BEAVER LAKE WATERSHED ATLAS: A COMMUNITY RESOURCE FOR PROTECTING AND PRESERVING THE WATERSHED

Beaver Lake was constructed in the early 1960's to meet growing demands for a sustainable source of drinking water in Northwest Arkansas and currently provides water for one in eight Arkansans. Beaver Lake Watershed encompasses 310,000 hectares in a region that has experienced extensive population growth and land use/land cover change. As forested areas are being converted to agricultural and urban land use, nutrient and bacteria concentrations in both surface and groundwater are affected. Higher concentrations are currently found in areas of agricultural land use and downstream from wastewater treatment plants in the region. While current concentrations do not exceed drinking water standards in most cases, any contamination poses a threat to water quality due to the predominance of karst physiography in the watershed. Surface water contamination has the potential to affect groundwater quality and associated threatened or endangered species, such as the Ozark Blind Cave Fish. Community leaders and land managers are currently faced with critical decisions concerning protection and preservation of this important watershed. A new on-line electronic watershed atlas of Beaver Lake will be a vital tool for decision makers to access current scientific data about water quality, stream flow, reservoir statistics, climate, etc. The atlas contains interactive maps, links to real-time data, and text to elucidate the complex data sets for land owners, land managers, or community organizations. Atlas data will be updated through ARMS (Automated Reporting and Mapping System), a comprehensive electronic watershed atlas for the state of Arkansas maintained by the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas. Development of the Beaver Lake Watershed Atlas has led to a collaborative partnership with Beaver Water District to produce a public relations document on Beaver Lake's hydrology, geology, water quality, and management, another important tool for public outreach and education.