Abstract |
Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Water Quality Planning and Management Regulations (Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 130) require states to develop Total Maximum Daily Loads (TMDLs) for impaired water-bodies. A TMDL establishes the amount of a pollutant that a water-body can assimilate without exceeding its water quality standard for that pollutant. TMDLs provide the scientific basis for a state to establish water quality-based controls to reduce pollution from both point and non-point sources to restore and maintain the quality of the state's water resources (USEPA, 1991). The study area is part of the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Planning Segment 1C and is located in southwest Arkansas north of Texarkana and includes all of Sevier County and parts of Polk, Howard, Hempstead and Little River counties. The study area for this project is limited to two HUC-reaches in the Arkansas Planning Segment 1C (11140109-013 and 11140109-033). Land use in the study area consists mostly of pasture and forest. The designated beneficial uses that have been established by ADEQ for Planning Segment 1C include fishery, primary and secondary contact recreation; agricultural and industrial water supply. |