private employer in San Antonio and she said that she was a finance director by the time this article came out it was a serious discussion they had about whether they were going to stay in San Antonio they didn't have any confidence in the future water supply there while they're still there and I can tell you that in terms of growth in terms of number of people that are moving to a place Senator neo was the fastest growing city in the country in twenty twenty one last year we're expecting another million people to move to our area by twenty forty and with the water projects we have in place now we feel like we have sufficient water supplies to last through about twenty seventy so that is a very good. Place to be and for city we feel like we have really you know set the stage for future economic growth and development in South Texas by by doing all these water projects and it was like I said it's we've done this because our our people are so engage we have a very water literate. Culture of of water population in San Antonio and they they want to be engaged in do the right thing and they've been very supportive of everything that we that we've done it sauce. And I'll be happy to answer any questions if there are. I feel. We'll. Thank you Mr chairman thank you for taking my question Mr. Or road I'm coming over here on the any different letter later if the distance is just. What could you explain to me what a bottoms up approach is. To draft planning. Bottoms up approach just wanna your legislators filed a bill that dealt with the bottoms up approach to draft planning what exactly is that well I think I'm I'm I can say I'm I'm very familiar with that with that term but I think it was only last slide on the last slide right right look over in the in the last paragraph. yes this is this this light is is twenty years old out that you talk about something that was just filed What he was talking about there was that it it's it's. Leding would start locally I think what he meant he they didn't want to claiming to be implemented or dictated from the Federal or even the state level this was back in the days when there were it was those potential for the federal government to be control of the Edwards aquifer and I think what he was really alluding to was the idea that the solutions need to come from the local area okay that that leads to another question. The do you see the federal government. And I say this because I have relatives that live in California. In years and years ago they started out along a similar route. And now they have one of the most restrictive some because of the number of people and and the lack of water they have in California but they run a lot of the farmers out of California. Because they've cut back on you know the permits as I can get. To you Sir certain amounts water. You do see the federal government and all this regulation and environmental wing is a. County and detriment to the future of San Antonio's wars or. Well that that's good question so in nineteen ninety six when the federal judge made his order to that we have to reduce our pumping the mayor at that time drew a metaphorical line in the sand as they did at the Alamo and sort of their defense to come take our water and so and they came and took it and all so a lot of people cursed the federal authorities back then but in hindsight looking back now twenty five years I think we all recognize that it was one of the best things that happened to us because it it forced us to diversify our water supply and to do it More much more cost effectively than if we were just having to start today in the middle of a drought we we spent for five billion dollars but you would spend much more than that if you were starting from ground zero today so. It was very controversial at the time in and people were not pleased that the federal government was involved in in our water situation there but I think in in hindsight most people recognize that it ended up being a positive do you remember what year that was the lawsuit was filed in nineteen ninety one and in nineteen ninety four the state set up the ever talk for thirty the regulatory district but there are there were challenges to that their rules were invalidated several times it was nineteen ninety six when the judge made that order that limited San Antonio's pumping shortly after that the eight got up and running and start to pass out water rights allocate one. James I by by nineteen ninety one though ninety two that the hand writing was on the wall that Senator he was gonna have to really get in the business of developing and managing water. Thank you Mr car. Okay I'll make a statement to the before we go to the next question and and that was back in July Texas state representative allow Larson came to Arkansas he was very images of our surface water and the he made this statement then that the water is going to be the next all the discovery basically that many places in taxes cannot to bring industry and because of their future lack of water no you you've been sent on you you're a little bit different there would it it was amazing for him to come in he was very envious of the service water nephew were come back today it probably be like we are very disappointed we can't run barges of down river right now but the the it water is a good resource Arkansas have and the the maybe a rain will get it the our normal volume back to the that being said representative Hillman you're recognized. Thank you Mr up in regard to the Edwards aquifer. What if the Arkansas where I'm from we're really concerned about the finding groundwater levels and the the the chairman alluded to the fact that we're trying to develop some surface water of mine in for your creation of the Edwards aquifer is is it sustainable at the pumping rate that you're using now. Yes it is I think it's one of the maybe one of the few maybe the only one of the few offers in Texas that's really being managed in a sustainable way there's a a pumping limited cap that said on pumping and that limit is to ensure that we don't on a long term basis we don't upon more from the Edwards that recharges it the Edwards can it you can go through four years without in a drought without getting a lot of re charge but then they can recharge a a million or millions of acre feet in a year during a big rain events so the answer is yes I think it is being managed in a sustainable way as long as we're not we're we're not mining the aquifer on long term basis we're not taking out any more than what goes in and so if we do that it should last forever the card thank you and incidentally we do have a Wilcox formation here in Arkansas over in the western part of the state I don't what is the same as yells or not but it then they're pretty deep in the ground thank you. Senator hill you're recognized. Thank you Mr chair. It's gonna get you to loop to discuss a little more on a couple things that you mention in Arkansas are major issue with water is is farming row crops out of so much water in which people are retaining water now re using it and everything but I wanted to to touch a little more on the recycled water it shall use we are putting some of that back in office for did I understand that correctly. The recycle water we're not putting that back in in the aquifer today what we're doing with some of that is putting it back in the San Antonio river up in the downtown river walk area so we built about well actually I have I can show you a graphic of that one. We built about a hundred and thirty miles of this large diameter Purple pipeline to the yellow dots there are three major waste water plants and so we have a more away kind of a water loop around almost around the whole city we have about a hundred yeah industrial commercial users on this a lot of your gauge and all the golf courses in the city use this water and we also use the same infrastructure to provide flow downtown for the beautiful San Antonio river walk previously there had been a drinking water wells from the Edwards aquifer that were being used to provide flow downtown so we replace those with recycled water from from our plants instead like I said the the biggest recycle water system in the country and it's