By Derek Spellman and Susan Redden
news@joplinglobe.com
Southwest Missouri has seen an expansion in the number of counties testing for bacteria in rivers and streams, and in the posting of advisories when the levels exceed safe standards.
Those tests consistently show that many bodies of water exceed state and/or federal standards for water quality.
But what happens next?
The Newton County Health Department, which is now gathering and analyzing its own samples, has gone about as far as it can go with current resources, said Bob Kulp, director of the Newton County Health Department.
“Right now, our biggest limitation is staffing,” Kulp said.
The Lawrence County Health Department is in a similar situation.
Lisa Brenneman, an environmental professional health specialist for the department, said testing a river to see if it is safe to swim in on a given day is not the same as testing whether a river has a persistent pollution problem. That would require more samples from more sites.
“We don’t have funding for that, frankly,” she added.
In Jasper County, water-testing efforts spearheaded by the Carthage High School Stream Team soon will get a boost from the county health department.
The high school stream team has been testing parts of Spring River for several years and high bacteria levels found by the group contributed to a state decision to declare part of the river “impaired” by the state of Missouri.
Now the county health department is starting its own testing to include other sites on Spring River, and Center Creek and Turkey Creek, according to Tony Moehr, county health director.
About 20 testing sites have been chosen, he said.
The results could bring more state and federal attention to pollution problems, he added.
“If parts of other streams are designated as impaired, I would hope we could get some resources allocated to address the cause,” he said. “I think the Spring River watershed already would qualify for some help because of its listing as an impaired stream.”
Several Newton County streams also were added to the state’s list of impaired waters earlier this year because of high bacteria levels.
Putting a stream on the impaired or 303 (d) list, which refers to a section of the federal Clean Water Act, requires the state to identify the source of the contamination and establish pollution controls.
Doyle Childers, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, said once the stream is added to the list, a total maximum daily load estimate is drawn up to establish pollution limits.
But he wouldn’t be specific when asked for the time frame to develop a TMDL for local bodies of water on the impaired list.
“I just don’t want to tell you an exact time,” he said Friday. “I don’t think it will be factual.”
Other bodies of water in Southwest Missouri are on the impaired list for reasons other than E. coli, including heavy metal contamination and nutrient loading from phosphates and nitrates.
Officials also have said the E. coli in streams and rivers could come from multiple sources, including agricultural operations and farms, wastewater systems and septic tanks, and even wild animals.
Childers said that while his department has authority over the largest concentrated animal feeding operations in the state, it does not have control over smaller farms. Nor does it have control over septic systems, meaning there may not be much his agency can do about fecal bacteria in streams from subdivisions popping up in high growth areas in Southwest Missouri.
“We don’t oversee septic tanks. That’s done by county health departments. We literally do not have any authority to deal with septic tanks.
“It’s going to be difficult (to control) if we don’t have anything to do with it. That’s where some legislation could be beneficial — on dealing with non-point source (pollution).”
