MEETING MINUETS 2007          FEB,26

Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance (LOWA) Public meeting 2/26/07

Laurie Bank of Versailles

 

The meeting was called to order by LOWA Executive President, Donna Swall, at 6:30 PM.  All were welcomed and introductions were made round robin. 

 

Next, Marv Mondy, LOWA Vice-President, gave an update on the damage caused around the Lake by the winter’s storms, especially, the ice storm.  Most of the clean-up around the Lake has been finished, but many dock owners are having to wait until dock companies can get to them for repairs and for materials to come in from back orders.   The EPA said there was only one submerged boat left and that there was no oil or fuel leaking from it that they could tell.  If people see an oil or fuel sheen on the water they should notify the EPA.  There were millions of $ of insurance claims, and all dock owners should check their insurance policies and make sure they are covered as much as they think they are covered.  The Lake of the Ozarks is now completely open again to the public.

The Lake Safety Council is a new organization that meets every Tuesday, at 10 am, at the Quail’s Nest.  They are proposing billboards on Interstate highways encouraging various aspects of boating safety, such as a “designated skipper” program similar to a designated driver program, and the wearing of life jackets.  LOWA is happy to see this Council form.  When LOWA first formed, Lake Safety was one of the Lake residents’ major concerns.  Both groups plan to help each other on this important issue.

The Missouri legislature is considering changing alcohol limits for boaters to be like those for cars.

 

Guest speakers:  Dan Gredell, of Gredell Engineering Resources, an environmental permitting and landfill business, and Dan Hall, President of Mid-MO Landfill, Inc., about the planned sanitary waste landfill near Brumley.  Timothy Duncan is proposing to sell 240 acres of his farm, and of that 240 acres, the actual site will encompass 86 acres.    The rest of the 240 acres will be used for equipment storage, offices, and to help manage the landfill site.  The State of Missouri calls this kind of facility a Sanitary Landfill while the Federal government calls this kind of facility a Municipal Solid Waste Landfill.  The landfill is proposed to be located on the NE corner of Camden county, bordering Miller county and Pulaski county.  This facility will encourage the recovery of recyclable and reusable materials, and will accept discarded materials from residences and commercial businesses.  This facility will not accept any hazardous materials. 

 

There are about 20 permitted (I.e., have permits to operate) sanitary landfills in Missouri, today.  The average American generates 4 pounds of solid waste a day on average.  As the population in an area goes up, the total amount of waste for the area also goes up.  Even with the boost in population during the summer months, Mid-MO Landfill, Inc. Anticipates no problems in handling the extra waste.  Citizens from the area expressed concern over the extra truck traffic that the landfill would generate.  Dan Hall acknowledged that there would be several trucks a day, in and out of the landfill site but that would only be from this area’s trash.  Dan Hall calmed a few fears when he stated that Mid-MO Landfill would not be taking in trash trucks from St. Louis or Kansas City. 

Recycling is very important to any solid waste system.  Recycling saves energy and water and it produces less air and water pollution than manufacturing from virgin materials.  Recycling one glass bottle saves enough energy to light a bulb for 4 hours.  The permits that landfills receive to operate give them a set volume of air space up to which they may fill with trash.  Therefore, landfill operators will definitely try to recycle as much as possible.  Usually, a different business picks up the recycling part.  Jefferson City’s landfill is filling up fast and this area needs a place.  Landfills must have groundwater monitoring systems and they must monitor landfill gases.  There are standards for combustible gas migration control.  The owners and operators of a landfill must show that the site will protect the environment.  Five permits are required, such as solid waste disposal, area construction, storm water treatment and discharge, operating permits, and air emissions control permits.  From announcement to operations is generally at least a 5-year process, and includes public awareness sessions and detailed site investigations.  There are 4 stages of approval required.  A question about the suitability of this area for a landfill arose, considering the Ozarks has Karst topography.  A karst region is characterized by sinkholes, caves, springs, disappearing streams, and a subsurface that allows water to flow through quickly with little filtering.  Mr. Gredell replied that this landfill site is very well suited because its bedrock is Jefferson City Dolomite, which is very massive and solid and will not allow for the rapid subsurface movement of waters.  Even still, the landfill will have 43 boreholes, 22 into bedrock and looking for groundwater and the operators will have to take monthly water readings for 12 months during the Detailed Site Inspection (DSI).

 

Next, the discussion centered around the anatomy of a landfill, how landfills are constructed, and how they operate.  All are directed to wm.com for graphics and a more detailed discussion.  First the site gets graded, and then a two-foot thick clay liner is constructed and laid down.  This clay liner is built to standards that water will take 100 years to percolate that two feet.  Then a 60-mil high density polymil liner is placed down.  Then a geomembrane, which is a liner layer filter material, is laid down.  Then there are leachate collection areas, constructed so that the water does not accumulate more than one foot deep in these areas, which drain to a pipe so that the leachate can be collected and taken to a permitted leachate water treatment site.  Leachate is all the liquids that drain through the trash to the bottom.  All trash collected in a day must be covered by 6 inches of soil.  Each trash pile is about 8-10 feet thick and a new pile is built each day until a whole layer is covered with on-site soil.