it's been one of our real successes but you know when this system first came on line twenty something years ago two thousand or so you could barely give the water away and and now the stuff is like gold the people want access to this water in to sign up for it. We have to manage this resource very carefully because because of aggressive conservation I have no the slide here and so as you are per capita water use we've reduced our per capita water use in San Antonio by aggressive conservation by fifty percent in the last thirty years so were were twice the size we were thirty years ago but we're using the same amount of water. So other demands for water have grown there's more demand for water now for electrical generation we supply all the the water that the electrical utility uses to to make power and so the what I'm getting to hear is that the the supply of water from our recycle system we have to manage that very carefully because the supply has not grown over thirty years because we're still be seen the same amount of waste water we did thirty years ago so twenty five years ago we can hardly give the stuff away but now we have to manage it very carefully and people want to sign up because it's a it's such a valuable resource and and and the cost for this recycled water is is still less than half of we charge for drinking water for potable water so people see this as a very valuable resource now. Thanks your question yes Sir Paula Mr yes Sir okay on your rainwater run off the gel or capturing an inputting backing offers what you are doing to purify that. that well let me go back to that graphic here. This is that graphic of the ever talk for region again and the green area here this is the Texas hill country known as the catchment area for the offer were water a range up there and water collection the rivers and streams and it and it runs underground here in the light blue area that's the recharge zone. There are places in the recharge zone where sinkholes where that can take like eleven thousand gallons a minute of water this is very faulted and fractured and so wherever stream crosses the recharge zone you get a lot of water that can be charged in the ad words there but as far as treatment goes the average residence time for water in this offer is about two hundred years believe it or not and so there's this natural attenuation this offer is is providing what I call environmental services it is treating the water for us for free you know you need to any three thanks to have a water system you need a storage unit distribution any treatment and in our case the Edwards aquifer is doing all those things for free for us it's treating the water we get pumped out of the ground two hundred years later in his drinking water quality it's storing the water and it also acts as a distribution system because you can go anywhere in this blue zone here and draw well and get water so you don't have to have the big distribution mains like some cities have we have pumping stations all over town where we need them so it's just a fabless resource center and question answer question is we we don't have to treat the Edwards aquifer water one thing that's very important to us is maintaining making sure that the Edwards continues to have this ability to treat this water naturally and so protecting the recharge zone very sensitive areas of the recharge zone are are very important to us also that the southern boundary of the Edwards plateau where this water comes from and in. In Texas it is very hard to regulate land use for something like this for offer protection and so the best tool in our toolbox. Has been to just buy the land or by conservation easement so that our citizens in San Antonio they approved a tax four times the approved a tax on themselves to buy sensitive tracts of land or conservation easements to protect the sensitive recharge areas I think we're up to a hundred fifty thousand acres three hundred million dollars that we and even invested now in protecting the recharge zone. Representative bill Brandt Smith. Thank you Mr chair thank you Mr Eckerd question for you if you can go to slide sixteen. Just a simple question for you. Just one yes Sir up in the panhandle north of Amarillo those colors in the top. section of the state what does that mean and the reason I'm asking is we have family that ranch out there and they're still using some of the old windmills to pump water out of the ground for their cattle. And we go out there every couple years for family reunions and it is desolate and dry. Does that mean they have no real water supply under the ground well what date the main water supply up in that part of Texas is is the overall Ogallala aquifer which extends up into Oklahoma New Mexico mmhm it is. It is not faring as well as the Edwards the Ogallala is basically a fossil water left over from the end of the last ice age and it doesn't recharge like the Edwards does so it may be re charges a quarter inch a year but they're up there that they're drawing it down maybe a one or two feet a year so in in the long term that water source is likely to run out. They're not managing that that offer up there really in a sustainable way like the Edwards is okay thank you. Any other questions. Seeing none the. Which a court we appreciate you coming on of a match someone alone speak to you after this meeting is adjourned if you're going to hang around yes okay thank you very much of sure you more want to recognize you do we will ship at a line that we've we've got to someone here from your district that want to see if you were to go I'll let you introduce thank you Mr thank you for the latitude is actually not not from my District but we do have rob Reynolds who's with the Union County water conservation District I think in the room and certainly someone who is well versed and and an expert on maintaining a an aquifer and and working with industry to do that a voluntary way I think would be good if you could just take a couple minutes if he would come the same one who would come forward to the table. And. The Mike shall only if you would please introduce yourself for the record and we'll give you few minutes bank statement. Yes Sir my name is Robert Reynolds I'm with Union County water conservation board. We used. At ten fifty of nineteen ninety nine which authorizes to establish water conservation board in counties where We've been declared a critical groundwater area. We were. One of those. Yes now south Arkansas Columbia union. Washita read in Calhoun County were cleared critical because of our. The excessive pumping of the Sparta aquifer we were pumping at a faster rate than it can recharge naturally. And we were advised by the Arkansas that time the national resources commission now I believe natural resources division. That We need to reduce pumping by seventy two percent. Or have irreparable damage to that I worked for. Which is the only option for we have in Union County we don't have the Mississippi River alluvial aquifer is excellent quality of water. And you too is fossel water in our case we don't know the exact of time that it takes to get from the outcrop but the you could very well be a thousand years so we're drinking fossil water to. It almost immediately the public responded with a ten percent reduction in usage. We took the good habits to work with them and industry save another ten percent. And then we had a large project in conjunction with the power plant that was being built which is not going to use the offer but would instead be using the Washita river. For their needs. And the Managers of power facility were far sighted enough to realize we had a problem we working on. And the graciously offered to double the capacity of the water treating plant. In exchange for the county reimbursing them to the incremental cost and construction fortunately doubling the capacity did not double the cost increased cost about thirty percent or in this case about fourteen million dollars. And the county happily signed on to that and the we now have water for heavy industry water for power plant without the. Overburdening Sparta and we've seen eighteen years results now water levels have been rising since we reduce the