The Upper White River Basin Foundation, which does business as Ozarks Water Watch, recently opened a second office in Rogers, Ark. The nonprofit water quality organization operates its Missouri office in Kimberling City.
While the organization was already a bi-state organization serving Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo and Bull Shoals lakes, differing state regulations led Ozarks Water Watch to open the Arkansas office, according to a news release.
"The watershed is fairly equally divided between Arkansas and Missouri and while the states' water quality problems are similar, the political boundaries dictate that the solutions to these problems take different approaches," David Casaletto, director of Ozarks Water Watch, said in the release.
He noted that the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, the Arkansas Natural Resources Commission, the Missouri Department of Resources, Arkansas Fish & Game, and the Missouri Department of Conservation have different responsibilities assigned to their regulatory agencies and that Missouri and Arkansas are in different Environmental Protection Agency regions.
"To better address these issues and to be able to work more closely with the local water quality groups from each state, Ozarks Water Watch felt having an office in each state was the best approach," Casaletto said in the release.
Ozarks Water Watch opened the Rogers location at the Center for Nonprofits, which also is home to the Illinois River Watershed Partnership, Youth Bridge, Experience Works, Sources, Catholic Charities, NorthWest Arkansas Community College - Culinary Institute, Community Clinic Rogers Medical, and Saving Grace Inc.[[In-content Ad]]
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