Tailwater Recovery Systems for Irrigation: Benefit/Cost Analysis and Water Resource Conservation Technique in Northeast Arkansas

Water, one of the earth\u27s most vital resources, is particularly significant in the Arkansas Delta agricultural landscape. While both surface and groundwater are extremely important, 94% of the 26.9 billion L (7.1 billion gal) of water pumped daily from the Alluvial Aquifer is used for agricultural purposes. This common property is subsequently being depleted and sustainable conservation methods are being pursued. State and federal incentive programs encourage the use of a tailwater recovery system in agricultural irrigation. With the use of a complete recovery system, benefits include not only government incentives for wetland habitat, but reduced groundwater use and decreased agricultural runoff entering receiving streams. Costs incurred to the farm manager include crop loss due to reservoir storage, additional ditch construction, and the cost of a liftpump. Use of these systems offers not only economic benefits associated with aquifer preservation but also ecological benefits including reduced nutrient and sediment loading to receiving streams concurrent with ecosystem services. The overall benefit/cost analysis ofthese systems shows that the economic benefits of using a tailwater recovery system exceed the cost. Other positive features include the ecological benefits of surface water protection and ecosystem services

Use of otolith chemistry to assess recruitment and habitat use of a white bass fishery in a Nebraska reservoir

Managing fisheries that exhibit variable annual recruitment is challenging, and maintenance stockings are often prescribed to minimize interannual population variation. Maintenance stockings are costly and may not be necessary if sufficient natural recruitment is occurring. Therefore, developing tools and techniques that can collectively assess hatching origin and subsequent habitat use of individuals would be valuable. Herein, we aimed to assess the efficacy of otolith chemistry techniques to (1) determine whether there was evidence of natural recruitment within an annually stocked white bass population and (2) examine the potential to describe spatial reservoir use of these age-0 fish. A sample of hatchery-produced fingerling white bass (n = 17) was retained from a larger June 2015 stocking of white bass in Lake McConaughy, Nebraska, to characterize the hatchery fish natal elemental signatures. Age-0 white bass (n = 100) were then collected in Lake McConaughy in September 2015 from 2 sections of the reservoir (upper and main) to assess both natal origin (hatchery versus natural) and habitat use (upper versus main) using otolith concentrations of 5 chemical constituents at the otolith core and otolith edge, respectively. Otolith core signatures from the fall age-0 Lake McConaughy collected fish were different from the hatchery fish, indicating evidence for natural white bass recruitment. Otolith edge signatures were also distinct between fish collected from the upper and main sections of the reservoir. Otolith chemistry techniques can be useful for addressing challenges associated with managing erratic recruiting fish populations that are common to lake and reservoir systems

Winter and Spring Water Quality of the Big Creek Watershed, Craighead County, Arkansas: Nutrients, Habitat, and Macroinvertebrates

The objective of this study was to assess the water quality of the Big Creek watershed during the winter and spring of 2002 by analyzing water physical, chemical variables, aquatic macro-invertebrates, and habitat. The Big Creek watershed, arising on Crowley\u27s Ridge in northeast Arkansas, is a small deltaic watershed and is an area of intense cultivation. Four stations, Big Creek Upper (BCU), Mud Creek (MC),Lost Creek (LC), and Big Creek Lower (BCL) were established for this study from Big Creek, Mud Creek and Lost Creek. Water samples were collected on a weekly basis for 10 weeks from January 2002 through March 2002. We analyzed these streams for temperature, pH, D.O., conductivity, TSS, chlorophyll- a, DOC, total N and P, total dissolved N and P, nitrate, ammonium, and soluble reactive phosphorus. During this time period, we also sampled aquatic macroinvertebrates and assessed stream habitat according to USEPA rapid bioassessment protocols. Overall, nutrients and TSS were high, pH fluctuated from 5.8 to 7.8, and D.O. was moderate to high, ranging from 6.75 to 13.24 mg/L. Generally, physical and chemical water variables were correlated with changes in stream discharge. For a 20-jab dip-net sample, macroinvertebrate species richness ranged from 9 to 23 taxa, while abundance ranged from 38 to 209 individuals per station. Physical habitat index scores ranged from 75 to 104 (maximum of 200) indicating marginal physical habitat. We report that this watershed has high concentrations of nutrients and suspended solids during the winter and spring wet season and that the macroinvertebrate communities are influenced by stream conditions, including marginal physical habitat