homepage of this part of. They will never return to their original artesian status. Over a hundred years ago but they will be sustained blesses somebody will last forever we we will have a good drinking water good quality water forever at the rate that we're now doing and we have the opportunity to conserve Sparta water even more we're figuring out of the way he's to treat river water and That's date that's what we're doing Union County. And. Any questions about any of that please let me know. Members anyone have a question. You're more. Thank you Sir but thank you Mr again thank you for the the latitude there and thank you rob for coming up and and and speak to that at I personally seen the project that they've done their and work they've done and it's to their credit they've done great work and I appreciate it thanks a lot to. Thank you will ever see more that across the state. With our water situation okay the moving on to item E.. We will talk about the the health effects of the agriculture burning. Three if you would please introduce yourself for the record you're recognized. Yes my name is Warren skog I'm a pediatrician from Jones pearl. And I'm here to speak about the medical or perspective of. Agricultural burning in our area. You're recognized. On thank you very much for having this item on the agenda for inviting me to speak about it. And I speak loudly enough. There you go my voice doesn't carry on. I hope to answering these few minutes too many flesh out some of the complaints to serve your constituents have been been on on voicing about the level of on smoke in the air and poor quality of this particular fall on. It's more than just a nuisance and I think we can show that their health effects that are significant and it needs to be addressed further. I would hope so many of you may not know me. On. But listen I my wife is here with me are both pediatricians we have been in private practice in non pediatrics in Jonesborough four of thirty seven years and so our home was there are roots are pretty much there are on on more extended family lives there on briefly. After a bit of an introduction in these few minutes I hope to. Give you a little perspective of why is a pediatrician addressing this issue in the first place where does this fit on and what is happening what is costing and a little bit of a look to what may be the solutions from here. There are the both of us since nineteen eighty we have been there we've seen many many children over the years our and one of the things we dealt with at the children's clinic. On these are some of the sites we like to see. On some of the things we've dealt with at children's clinic have to do with infectious disease short trial development but also. Much advice that we have been given an we try to maintain an expertise in environmental health risks resulting from things that surround us. That includes of course automobiles firearm swimming pools hazardous materials most of those hazards have a common quality they're predictable and they're preventable. Things we do for ourselves and our families can reduce the risk. It is our role as health care providers to give good advice to people and how to do that. Car restraints firearm safety swimming pool protections and many many more things we're we're within our domain. And again personal behavior changes and many of those make a big difference in mitigating the hazard the other domain however in environmental safety. We're personal control has less effect. I'm consequences is environmental toxins. One of the best known and most studied is let. So until the nineteen eighties lead was ubiquitous in the environment. On gasoline plumbing in direct R. eighty percent of children in nineteen eighty. At elevated. Lead levels as tested by twenty oh four and for some considerable effort that a drop to one point four percent. Personal behavior had little to do with that hazard and little to do with reducing the risk which included for that talks and permanent brain damage there are other toxins that nature and one is the subject. What we're talking about today toxic air pollution of that there are two variations chronic low dose mostly urban exposure and abrupt and determined to exposure. O. as in crop burning in wildfires. Well what is the issue with their quality northeast Arkansas we clearly thereof in farm country that is not the issue it is a farming practice we're going to try to address here but we will of it is a big industry farming in general and rice in particular there seventy thousand acres of rice planted in a typical year Craighead County and about a hundred thousand acres and Poinsett County just for self. In a million acres in Arkansas those of you on this committee will know that better than I would. After the harvest of course there is race double in this country at the moment it's good for nothing commercially is in other countries that use for a great materials and on Kitty litter. There's nothing commercially viable about that on stubble these to be gotten rid of and a great deal of his burned each fall the burning has essentially over many years been unregulated and unmonitored. The cumulative smoke cloud this is what I want to convince you of this all. Session thank you would smoke cloud is a significant health risk to area residents. Here's what it looks like when a large on. Own form of a Christian rice is burned from maybe half a mile away. Here's what it looks like over Jones parole from several miles away that cloud does not stop where it is burned. On many many days it travels. Typically where the wind blows it and on this is a relatively bad day in south central Jones world that should have been a clear blue sky blue birthday you see the haze that a smoke. That represents roughly Particular carbon county about forty micrograms per cubic meter all get into a little bit what that means. What you see there translates into what we saw in clinic too often with the emergency rooms of seeing. Children and older adults and many many people with chronic lung and heart diseases. We're at risk for those kinds of days this young man has asthma through no fault of his he had to breathe the air he was in getting a breeding treatment on. I won't go through too much medical detail there's bronchial wall thickening information in his chest. On. Back to the crop residue options I spoke with him all folks are area ran into the sea the our our own. Extension agent farmers on burning is cheapest by far is the viable management practice economically. Telling it Diskin rice stubble under is about fifteen dollars per acre when I first compiled this talk is conserving more now you all many of you could tell me what the price really is but it takes several passes so there's a there's a cost disparity onto producer in terms of how they manage that rice stubble rifles and told favor burning it was a very dry fall this year. On the tilled stubble can add back nutrients to soil but can also allow us to accumulate their pluses and minuses. Now as to regulations under cultural burning they're almost nonexistent as far back as twenty eleven this was an issue that bothered many of us has care givers I asked a law firm give me a formal opinion on who's in charge here well the Arkansas department of environmental quality monitors but has no enforcement powers on agricultural burning and they're eight and their locations for monitoring are limited. They are not a Craighead County on. County sheriff says some regulatory power there is a statute of that Users need to call in to our alert and I do not believe that is highly used knowing to Craighead county fair Clause sheriff's office could remember ever receiving such a call on. Farm have burn bans do not apply to farmers. On because they have expert skill and experience is presumed to too low of set those first safely there are no fees or regulation no disincentives there are costs. I mention our medical experience. Every fall every providers not just pediatricians emergency room doctors pulmonologist interests. We see bronchitis sinusitis COPD worsening of the restaurant cat conditions this happened for years. Well why we have to look at what's in agricultural smoke these studies have