July 18, 2005
Missouri is poised to allow lower statewide water quality standards
As the saying goes, “You can’t put a pearl necklace on a sow and make her a queen”.
But that is exactly what Doyle Childers, Governor Matt Blunt's appointee as Director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MODNR) is trying to do by linking water quality standards with economic issues.
Childers/MODNR are only looking at one side of the coin – and that is the side displayed by Sewage Treatment Plants. The other side of the coin reveals that all sorts of economic issues are in play. Those of us who use Missouri’s streams and rivers for other than dumping germ-laden sewage also contribute heavily to the economy of this state. Anglers, hunters, kayakers, rafters, canoeists, scuba divers, and swimmers - we all have an interest in clean, pure water. We also put our money where our interests are. Tourism is now the number three money-maker in Missouri; in the Ozarks it is number one.
Childers/MODNR claim that full submersion seldom occurs while canoeing or kayaking. Well, ideally that is so. But in reality, novice – and even expert - canoeists end up inadvertently taking a dip. In the course of righting their watercraft or making it to shore, they are fully submerged and maybe even take a swallow or two of contaminated water. Bacteria may be in that water at unhealthy levels.
The same may be said for those of us who wade and fish in the streams and rivers – slippery rocks occasionally lead to a quick dip. While there may be those nimble-footed anglers who have never fallen while wading and fishing, chances are that full-body submersion has happened to just about all of us.
Millions of dollars are put into the coffers of canoe outfitters, restaurants, motels, bait shops and campgrounds by in-state and out-state tourists. If the word gets out that MODNR is letting sewage with unhealthy levels of bacteria enter the waters, it is likely that some of that money will go away.
Childers/MODNR also forget one other thing. Gravity. Water flows downhill, and while the stream that the local Sewage Treatment Plant is discharging into may not be used for “recreation in and on the water” (as the federal Clean Water Act phrases it), that stream flows into a larger stream which is in all likelihood used for various types of water recreation.
It doesn’t take much water – ankle deep is plenty – for a small child to become fully submerged. Kids are attracted particularly to shallow water and they are much more sensitive to germs than adults.
“Missouri -Where the Rivers Run”. If Childers/MODNR prevail, we’ll add “Filled with Germs”.
Contact: Ken Midkiff 573-881-0553
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