Arkansas Water Law Moves Toward An Allocation/Prior Appropriation System



This picture of the pump station site and inlet canal located on the White River at DeValls Bluff, Arkansas was taken October 8, 2010. Even with decreased funding for the GPADP, work continues on a project that is designed to divert water from the White River to irrigate rice farms on the Grand Prairie.

Arguments over environmental and economic impacts of the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project (GPADP) still exist and the Grand Prairie project isn’t the only US Corps of Engineers project with the potential to change the White River.  As many as 11 stream diversion projects are slated for construction around the state, 4/5 of which are in the White River or its tributaries. All of these projects involve subsidies on both the state and federal level and take the control of water from the farmer and replaces it with irrigation districts that will control the price and manner of the distribution of diverted water.

Since the early 1980’s, Arkansas water law and policy have moved toward abandonment of the riparian rights doctrine, where landowners have the right to reasonable use of water resources, in favor of an allocation/prior appropriation system similar to those in western states where a government or quasi-government agency is overseeing allocations.

A major complaint among landowners opposed to the project is the loss of control of water. Although the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission (ANRC) will be the organization charged with controlling the amount of groundwater that will be pumped in the region of the Grand Prairie Area Demonstration Project, a recent survey conducted by the University of Arkansas Survey Research Center showed that about 60 percent of the area’s landowners who claim to know about the project, believe that the landowners (56%) or no one (3.7%) will exercise the control of pumping groundwater. Just over 22% of landowners correctly identify the ANRC as the agent controlling the pumping of groundwater from the Grand Prairie’s Alluvial and Sparta aquifers. Conflicting survey results such as this example show that landowners within the GPADP lack accurate information about the project.

The purpose of the Water for Grand Prairie Farmers blog is to help landowners understand the ramifications of the GPADP and to seek alternative solutions that will keep the federal government from spending money on a costly project that will not protect our aquifers and precious wetlands. Visit the blog often for current information about GPADP and alternative solutions that include water conservation and irrigation efficiency applications.