been done. On over the years carbon monoxide nitrous oxides ammonia ozone sulfur dioxide methane and everyone will look at closest your particular carbon. Microscopic said basically PM two point five particulate matter two point five microns to two to ten. That is the the maybe the most on state and one of the most all of. Difficult of components of smoke as it applies to you and health on. Wildfire smoke and crop burning smoke or very similar in their components somewhat different from exhaust. Smoke. These are all toxins it's not just a nuisance when people are calling complaint they're worried about their health and for good reason well what does that do to us if we look at just particular carbon yes it worsens breeding effort it decreases oxygen in adults with COPD and emphysema. Increases respiratory tract infections exacerbates wheezing as medics like you saw the young man in our office. On these small particulate carbon on compounds enter the bloodstream and increase the risk of cardiac events. Well many many studies have shown that to be so over a number of years one of the largest ones came out in twenty seventeen one the entire Medicare population of the United States ninety six percent of all people sixty five and older was looked after twelve years by school public health at Harvard. Chronic exposure to fine particulate carbon and ozone with compared to to risk of deaths for every ten Michael micrograms per cubic meter it was a seven point three increase a percent increase in mortality among that age group. Importantly they found no appreciable level below which the risk of death tapered off there is no safe level of PM two point five. On. Going to eighty Q. Arkansas ten year average PM two point five concentrations ranged between twelve and fifteen. Borderline high those are not dangerous levels not like them urban centers in our country typically live with. However looking at some of the newer data the P. has lowered their acceptable exposure risks to five. Now. What about our kind of exposure northeast Arkansas intermittent high concentrations. On there are studies out there that show they are harm to our health as well we have normalized lung function effect is more pronounced in longer lasting in children that's partly why pediatricians giving you this information. On after an eight hour exposure not even a full day but roughly eight hours on two PM two point five levels of forty or more micrograms on per cubic meter. It was a fifteen percent increase in pediatric yard house the admissions in Atlanta. A study like this confirms what we saw what we see with our own eyes. On so it's a it's a health hazard whether chronic or intermittent exposure. Particulate carbon from wildfire smoke is more hazardous than that from urban smog. That wasn't known until more recently a twenty twenty one study have the study in entirety I can leave with you if you'd like to read the details which show that an increase of ten micrograms per cubic meter it's not a huge increase from fires in there this was in southern California because the thirty percent increase in pediatric hospital missions crestor's orders in San Diego. Well have local have Arkansas health effects been studied. Only one complete study has been done it was published in the journal of asthma in March of twenty twenty one. Comparing hi doctor Joe Bates who many of you may know was one of the co authors of the study that study compared. Craighead county judge president Senator and Sebastian County with Fort Smith as a center line look to E. R. admission ER visits for asthma and COPD. There was a twenty one percent increase. I get County versus Sebastian County. In House my visits in a seventeen percent increase in the fall only not the remainder of the year in COPD of admissions to the emergency department that difference coincides with the statistically higher level attempt to PM two point five levels in Craighead versus Sebastian County. There are facts that don't. Show up and statistics. One letter I've received this from other a lot of more on children may have going to the ER except that families are trying to make decisions to keep the exposure from harming their children. When this lady's letter and I have others I'll close which the harvest season is firstly dreaded by my family there are days of air quality in your home is so bad that just walking outside to our own mobile will result in an asthma attack for everyone of us. You have a paper copy this you can read the rest of it. It's not just Warren and Phyllis gogue who are concerned here. It took me very little time. To obtain signatures of other physicians in our area. On to express the concern about this. This is based on their experience the undersigned positions are these Arkansas like to express an urgent concern about the advice adverse effects. All agree culture burning in our area. We encourage the State of Arkansas to adopt any means necessary to reduce hazard. Well how are we measuring this. ADQ has monitoring stations near Newport in Merion record twenty four hour averages. Per particular carbon other toxins. The EPA compile satellite data. But it is very imprecise if you look up now dot gov. On and put in a Jones pearl of zip code you'll receive no data available message. So some of what we capture in terms of. Addressing the the levels we have to do ourselves. There is a random localize nature to our agricultural burning. The EPA air sensor guidebook recommended a portable laser based meter that does not measurements I bought one in twenty seventeen. My wife thought I lost my mind when she knew how much I paid for it but So take a moment if you look. At the next light I'll show you some of those will zip through this fairly quickly. green. Is a good air quality day. Moderate the on impaired air quality is the next line up. On the EPA suggests that those levels of particulate carbon would affect some people are usually sensitive to particle pollution particularly those who are oxygen dependent the next level up unhealthy for sensitive groups include sensitive groups. As those with longer heart disease older adults and all children and teenagers. And the higher you go the higher the risk on healthy for all groups comes next. Next you'll see what twenty sixteen my first year of measuring these. These are afternoon spot readings and central Jones pearl. A lot of good days a lot of those when the green. Many more were in the borderline category you start smelling smoke and start seeing your eyes when you get to levels above twenty five micrograms per cubic meter. When you get to that slightly purple zone unhealthy for sensitive groups you start seeing levels that will force people indoors or bring some to seek medical care. And a few of those days merged on unhealthy for every group to be outdoors. As a control I just in the month of June the following year and you can see out here in Jonesborough is minus the burning. The next year twenty seventeen. Similar pattern another high levels maybe twelve to fourteen days that were significantly hazardous. For the seventy five thousand residents in Jones pearl. A different pattern might show up as to which days were high of course all in one a ridge Hoxie area in new port in in Paragould. On because the the these are random depending on where the burning is. Now between twenty seventeen to twenty eighteen. Department of agriculture and number of farming groups. Developed and cannot with a row crop burning on management guideline. The following fall here's what we got. I think not because many many farmers were using the guideline the minnow was well promoted. It is because you see those capsules or rain days that was one of the wettest falls on record on in Arkansas and the fields were knee deep in mock were not barnacle. From the standpoint of air quality it was a fantastic fall. The next year late in the fall is more rain earlier. Even though there were a couple of bad days not as bad as previously might this be because of the different market mind set I asked her to that question a couple years in and out I think neither of us were certain what was the factor in having some of these better falls twenty twenty. Again if you look in that