Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Water Quality Still Essential During Drought


Water Quality as important as quantity, even during drought

Arkansas Division of Agriculture | Updated: July 31, 2012
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – As Arkansas’ drought deepens, many are finding that “you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” said John Pennington, Washington County extension agent for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture.
Exceptional and severe drought in parts of Arkansas have left some communities without water and have prompted some water systems to put water-use restrictions in place as reservoirs and other waterways become more shallow by the day.
“Water users in northwestern Arkansas are faring a little better, with lake levels that are still at 90 percent full,” Pennington said. “However, the longer we go without 9-23 or so inches of soaking rainfall across the state between now and September to end the drought, a lot more may be mandated to restrict some water uses.
“It’s a strange concept, to go without water, especially so when water is essential to so many things in life as we know it and it’s a resource we take for granted,” he said. “Without enough water we can’t produce food crops, forage for grazing animals, survive, or much less water our lawns.”
However, even at time when water quantity is of prime importance, water quality still matters.
“In times like these, I can certainly understand the perspective of some our neighbors in the western U.S., who think ‘who cares about water quality, when you don’t have enough water quantity?” Pennington said.
“As the pressure mounts on our water supplies, so does the pressure to preserve its quality,” he said. “This means protecting our water as much as we can by tackling the things that can degrade our water quality, including not over-fertilizing our lawns, properly disposing of trash such as cigarette butts, and using other best management practices to prevent runoff from washing pollutants it into the waterways and reservoirs here in the Natural State.”
Pennington said that “as soon as the rains come back and begin to fill the wells and drinking reservoirs around the state, we’ll all be wanting our drinking, fishing, and swimming water to be of high quality.”
To preserve both quality and quantity, many Arkansans are implementing voluntary measures.
For example, some aren’t watering the lawn anymore because they see it as a waste of water or too costly.
Mike Daniels, Extension water quality specialist for the U of A Division of Agriculture said: “I won’t water my lawn with treated water, because treated water has is too high of a quality for that use.”

Read more...

RainSoft Has Home Water Treatment Systems

With two premium drinking water systems, RainSoft water treatment delivers a higher quality and better tasting drinking water experience. Not only will the water from a RainSoft drinking water system in your glass taste distinctly better, but so will all of the food and beverages you make with it.

Contact your local RainSoft Dealer for more information.

RainSoft of Central Maryland

250 Englar Rd Ste 8
WestminsterMD 21157

Phone: (410) 833-4815

www.rainsoftcentralmaryland.com

No comments:

Post a Comment