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| In 1999, the Louisiana legislature created the Sparta Groundwater Conservation District Commission (Sparta Commission) to study characteristics of the Sparta aquifer and how best to manage activities in the Sparta region that impact current and future Sparta use. The 19 member commission is composed of representatives of Sparta region parishes, municipalities, and industries, who help fund the work of the commission. The state helped pay for the Sparta Groundwater Study. Other funding is provided by private donations. Members of the Sparta Commission and the Union County (Arkansas) Water Conservation Board have shared information and mutual concerns in bi-state cooperation since a meeting in Ruston in 1997. Both boards work to fulfill their similar mission ‘to conserve, protect, restore, and maintain the Sparta Formation Aquifer as a continuing source of high quality, potable water for current and future consumers by promoting conservation measures and the develop-ment of alternate sources of fresh water, pursuant to the authority and responsibility granted by the state.’ |