propose on whether were fourteen or so bad days in those earlier years not too bad some in perfect days but much more livable terms of public of risk. Fall of twenty twenty one there were a few higher days there and again there was rain if you look at a blank spot where there is rain you see that the numbers ramp up as the feels dried out. But those were better numbers and we had until this fall twenty twenty two okay that propose on on I had as of this fall thought all right I've done enough tired of taking these day Sherman's we've made a little progress for whatever reason I was wrong. On my wife and I got back mystery from Houston there's been several bad days leading up to the numbers you see here but out of fourteen days ten or up in that hazard zone. Three were up in the unhealthy for everyone category in those particular afternoons in Jonesboro not half a mile away from the burned but right here in the city. The end of the nineteenth of October because that's when I had to get my slides in to get on ninety to produce for the for for the a committee. I'll show you this slide again but it matters. All that those numbers are so high on the. You know if you look at a solution which of the goals be we've known this over the years the decrease total burning would be a definite goal. And at least to eliminate the spikes over population centers. That are causing the biggest health risk. And at the least pain for farmers and taxpayers. The ultimate goal is there is a public health burden that exists that needs to be reduced. There's three components. I'm not going to dwell on many of these monitoring research regulation. There are gaps in monitoring it's not enough for me to have a spot meter eighty Q. actually monitored put a permanent monitor on the campus of a issue and it Was put there on the year. That was that rainy fall they found no novel on results and pull it back out again I'm not disparaging eighty Q. they do a good job but they have a budget and they have federal mandates we only had one year with their presence in Jonesborough there needs to be a permanent monitor year by year so we can compare apples to apples as the years go on. And yes we need more robust analysis of who's coming to ER's and insurance information about Respiratory illnesses. Research there is research going on. But public health needs to be part of the best practice recommendations from the coop extension service and others. On. Effective cost management of crop residue doctor how can others have studied out a good deal on there's there's just there's some study being funded R. A. issue three year study with no results that I know of yet this looking into research into prescribed crop burns. We to regulation. there are many states particularly the western states California Oregon Washington that are put in. Very on stringent. All permit systems. There's not an appetite for that in Arkansas that I can tell at least among on. Certainly not among the producers and hasn't come far enough that. There is a likely solution for us right now. On but it works out there in those states. There are still farmers farming on. But to come up with a solution my hat goes off he per rigor culture twenty seventeen they're assembled a task force to produce. This document I don't know if you have one physically in hand it's on their website. Got distributed to thousands of farmers. On the voluntary smoke. Management guideline for row crop burning it's modeled after the what have been the existing guideline for the Arkansas forestry industry. On and was used by the forestry industry had made a difference. It has been endorsed by the eighty two Arkansas farm bureau Arkansas rice and many others. That's what it looks like. The guideline was disseminated discussed in several venues in meetings. On. One of the key components because it looks at. Where the wind is blowing with the atmospheric conditions are who else is burning in the area and what is the target of where the smoke is going. Are in the forestry commission as a call center that was tasked with this was produced with Corning the burning of on row crops. There remains a work in progress perhaps there was a bit of a consensus that. Smoke is a health hazard and some second thoughts about burning for those. Few falls where it was better certainly did not seem to work that way this year and year by year the despite. A fair amount of effort. Utilization based on the on. Record from the call center had been very minimal ten percent or less of the burns reported have been called in. On. It was particularly bad this fall. Our air quality. The PM two point five levels on. Again. Showed a real resurgence of hazard. On that requires some attention that does not reflect utilization despite all the good intentions of the of the guideline I would consider the guideline of failure not on its merits but because it is not being utilized. On. That does not reflect being a good neighbor. And it does reflect a hazard that we need to address now. So where to go where to go from here. On I mean one one direction to go is maybe a to look again to the Secretary of agriculture who is here that may have some comments of his own on to. Empanel working group. To put as much effort into incentivizing the use of this guideline. As was on. Put into developing it in the first place. A permit system still is out there some way to make this a regulated process. On and measurement of any on. System. All that we know what they're making progress or not based on the levels we measure. There's a public resource. We have a right to quality air in Arkansas and we on. We're not done with this issue yet there are many people who are on very frustrated. That this is still going on. This is the kind of error we like to see these sites we like to see I have my sources outlined in your own copies if you want to look any deeper I think that on. Certainly the U. of a library could get you anything you wanted transaction into each of these. On Dadis sums up my presentation of the moment I appreciate your listening if you have gone over time and I apologize for that any any questions I don't have any one line to doctors Pro. Seeing under our preacher presentation and I'm sure will be taking the ship during the session coming up in January thank you thank you very much. Next we're going to go to the item if you miss the a presentation from the White River irrigation district Mr Dan hook. Robert Moore if you would please come to the. This come to the table. If you would both of you please introduce yourself for the record Mr welcome back you're welcome let's see you again. Thank you senator of. If I tweet like that I've got a shoulder issue. Like I mean they don't illegal registrant shall rather. I'll I'll survive up there you please introduce yourself for the record damned hoax with White River cation District Robert Moore a with the White River junction District you're recognized. Good morning in the mornings almost over but good morning ladies and gentleman thank you for opportunity for us to come make a make an update is going to call this that we want to law review all on our progress with your geisha district. And where we are today. Again I'm Dan hooks on the president of the board of the irrigation district. Our headquarters is in Hazen. Of. Who are we of White River geisha district were legally formed water districts consist of fifteen farmer elected board members from Arkansas lone oak when roll in pre counties. we've districthas been in operation since nineteen eighty four we do not have taxing authority. Our goal is to become sustainable by delivering affordable water to our farmers. grand prairie state guard as you know is home Rustin foods producers rice mill Stratton seat in and now. Agriculture jobs in our area of the state is you know the is vast and vital importance to the population. Our project area land is approximately three hundred thousand acres of farmland about two hundred fifty which is irrigated rice soybeans corn and cotton I'd like to add that. Rice were were known as rice country in here things will water for the rice farmers that that sort of thing rice's approximately one third of the crop acres corn and soybeans and