Vulcan asks committee to adopt site-specific sulfate and TDS standards for streams near Lawrence County quarry

Alan Gates, speaking for Vulcan Construction Materials, told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that rainwater accumulating in a decades-old quarry in Lawrence County picks up sulfate and other dissolved minerals and is pumped into a neighboring cattle pond before flowing downstream into Brushy Creek and Stinnett Creek. "Weare here today to ask you to set water quality standards, site specific standards for sulfate, and for TDS," Gates said, explaining that the default ecoregion values reflect the least-disturbed streams and are not representative of the historic conditions in these small, mineralized streams.

Gates said Vulcan received a discharge permit about 10 years ago to pump quarry water and that the company cannot cost-effectively remove sulfate by available treatment methods: "It would require reverse osmosis," he said, adding that the petition would remove the "drinking water" designated use for limited stream reaches so permit criteria align with water quality that has existed "for decades." He also told the committee the quarrycontributes a negligible share of flow to the Spring River intake, describing it as "less than a tenth of 1% of the water that reaches the public water supply on the Spring River downstream."

Dr. Richard McMullen of the Arkansas Department of Health said the department had filed a comment opposing removal of drinking-water designation as a policy position when there is a downstream public drinking-water supply, and he clarified the agencydoes not sample water in that local watershed but rather samples at public water intakes and in town distribution systems. "We don't actually test for water quality in that watershed," McMullen said. Committee members pressed Vulcan on public hearing attendance and testing locations; Gates said only his associate attended the Walnut Ridge hearing and that Vulcan tested upstream and downstream locations to support the petition.

Michael Graffe, representing the Department of Energy and Environment/Division of Environmental Quality, told the committee DEQ staff had reviewed the proposed change and "indicated they have no objection to the change and support the idea of getting a permit that the quarry can meet." The chair recorded the rule as "reviewed." The committee did not announce a formal vote on the petition during the discussion recorded in the transcript.

Why it matters: The petition seeks to change how the streams are classified and what permit limits a discharging facility must meet. Removing a designated-use protects a discharger from having to meet default drinking-water-related mineral thresholds; the Health Departmentexpressed a firm policy objection when a downstream public water supply exists.

Next steps: DEQ staff was on the record supporting a permit the quarry can meet and the Health Department left its comment in the record opposing use removal. The transcript shows the rule "stands reviewed," and further committee action or final agency rule adoption is not recorded in the meeting excerpt.