By Wally Kennedy

Globe Staff Writer

Underscoring the seriousness of the drought, the Tri-State Water Resource Coalition on Wednesday adopted a water-conservation plan for the region, urging communities to begin limiting nonessential water use now.

Bob Nichols, chairman of the coalition, said: "Our goal is to find a good, quality water resource for the area. What is equally important to the development of that resource is the efficient use of what we have."

With no immediate relief from the drought in sight, the coalition is urging communities to look to the future and begin to limit nonessential water use now. The coalition believes that if the area continues to go without significant rainfall, local water companies could be forced to seek mandatory conservation measures.

The coalition put together a water-conservation plan for Southwest Missouri in October, but it did not adopt it, opting to give coalition members time to review it. The coalition adopted the plan Wednesday.

Nichols said the plan will be available to water suppliers across the region as a model to develop their own water-conservation plans. The coalition's membership is composed of private and public water suppliers, municipalities, businesses and interest groups in the Tri-State Area.

"Given the present weather conditions, we hope this will help them adopt some kind of plan," Nichols said. "It is the responsibility of our group to begin to educate the public on the seriousness of this matter. Public support will be essential."

Rivaling records

The coalition, meeting in the basement of Joplin City Hall, heard from a number of people about low stream flows and record water-use rates for this time of year. It also learned that the production of hydroelectricity at dam power sites in the region could be curtailed by as much as 50 percent this summer because of the drought.

Greg Perkins, an environmental engineer with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources at Springfield, said the department is receiving telephone inquiries about voluntary conservation measures from communities across Southwest Missouri, an area that has been hit extremely hard by the drought.

"We urge every city in the area to check their drawdowns regularly to make sure they have water over their pumps," Perkins said, noting that most communities in the region are pulling water from the ground to meet their needs.

Some communities, such as Aurora and Monett, have seen their water tables drop significantly in recent months.

Perkins said the department's position on the drought is that it could rival the drought of record, which occurred in the early 1950s.

Representatives of the water companies in Carthage and Joplin said the drought has not had much of an impact on their deep wells because usage, until recently, has not increased. But, record-breaking temperatures over the past few days has increased usage.

Carthage gets all of its water from deep wells. Joplin gets most of its water from Shoal Creek and the rest from five deep wells.

Greg Weeks, manager of Missouri-American Water Co. in Joplin, said Shoal Creek is flowing at its lowest rate in nearly 65 years. When temperatures soared into the 90s on Tuesday, the company set a pumping record for this time of year of 16.4 million gallons.

"We have not had to use our wells a lot," he said. "Having pumped 16.4 million gallons yesterday (Tuesday), we're going to be pulling on the aquifer a lot harder than before."

Missouri-American, which has 55,000 customers, can pull 14 million gallons of water a day from the creek during a drought and can take 5 million gallons a day from its wells to meet a summer peak usage of 19 million gallons a day. The voluntary conservation measures recommended by the coalition could be critical to meeting the essential needs of those customers during periods of peak usage.

Lake project

Bob Williams, head of Carthage Water & Electric Plant, said the drought provides "a perfect opportunity" to model water-recharge rates in the region, and to examine the relationship between the upper and lower aquifers during a drought. Most rural households get their water from the upper or shallow aquifer. Large water suppliers, such as CW&EP;, get water from the deep aquifer.

There have been some reports that pumps in shallow wells have been lowered to maintain production, according to well drillers in the area. Most of the wells that have been affected are older wells.

Williams said the drought could have a significant impact on the production of hydroelectricity this summer at area lakes. He said the producers of hydroelectricity have been feeling the effect of the drought since September, and that production could fall by 50 percent if spring rains do not materialize.

The coalition is exploring the development of an alternative water source for the region. It has entered into a $100,000 study with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Kansas City consulting firm of Black & Veatch to identify potential new sources of water for the region.

Black & Veatch has recommended construction of a central treatment and distribution center in the Joplin area that would pull water from one or more reservoirs in the area, such as Stockton Lake, Grand Lake and Table Rock Lake. The coalition is still pursuing the possibility of constructing a new reservoir in the area, though such a project was not recommended by Black & Veatch. Copies of a 1980 study by the corps regarding the construction of Prosperity Lake on Center Creek surfaced at Wednesday's meeting.

Nichols said: "We ought to look at resurrecting that project. It will be much more difficult to do now than in the 1970s. There is not an easy solution. Our work is cut out for us. The cost will be very expensive."

The coalition was formed in 2002 after a groundwater study, commissioned by Missouri-American, determined that the area could face a water shortage during a drought if demand for water continues to increase. The study said the water shortage might be 15 years away.

Said Nichols: "That 15 years may have gotten here a little more quickly than we expected."