Milo and cotton sector make up two thirds Roque rice is a rotation crop with the other to the other two thirds of the right of the former ECR take. S. much irrigation water as rice does so it's not just about rice about all of crop irrigation. What is the key to our way of life on the Grand Prix we've got an abundance of water with the White River cache river by Amita in the Arkansas River actually on western southern edge however the water is not in the right place at the right time and are your geisha district. Is the solution to this problem. We've got partners that include the US department of agriculture the NRCS US army corps of engineers Arkansas department of agriculture. Arkansas game and fish commission Arkansas heritage commission. The governor and you people the legislature the Arkansas legislature. We've made significant progress also. I was told the other day you'll see us pictures all of. To come that the we are canal it we're building I actually showed up on Google earth the other day you sound like of you can see it on that are put station of devolved Love physiome. Ninety about ninety five percent completed we're waiting on electricity to be supplied in the controls to be installed to. Provide a power to the motors of ill in the pump station. do you see this picture is about two miles of of underground pipe that goes from the pump station on the river to a of regulating reservoir these pipes these pipes or ten foot diameter pipes they are underground there now on top of the ground like picture shows. Ten feet I said this before ten feet is what a basketball goal is so if you if you all walk underneath the basketball goal in a gymnasium that's about as tall as the ceiling actually I think. The big pipes. A hundred acre reserve regulating reservoir is where those pipelines deliver the water from the river in this reservoir gate structure on that reservoir will release water into the canal system to be delivered across the prairie to the farms. This is a typical Reservoir farm reservoir that you could probably find anywhere this summer as you all know of the He the drought this summer was compared to nineteen eighty which are very familiar with that was one of a few years after I. Got a good finish college in in started my form career I was very difficult nineteen eighty this year being drier and hotter. We survived we made it and the reason we did was all improve practices and our farms have the above ground canal secured water in as gravity flow you just couldn't get to water spread out if you if you had enough can spread out far enough to compensate for the drought that we had an eighty this year being the same rebate improvements we're using less water on on the price here Gration and that sort of thing so it. As dry and hot as it was the crops for the whole were average or in that neighborhood. Across the prairie there's been about three hundred fifty on farmers of wars that have been built. With tail water systems pumps and pipelines you can't really see the the dots on that map I don't think that signify where those of reservoirs instructions have been built. Of these were constructed by how farmers using tax credits through the quit and MRBI programs about sixty million dollars invested. Currently we're building canals to connect the farms to the resin for. you can see the cross section the canals. The canal in this picture actually is a look at that and I said that's just like what we had on a form back in the day that I got a picture of my dad standing on the grassy bank with a fishing pole on one of these type of a canal systems so this of bigger project that we've got is a. Eighty. Large design a would of what we had in the past but underground pipelines are going to deliver the water to the farms. Excuse me purses these above ground small canals that we had in the past. this picture is the Concrete box culverts for crossings. When use pipes for loft takes Andreini siphons and we have those of. Pipes and resources in storage in purchased you can see pipes on the ground in the background from these concrete boxes of the. We got two highway bridges that we've got to crossings that we had to build at all he will have to build of we converted from bridge construction to these boxes and saved about a half a million dollars per bridge. So the we're doing things to be economical and and cost cutting it everything that we do in those box culverts or an example of of what we're achieving. Make a rescue plan Act funding we received the executive and legislative approval from Arkansas all resources. Up with an award of five million dollars in September these funds be used to construct five county road crossings. The cost of these crossings we leverage for additional federal funding to finish the pump station. And we want to thank you guys and ladies for for your supporting this this expenditure. This is a View of the what we call the downs road crossing the first section go the reservoir is. That way in the picture. And this is a county road crossing that so you should you can see the of concrete box culverts and all that I think there are. Seventy two or stop up some number like seventy of those box culverts and. They were quite expensive we're going to we're going to. Cut the cost on the future box culverts to even save more money. We're managing billing this sell product in these canals just like a farmer would build a reservoir on its own land. you can see the tractors Penzo it's typical of all. What is used all over the prairie and. For local construction our local contractors and operators know how to do it in and we'll get that done. This is the our next Speaker designee aw picture the finished levy and the. Finnish Connel bottom the. Vegetation we're gonna plant those levees back with of natural progress with the What's term with progress. This shows the phases of the all of the project we're in phase one which comes from the pump station in the river up to the task. Of phase one is where about fifty percent complete or fully funded to do that we're going to capture about seventy thousand you're gay your gated acres and expect completion in twenty twenty five. There are all. What will you you may have heard of we use the term check structures in the canals so each phase of the canal goes to a check structure which would be a water control structure to feed the next section so this first one goes to the first check structure and on down the system later. To highway sixty three of net you can see the regulating reservoir on the top of the page the blue line is the pipeline from the pump station. the red is completed. Below that is yellow is nearing completion and then the highway sixty three is at the lower left of the page from Hazen to study our highway. There's a gap in their low ELO that had to do with moving some fiber optic in its low ground and we jumped over that to you two will come back to it. Later on to connect to to the areas. Our current needs. Energy we need energy to complete electricity to pump station and maintain maintenance costs they will be building a substation. At the point of station facility to supply only that pump station not the. City of balls below for surrounding hello consumers. we need better economic conditions hi plant costs more than doubled we're surviving by being more efficient in monitoring spending. Hello if any any of y'all are farmers and had to buy pipe or of with municipal water systems in know what the costs are that plastic pipe it's ridiculous. And that's that's about all we have so let's say thank you again and course well committee any questions I'll have. Represent Hillman you're recognized thank you Mr chairman I've got a couple of questions day and if you don't mind of you said we use in the former ideas on bill in this these canals instead of of how much savings do you anticipate by using local contractors I want to keep your basis over a a big general contractor company in. Percentage wise some will say half. So represented Hillman that whenever we were under the design and the the structure of the building third corps engineers before we developed this new structure of of having flexibility through the national call for resources services