LOCUST BAYOU - Residents of the Locust Bayou area learned Tuesday night, as had been reported earlier in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, that the Sparta aquifer has not been adversely affected by industries in Highland Industrial Park.

That doesn’t mean there are not some effects to water nearer the surface, but those, particularly the presence of perchlorate, do not appear to pose health hazards, it was learned during a public meeting Tuesday at the Locust Bayou Fire Station.

Officials at the meeting included representatives of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, ...