By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
A total of 39 water systems, including two in Newton County and four in Barry County, have “chronically” failed to test their drinking water supplies over a yearlong period, according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.
“While failing to monitor does not necessarily mean the water is unsafe, routine testing by a facility is a crucial part of maintaining a safe water supply,” the DNR said in a statement this week.
Those on the list in Newton County are Dave’s Super Stop, east of Neosho, and Racine 1 Stop, east of Racine. In Barry County, the systems are operations by the Country Diner, near Viola; Jenkins Kwik Stop, east of Jenkins; the Roaring River Homeowners Association, near Eagle Rock; and the Big M Marina on Table Rock Lake.
Six of the seven systems have tested as clean, according to the most recent samples tested for total coliform bacteria. Those samples were collected from as far back as September 2008 to as recently as last month, depending on the system, according to the DNR.
A sample taken last month from the Country Diner was classified as invalid because of “insufficient information,” according to online information provided by the DNR.
Faith Yates, who operates Racine 1 Stop, told the Globe on Tuesday that her drinking water is safe. She said there was an apparent misunderstanding in that she thought she needed to submit only one water sample a month but apparently needed to send in multiple samples.
“They just keep wanting samples,” she said.
Yates said she plans to work with the DNR, although the point may become moot after she switches over to a rural water district in a few months.
Efforts on Tuesday to reach the owner or manager of Dave’s Super Stop were unsuccessful.
David Ellsworth, who operates the Jenkins Kwik Stop, said he has submitted the required samples via the local health department, which in turn sends them to the state via courier. The DNR, he said, has told him that it did not receive all the samples. Ellsworth insists he has sent them in.
“We have gone rounds and rounds with them,” he said.
Efforts to reach a DNR spokeswoman on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
The release issued by the agency this week indicated that the 39 water system owners had been sent violation notices. They were informed that chronic failure to monitor is “unacceptable.”
The department also has inspectors who try to reach agreements with water system owners to ensure that the sampling requirements are fulfilled. The DNR says that if offending owners still fail to comply, the agency pursues “more stringent enforcement action through legal channels.”
Earlier this month, the DNR announced that Double Diamond Fuel Mart, near Sarcoxie, agreed to pay $3,050 in penalties for failing to collect required drinking water samples several times since 2007, and for failing to certify to the department that public notification had been performed for violations that took place in 2006.
Under a settlement agreement with the DNR and the Missouri attorney general’s office, Double Diamond will pay the $3,050 to the Jasper County School Fund and will “adhere to a strict schedule of taking required drinking water samples,” according to the DNR.
By the numbers
The list of 39 water systems that have “chronically” failed to complete drinking water testing accounts for only 1.4 percent of the approximately 2,800 public drinking water systems in the state, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
Local News
<img src="http://www.joplinglobeonline.com/images/zope/extra.gif" border="0"> DNR: Several water systems failed to conduct tests <font color="#ff0000"> w/ water system list </font>
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