by Cheryl Hammond, Chapter Conservation Committee Chair
A series of events began in July 2009 when some Lake of the Ozarks beaches were kept open despite E. coli readings five times and more higher than acceptable levels. As events unfolded, Governor Jay Nixon admitted to making erroneous statements about the beach closures due to faulty information from DNR; Nixon suspended DNR Director Mark Templeton without pay; the Senate Environment Committee, led by Republican Sen. Brad Lugar, held hearings to review DNR policy; and the Legislature subsequently let the clock run out in the 2010 legislative session to renew funding for the DNR Water Protection Program, leaving DNR without 37% of the funding for its water regulatory programs and with the prospect that the Clean Water program could be turned over to the EPA for enforcement.
With so much stirring up of water issues, Attorney General Chris Koster sponsored a Lake water quality symposium last August. Now Koster has released 12 recommendations, calling for on-site sewage disposal units to be replaced with a central sewage treatment system, addressing run-off from golf courses and other landscaped areas, and asking for more inspections, enforcement, and incentives.
Shortly after these recommendations, Governor Jay Nixon announced that the Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance had received a $550,660 Federal EPA grant to reduce stormwater runoff at the Lake. The money will be used to conduct tests and to create low-impact landscaping, but will not be used to build a sewer system. However, Nixon noted that this effort will create significant progress on Lake issues.
Attorney General Koster also invited leaders from Missouri Sierra Club and other environmental groups in the state to meet with him in Jefferson City and plans to meet with environmental groups again in the fall. Missouri Sierra Club Director John Hickey and chapter chair Jim Turner both attended this meeting.