we are projected costs that time was somewhere around ninety million dollars for our member right now we're projected to be somewhere a little under seventy million dollars to finish out our our phase one of our our project. Okay but what does that actually moving the dirt that then I think you said it's half the cost it would have been otherwise I might by the mental math on that I was just the dirt the way we're that's what I was asking about well the way it's kind of hard to answer because with the way we are measuring our cost is combining all the cost into dirt okay so there's the pipe structures the I. the draining drainage structure under the canal the outlets from the canal we're we're just factor that into the cost per your dirt on that section can now. And we're might have came from the first of section that we built it was like ten dollars a yard just for the door we're in the five dollar range now to do that do it all but. In this first section let me qualify that by saying there's more expense in the first section of the canals and when we get downstream because of the size of the Gates structures as we go the road crossings will get smaller the gate structures in the canal get smaller the cost of the pump station all that is is higher so we'll get more efficient and less costly as we go as we move downstream. The other question I have Mister chairman if I may have a point stations do you anticipate that I have to put in after you get to a certain level downstream from there. The check stations a nonpublic divisional pump stations to raise the level of water up so it'll slow down after that yes Sir that six of if I remember right. But we don't have anymore pumps diagnosed okay no so that was issued on the White River and then we have six additional check stations similar like what you see on the in car and you have regulating pools as you get further and further downstream and that's what we're referring to with our check stations so so I so want to raise the water up to the level that it when it goes into the. The first rest for you after your hundred ACT original there are no more energy is required to deliver that that water the farm is that correct. I think what you're referring to the pump station in itself has got six homes okay four big bumps into smallpox for this first section all we're going to start up to the two small pox okay but we need we need enough power at that station to run all six at full capacity what are they and what I'm trying to get you say aye what's the point that water up to the level that we have there's no more pop an involved after that no it's all it all flows downstream from there are no other unlike other irrigation districts around the country there there there will be small pumps to push water out your farm yes energize that won the pipeline but knows far as more lift pumps or or that it all comes from the from the one station all right sorry I got never all is confused but anyway Mr chairman thank you for that thank you all right shell bill. Thank you Sir. I'm coming total dollars of the invested so far and how many more calendar your expected to invest before you pump the first gallon of water. And then after that how many more dollars are you projected to need to finish up the project. So to invest anymore to get to the first drop of water that we're gonna push there are system. We are a lot of that'll be our seventy million dollar figure that we we talked about for our phase one now the total cost over all of the full lifetime of the project then the member where we are on the full force manager today. Once they a hundred forty. Hendren nine hundred forty million seems like the pump station alone was forty forty million okay thank you. Any other questions. Seeing none we appreciate you calling project presentation. Thank you know may hang around somebody may have questions when we get through yes Sir okay let's go to the item G. and we will talk about the impact of the low water going or river systems. You would turn turn Michael on both to please introduce yourself for the record. John McMahon Arkansas farm bureau federation. Tyler Aksener Arkansas farm bureau federation. The staff is passing out. Your hand out. as some scissor pass those out I'll just go ahead and start off we know we're thank you I should say thank you Mr chairman and committee for having us to here today to speak to a report that we've been working on the last three months it's honor to be here for three weeks are. just begin we know you're with the last on your agenda so we will try to keep you too long but kind of a common theme today seems to be water in the issue of it here in Arkansas the last three weeks we've been kind of a farm bill Tyler I've been working in monitoring on the the low water issue on the Mississippi River and how that's affected or is going to affect producers here in the state as well as in the country or in the Mississippi River region of the last three years we've seen an abundance of supply chain issues starting with COVID workers went home and our arch food on our shelves went bare continuing on into last year international conflict shutting down the chords in the Black Sea of because grain and fertilizer issues coming into the United States that's kinda where most for producers start experience issues this year of high input costs low supplies fertilizer and other chemicals but our most recent issue right now kind of started in the late spring early summer with the drought you may have seen some of our work that we did on a a economic impact of the drought for livestock producers in a production most for row crop producers are are blessed with the ability to irrigate their crops you're in the state Arkansas some states are not so it was it wasn't until now that most for real property is your start to really experience the issue of this drought in the hand handout you'll see on the last page that there's a drought map for the entire country you'll see that in every state along the Mississippi River region Arkansas River as well as the high river is in some sort of State stress of drought we did receive some rain yesterday but I'll go into a little detail on how little that was comparatively it in the second part of our article we we try to highlight was the Mississippi River important to grain producers or farmers I don't in the State of Arkansas but also across the country so when forges or push down river they carry anything. From grain gravel fertilizer fuel construction materials metals and so on most barges Ark Code down one at a time there in a fifteen total and one and one or fifteen barge one toe comparatively you can see there of a graph produced for the switch transportation coalition there on the right on our first page of fifteen barge tow accounts for nearly two hundred and twenty real hopper cars ordered nine hundred forty two about a thousand semi trucks. One barge tow is a is capable of falling twenty two thousand five hundred tons or seven hundred sixty seven thousand five hundred bushels of grain or six million eight hundred four thousand gallons of fuel or any other liquid. Mississippi River barge transports accounts for ninety percent ninety two percent of the nation's agricultural exports. with some sixty percent of all grain from the US being shipped down the river down in New Orleans. The army corps of engineers estimates the Mississippi River carries around five hundred eighty nine million tonnes of freight a year that's all materials including grant that that estimation in value equates to some estimates reporting for five billion dollars annually so that kind of pace of paint the picture barges not being able to move right now on how much that cost how much value that brings to to our state along as well as other states across the Mississippi River. Currently the the river in Mississippi at us you be Memphis is eight to nine minutes on some report's being ten under standard sea level what that kind of means is that we can't move barges down river and since we can't move are just down river we can't load those parties to capacity we have seen some barges going down river half full or or a little bit less other parts of the river there