By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

Doyle Childers, director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, touched on a number of environmental issues during a speech Friday morning at the first Four-State Regional Environmental Conference.

But maintaining an adequate supply of drinking water, he said, is the main issue.

“Southwest Missouri and Northwest Missouri have major water issues,’’ he said. “The challenge is saving our water in a measured way. We can’t count on evaporation and rainfall to get it here.’’

Childers said he has been monitoring for some time the activities of the Tri-State Water Resource Coalition in its quest for a new pump-storage reservoir or off-stream reservoir in the region. The coalition is seeking to construct such a reservoir to keep up with population growth and lessen the impact of prolonged droughts on the region in the future.

Citing historic cultures that have collapsed because of water shortages, Childers said, “You have to look 20 to 30 years into the future. If you don’t do that, you will endanger your future.’’

Noting that Missouri is rich with water when compared with its neighbors to the west, Childers said even the Missouri River is now at risk because of upstream diversion. He said 60 percent of the state’s population is dependent on the river for drinking water and wastewater management.

He said the increasing presence of antibiotics and mercury in the state’s waters pose new challenges. He said mercury, a hazardous chemical, has been detected in every stream and water body in the state.

An emerging environmental issues in Missouri, he said, is air quality and odor.

Without specifically acknowledging the odor problems associated with the Renewable Environmental Solutions plant in Carthage, he said, “When it comes to odor, this part of the state is well aware of that.’’

Odors from the plant have been a source of contention between the state agency and residents of the community.

“Odor is a subjective issue in many cases,” he said. “But we need to get after those that are truly objectionable.’’

The controversy over confined-animal feeding operations (CAFOs), he said, is also a big issue in Southwest Missouri and some other parts of the state. But the concern, he contended, is based more on emotion than on the facts.

He said he grew up on an 80-acre farm, “but it’s difficult to farm the way we did 50 years ago and be able to provide the food supply we need and compete with other countries, such as Canada and Argentina, on a worldwide basis.’’ He said the United States never should find itself in a position of relying on other countries for its water or food.