Operators and owners must take care of the landfill for a minimum of 30 years after the landfill closes.  At that point, on the top is one foot of clay, another plastic liner, membrane, protective soil cover, topsoil, and a vegetative cover.  The site must manage storm water drainage also.  Landfills do generate gases, namely, methane and carbon dioxide, which are odorless, and small amounts of odorous gases.  Some landfills are looking into collecting methane for fuel (energy), but collecting methane from this landfill would be many years down the road.

This landfill will not be visible from the road, it will cause some increase in local traffic, but not a large increase, and there is a possibility of blowing debris, but 86 acres inside of 240 should minimize the blowing debris.  The landfill operators are required to put up fences and police the area for trash.  The possibility of experiencing unpleasant odor should be limited to the person driving the crushing truck.  At present, the landfill will only have daytime operations and they do not anticipate the volume for anything else.  Owners also have to put up money in a Financial Assurance Instrument that covers money to close the landfill and money to take care of the landfill for another 30 years beyond that.

 

Next to speak was Bryan Vance from Ameren on Adopt-a-Shoreline.  LOWA has signed up to help out with the Shoreline Clean-up coming up soon.  Volunteers should meet March 2^nd at Laurie Mall at the Boardwalk.  Between March 17 and April 1, over 500 miles of Lake shoreline gets cleaned up.  Last year, over 2000 cubic yards of trash was collected and disposed of.  Call Bryan Vance at 365-9252 and he can hook you up with other volunteers at any part of the Lake you may be interested in.  Since the majority of the trash is white foam from docks, damage from the ice storm may have generated even more trash this year.  Ameren does try to recycle a good portion of the collected foam.  People can also call Bryan about docks that are down and considered derelict.

 

Next, Greg Stoner spoke on water quality testing.  Beginning this May, a 5 year study will test for fecal coliform and E. coli bacteria in the coves of the Lake of the Ozarks.  Each year, 120 samples will be collected over a 6-month collecting period and a different set will be sampled each year (except for “problem” areas) so that over the 5-year period, the entire Lake will be tested.  LOWA will help by collecting the samples and delivering them to the DNR who will run the tests and analyze the data.  Groups will be organized to collect the samples and this year’s sites will mostly run from Bagnell dam to the toll bridge.  Training for the sample collectors will be in April and at least one person from each team/boat must participate in the training.  Contact Marv or Greg if you are interested.  The money for this study came from Ameren, and because LOWA could help, the number of sites to be tested was tripled.  Sampling will be in the coves.  There will be monthly reports about the progress of this study on the LOWA website at www.soslowa.org

 

Next on the agenda was news on the LOWA Pump-Out Program, headed by Dave Morgan.  The Pump-Out Program will involve the four-county area and four grants.  We will start with about 60 pump-outs per county and we’ll work with a few select contractors who will offer a reduced rate in addition to further assistance to low-income situations.  Hopefully this program will grow in future years as more money becomes available.  The reduce rate will stay even if the extra assistance money runs out.  This program will begin June 1^st.  Also, in each county there will be demonstration sites that will serve as educational resources and to increase public awareness.

Perhaps the Pump-Out program could coordinate efforts with the bacteria study at the Lake. If the study finds a hot spot, the pump out program could target their efforts at that area, and see whether, when the study retests that site, a massive pump out effort had an effect on amount of bacteria found at that spot.

 

Next to address the audience was Elizabeth Bentz, who is coordinating efforts with the Outreach committee, to present an Earth Day program to the 5^th graders at the School of the Osage.  Students will perform some water quality monitoring tests using water from the Lake of the Ozarks, and then participate in a variety of activities in celebration of Earth Day.  If interested in helping, please contact Christy Fera, Outreach committee, on LOWA’s website.

 

Next was a discussion of the monies that MO DOT has for stream mitigation.  If a landowner needs work done on their land that affects water flow or water quality or water use, MO DOT can do certain work for landowners, but the land then becomes easement land.  However, if not enough citizens use this money, then MO DOT has to give the money to agencies like the DNR who will then use the money anywhere in the Lake’s watershed.  Ideas for using this money include things like fixing a low water crossing or eliminating blockages preventing fish from swimming upstream.  Maybe LOWA could use its not for profit status to set up a special fund that would be eligible to receive some of those monies.  Anyone have any ideas on this subject?

 

Next, Chris Hall gave an update on the committee to write the Watershed Management Plan (WMP) and said the start was very encouraging.  Lots of information is already available and there are some monies available to write the WMP.  Basically, the writers need to establish and describe the goals and objectives for the Lake watershed, and what we want to do with our resources.  Many more and larger grants will be available for funding LOWA’s many projects once we get the WMP written and accepted.  Another large component of the Watershed Management Plan is public input.  LOWA has been gathering public input since its inception, but LOWA meetings will become a forum for speakers to disseminate information, a place for citizens to come and share concerns, comments, and ask questions, similar to the format of this evening’s meeting.  We need public input.  Please speak up and please volunteer with one of the many projects or in one of several focus groups/committees.  It is through the work of the committees that the true work of LOWA will get done.

 

Future meetings will address the topic of Karst topography, what it is and what its implications to the issues of the Ozarks are.

 

The next meeting will be March 19^th.

These minutes respectfully submitted by Caroline Toole, Recording Sec’y