Division of Environmental Quality

Office of Water Quality

Who We Are

Protecting and enhancing Arkansas’s waterways—through regulation of stormwater runoff and industrial discharge—is the number one responsibility of the Office of Water Quality (OWQ).

OWQ accomplishes this goal through its branches of compliance, enforcement, permits, and planning. OWQ professionals are responsible for everything from issuing permits to inspecting entities and from investigating complaints to developing and monitoring water quality standards. All of OWQ’s efforts reflect Arkansans’ appreciation for one of our state’s most valuable resources—water.

Stacie Wassell

Associate Director, Office of Water Quality

"Our office protects and improves the water quality of Arkansas’s water resources through implementing the Clean Water Act in Arkansas, issuing permits and short-term activity authorizations, conducting inspections, monitoring water quality as well as fish and macroinvertebrate communities, developing water quality standards, setting pollutant limits, and licensing wastewater plant operators. We maintain a Water Quality Management Plan for the state as well as a Harmful Algal Bloom Management Plan."

AR Will Benefit from Increased Demand for Lithium

AR Will Benefit from Increased Demand for Lithium

The fascination with Arkansas’s diamond mines soon may be matched with interest in its bromine brines. A state-of-the-art facility is already extracting lithium—a critical mineral for the production of batteries and electronics—from bromine brines produced from the Jurassic Smackover Formation.
DEQ Leadership

Questions or Comments?

Bailey Taylor

Division of Environmental Quality Director and Chief Administrator of Environment

Colbie Jones

Associate Environment Administrator, Division of Environmental Quality

Stacie Wassell

Associate Director, Office of Water Quality

Lucy Cross

Enterprise Services Director, Enterprise Services

Demetria Kimbrough

Associate Director, Office of Air Quality

Bryan Leamons

Associate Director, Office of Land Resources

Report an Emergency

If you are reporting a spill, leak, geohazard event, release of petroleum products, hazardous materials, or gases that requires an immediate emergency response, please call the:

Arkansas Division of Emergency Management
800-322-4012

Then contact the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment:

E&E Emergency Management
501-682-0716

If after hours, please leave a message. Your call will be returned.

Contact Us

NOTE: Giving us your name, address, phone number, and/or email address is optional. Please note that your information, including your voluntary contact information, questions, or comments, becomes public record subject to public disclosure under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

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Severe Weather: Donate to the Arkansas Disaster Relief Program