are they broken down to single lane traffic so not only are they having to not able to fill these partners all the way but they're also having to send them in one at a time or only one direction and then having to stop and still others also at New Orleans we've also seen a drop in water levels that are fifteen per to fifteen fifty two percent lower than the three year average right now it's about two point four feet at New Orleans the for the three year average is four point nine five feet. Since the first of September the number of barges unloaded in Orleans is down thirty nine percent. S. with this kind of. Draws an issue too is if we can't get grain down the river we can't fill export contracts to other countries such as China Japan etcetera other countries such as Brazil another large producers say soybeans is going to attention a fill those contracts also this is going to have a big impact on the basis and I'll hand it over to Tyler to explain more on that yes so like John said Asus is affecting our farmers right now since these a great facilities are not able to load their barges to full capacity so that means that there the Graham so these are in turn have a abundance of grant on hand and there to turn the former from bringing grain there. Some of you may know a basis is I'm sure a lot of you do but I'll go over that real quick so basis is simply the difference between your local elevator price in the and the price on the Chicago board trade the futures price so if It's sort means are at twelve dollars on the Chicago board of trade and your local vendors offering twenty under or that's twenty cents under the basis that means you're getting affected by eleven eighty four years old means if you deliver on their. So right now with the elevators to trying to turn the farmer from bringing they're green they're they're looking to widen that basis for increase it even further so we're looking at anywhere from at the height of this at eighty under it's eighty cents under even a dollar and a dollar for dollar thirty under so this is huge numbers when it's when it's factored into you know you're doing this in five thousand bushel increments. So with those elevators. Taking less grain farmers having to find other ways. Other means to You know either stored or other means to get it out there because I can't leave it in the field. And so they can either take this hit they can store if they do have on forms storage some farmers may not have that inner haven't checked that yet so that's those are those can cut into the farmer's bottom line. So. With that the the farmers are looking at other ways if they do not have that on farm stores so you know shipping costs are being affected through rail as well now if they if they choose if they so Bible for them to move it that way So with real real prices have if you. The page three you can see the graph that we have there it shows just how real has increased since this all started kind of like in the June July area when the water levels started receding. So this is this is leading to people postponing delivering grain or moving grain and for moving to a different method and which will be less cost effective than moving about boards so The lessons right there it really is really huge orders have been unaffected relative inexpensive in years past most estimates show that the real cost around ten times more than a barge what trucking is fifteen sixteen times more. I'll add to that for soybeans freight moving down barge as increased by three hundred percent since water levels have dropped average freight crawl for a cause for the last four seasons has been around fifty cents a bushel currently a St Louis is sitting at three dollars and fifty cents a bushel so the largest freight cost increase the more this freight cost increases the less farmers going to receive for their price so elevators to cover the cost of that transportation just to kind of wrap up the this is a continuing problem we did receive some rain yesterday and the day before over the weekend we did receive some rain between now and July some meteorologists are suggesting that you there may be this may linger on into the spring of next year even though those were significant rains we received they did make a huge impact on the Mississippi River in the way things are forecast now we could end up seeing these issues these prices into new content increase potentially there's no guarantee but as the rate we're going it could continue to be so of with high input cost this is conduct causing continuing high prices are low prices if you wanna is generating less revenue for producers here in the state of Arkansas they're already distressed begin with Lastly we have been this is more work we plan to do more work this work is what we plan to do on future current issues other weather events economic impacts that could potentially affect the state of Arkansas as well as well as our producers will there be livestock or row crop or any other type of agriculture we produce in the the state of Arkansas we've been working closely with the university of Arkansas's ag business ag econ department not only on the campus there in fable but also with their extension specialist here in Little Rock we we pride ourselves in a relationship we have with them and without them we couldn't do a lot of the work that we do in the the the information that we put out lastly I'd like to point out is that with the supply chain issues with experience I think the glaring point is it takes one link in the chain to break and collapse entire supply chain or potentially in industry our weather was Covin labor workers went home not coming back to work and now the Mississippi River beyond solo this could potentially see farmers looking at other opportunities to market their soybeans let's just take them for example fifty percent of Arkansas's props living property is destined for export markets so this river does not come back up and we cannot continue to send grain down river what happens to have the farmers in the state. With that I'll open it up to questions. As best as we can answer. Sure Stubblefield you're recognized. Thank you Mr jemand how much of our mon United trait that we use Arkansas farmers use comes up do we import. I don't exactly have that number ten thousand I do not have the number in hand I look but like we said it it we are importing that And so with those Those restraints over the Black Sea and there them being I know has acquired that we're not seeing as much of course if that's the number you want we can definitely well that for you I will say should China produces thirty one percent of all money nitrate Russian nine percent India. United States produces seven percent. And yet we're going to bring it up a river that we. A year like this word should drive we don't have the navigation system even bring it in to our farmers and without that ammonium nitrate we can't grow crops. Yet we're sitting here on hundreds of years of natural gas. Would you agree with me that that we should have a plan here building are making producing natural ammonia nitrite. I can't specifically speak on a million not trade but I I would agree that we should not be so independent on outside sources I think this shows that our industry is depend are slipping industries particularly as it is dependent on those export markets is there a way to find you here at home the sale of soybeans I think that plays straight into money not straight in the production of our our crops here but we couldn't produce a soy beans without ammonia nitrate that's correct. So this money not trade because before the soybeans that's correct we've got to bring that in first yes or so that should be our primary objective is like our antibiotics of pharmaceuticals come from other countries were relying on other countries for antibodies. We should be doing that here. Sitting on vast reserves of natural gas I don't disagree okay thank you Mr chairman. Any other questions. No representative John right could go under this rain dancing is about five to six inches of rain would cure our problem Sir with that said the German thank you very much for your presentation and we are evidence we are adjourned.