By Wally Kennedy
wkennedy@joplinglobe.com
MONETT, Mo. — Seth Johnson has a small farm a few miles east of Granby on Newtonia Branch, a tributary to Shoal Creek.
He intentionally built his home on high ground.
He’s glad he did. There’s a good chance his farm could be lakefront property in the future if Shoal Creek is dammed to construct a reservoir for Southwest Missouri.
But Johnson laughs at the notion.
“You never know how these things will work out,” said the schoolteacher at East Newton High School High in Granby, while looking at a map that depicts a reservoir near where Shoal Creek flows under Highway 60 between Monett and Neosho.
Johnson, who said there are several 200- and 300-acre farms in the area of his farm, said he understands that water will be needed in the future.
“Sometimes these things can hurt you, and sometimes they can help you,” he said. “One thing is certain, there’s water here. There’s a spring right over there that runs all the time. This whole valley has a big water basin running through it.”
On Tuesday, the Tri-State Water Resource Coalition revealed the results of a study by Freese and Nichols, a Fort Worth, Texas, engineering firm, that suggests a site along Shoal Creek in Newton County might be suitable for a reservoir. It was among 14 possible reservoir sites in Southwest Missouri.
The study, funded with $100,000 from the coalition and $100,000 from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, was unveiled in Monett South Park. About 75 people attended the press conference. The city of Monett served as the official municipal conduit so that state money could be used in the study.
Other reservoir studies in the past have looked at Shoal Creek as a possible site for a reservoir, but farther upstream in the Pioneer area. The Shoal Creek site is not without its drawbacks. Chief among them is its proximity to a Kansas City Southern Railroad line that would need to be moved to accommodate the reservoir. The relocation of the railroad could prove to be too costly.
Another site identified as a strong potential for a reservoir was a portion of Indian Creek a few miles east of Highway 71 in McDonald County. The third most cost-efficient site was on Crane Creek, a tributary to the James River in Stone County. It would be an off-stream reservoir.
John Rutledge, spokesman for Freese and Nichols, said the study determined that the construction of one reservoir to serve all of Southwest Missouri was impractical and far more costly than building two reservoirs.
“The difference is about $200 million,” he said. “One large reservoir (known as Site 10 on the James River) would cost $600 million. The other reservoirs would cost about $200 million each.”
The Shoal Creek or Indian Creek reservoir would serve the Joplin area. The Crane Creek reservoir would serve the Springfield area. Both Joplin and Springfield are key players and significant financial contributors to the coalition. The reservoirs would provide raw water for wholesale distribution to all communities with a stake in the project.
But construction is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Members of the coalition, including relatively young ones, joke that they will not live long enough to see a reservoir built because of all of the permits and approvals that must be obtained first.
Pete Rauch, chairman of the coalition’s technical committee and general manager of Monett’s utilities, said the coalition does not want reservoirs built.
“It’s not a high priority of our members,” he said. “It would be much better to pursue water that is already caught.”
The coalition has approached the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to see whether discretionary water might be available from Table Rock Lake or Stockton Lake. The coalition also has inquired about water from Grand Lake of the Cherokees. The water would be moved by pipeline to a water distribution system that would serve stakeholders in the project.
The corps told the coalition it would be five to seven years before any action on the request could be expected. Rauch said the coalition decided to keep the reservoir option open should the corps say no to its request.
“What we are doing now is taking little steps,” he said. “We’re a long, long way from a solution.”
But Rutledge said, “A reservoir has to be done at some point in the future. The current demand is depleting ground water. There is nowhere near enough to meet the future need. Surface water is still needed.”
Critics have said water conservation could forestall the need for a reservoir. The coalition said conservation is a step that will automatically happen as the demand for water puts pressure on existing resources, but it will not be enough to serve the region’s projected population of 500,000 in 2050. That population, with conservation measures in place, will need an additional 100 million gallons of water per day.
Monett, which gets all of its water from 13 wells, is among the more vulnerable communities if water supplies should run low then. It does not have a nearby creek or river from which it can obtain water. In the drought of 2005-2006, the city had to lower three of its pumps because the water table had fallen.
Joplin, Neosho, Springfield and Lamar get their water from surface sources. Virtually every other community in the region gets water from the ground.
If a reservoir is constructed on Shoal Creek, Rauch said, Monett would most likely build a pipeline to it.
Rauch said the study should not be misconstrued to mean the coalition has made a commitment to a reservoir. The study was designed to identify the order of magnitude in terms of costs, environmental permitting and relocation of property owners. Also to be taken into consideration are the costs associated with constructing a dam, acquiring land and cost of transmission.
Said Rauch: “We are looking for long-term water. What we have found is that there is no short-term fix or easy fix.”
Rauch said funding is needed for a more detailed analysis of the sites and how they relate to individual municipal and industrial water needs in the region. The coalition is to be reshaped, and a full-time director will be hired to pursue the coalition’s objectives.
The coalition
The Tri-State Water Resource Coalition was formed in 2004 after a regional water study by Wittman Hydro-Planning Associates suggested water shortages could occur in Southwest Missouri in the next decade during periods of extended drought.
