MEETING MINUETS 2007        March,19

Next was a presentation by DNR Missouri Stream Team Coordinator, Priscilla Stotts, of a Stream Team award to Caroline Toole, LOWA Recording Secretary, for more than 10 years of collecting and reporting water quality data for the Missouri Stream Team Program.  Caroline has Stream Team #313 on the Little Niangua River which is one of the many rivers and streams that flow into the Lake of the Ozarks.  Missouri Stream Team Program is a volunteer program where citizens adopt a part of one of Missouri’s many rivers, streams or creeks, and then monitor the health of their stream and report their data and activities.  The water quality data then becomes part of a state-wide database which is used by many groups.

Next, the Education and Outreach Committee reported that they are planning an Earth Day Event for the 5^th graders at Osage Upper Elementary on April 20^th.  Students will rotate through a series of 4 stations and participate in hands-on activities to cement the science they will be learning.  The 4 stations will be Stream Life, pH, Water Temperature, and Dissolved Oxygen – all important measurements for monitoring the health of any body of water, such as rivers and lakes.  Volunteers are needed to help at the different stations either for all day or part of the day, which will begin at 7:30 and end around 3:30.  LOWA is expecting about 122 5^th graders to participate in this Earth Day event.  They will each receive a t-shirt with LOWA’s Louie, the catfish teacher, on the back of the shirt and the LOWA logo on the front, as well as a bag with items such as bookmarks, pencils, and stickers.  The MO Stream Team program will be donating several of the give away items.  The streams that flow into the Lake of the Ozarks are very important for the health of the Lake because their waters become the waters of the Lake of the Ozarks.

Next we looked at the LOWA Pump-Out program.  David Morgan, chair of the Waste Water Committee which is implementing the pump-out program said that the committee is very excited about this program and that this is only just beginning.  At present, the Waste Water Committee is putting together programs for pumping out both boats on the Lake and septic tanks in the Lake’s watershed.  They are organizing pump out facilities and LOWA has produced a brochure to educate everyone and spread the word about where these facilities are and why taking proper care of waste water is so vitally important to the health of the Lake.  Our Lake – One Voice is a united front to reach more people and to establish credibility.  Companies are looking at our logo and at other companies’ logos and they want their logo their also.  This brochure has expanded from a 4-fold to a 6-fold brochure and includes information about LOWA and the focus groups (committees). The focus groups were chosen as a response to public input during the very first few meetings around the entire Lake.  Cost of printing this brochure has been donated by Ameren.

LOWA also has a brochure developed for the Outreach Committee which includes more information about LOWA and what LOWA does, as well as information about watersheds.  Both brochures include a membership form.  A sponsor to cover the cost of printing this brochure is still needed.

Next, Scott Robinett, MO DNR Environmental Specialist spoke about the Lake testing project that he and Randy Niemeyer will be heading.  “Bacterial Testing in Coves” begins May, 2007, and will run for 5 years.  The project will target fecal coliform bacteria levels and the coliform bacteria known as E. coli.  This will be a cooperative project between LOWA and MO DNR, funded by Ameren.  LOWA volunteers will collect the water samples and deliver the samples to Scott Robinett who will perform the laboratory analyses.  These are indicator bacteria and the total coliform count includes all rod-shaped bacteria.  Fecal coliform are those found in warm-blooded animals and E. coli makes up about 10% of all fecal coliforms in humans.  Most E. coli are not pathogenic (disease-causing), but some are, including the notorious 0157:H7 E. coli strand.  In analysis, the sample is mixed with a medium, sealed up, incubated, and then a machine counts the colonies which are showing positive for any E. coli.

The Lake of the Ozarks is a Category A body of water meaning that the state and federal governments are obligated to maintain the water to be in condition for whole body contact, including skiing and swimming and the waters must be open to the public for various recreational activities.  As such, there are Standards for allowable levels of bacteria:  fecal is 200 bacterial colonies (cfu) per 100 mL and E. coli is 126 cfu/100 mL.  There have been some previous studies on the Lake:  MO DNR has records from testing the Lake off and on since 1953; 1984 Lake of the Ozarks Council of Local Governments sponsored a study; 1990 MO DNR and Dept of Health (DOH); 97-01 MO DOH; 02-03 MO DOH; and 03 to present, the MO DNR has been testing at the public beaches.  Fecal coliform bacteria and E. coli are in the digestive tracts of warm blooded animals and generally do not live long outside of the body.  The warmer the water, the longer the bacteria can survive outside its host.  In January, or other cold months, however, there can be high readings for a variety of reasons.  Precipitation amounts and severity are large factors.  This study will take all those factors into account. The project does have a “background” cove with very little development or human activity.  This cove will serve as a control, meaning, if the area receives a lot of rain just before a sampling date, and results come in showing large amounts of bacteria (which is often the case after a large rain), then all the coves will show that large increase, even the cove with negligible human activity and the scientists will be able to accurately analyze that set of data.  Eventually, the Lake of the Ozarks will need sewage treatment all around its shoreline.

This will be a 5-year study to characterize E. coli concentrations in coves, sampling will occur over a 6-month period each year; about 30 coves per year will be studied and 3-7 samples per cove will be taken; each cove will be sampled 3 times; new sites and coves will be chosen each year so that over the lifetime of this study, the entire Lake will be studied.  This study will not include DNA analysis to see whether the bacteria are human or other.  LOWA volunteers will be given training to collect the samples and that way 3 times as many samples can be taken and analyzed resulting in many more coves being tested, as well.  Samples will be taken closer to shore in the coves, rather than in the middle of the channel because most of the swimming occurs next to people’s docks and this is the part of the Lake about which many citizens were concerned.  MO DNR will run the program, do the testing, and write the report. 

LOWA will collect and transport the samples to the testing lab, and report results to the public on a timely basis.  All data collected and the final report will be in the public record, as well.  Final results will be posted on the LOWA website in addition to periodic reports and updates, throughout the life of the project.

On a related note, if any citizen has an environmental concern or complaint, they should contact one of the regional offices for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Benton county residents should contact the EPA office in Kansas City and Morgan, Miller, and Camden county residents should contact the EPA office in Springfield.  The EPA does not have enough funding to hire enough personnel to be out in the counties checking to make sure various companies, organizations, citizens, etc. are in compliance with environmental regulations.  However, the EPA can, and does, respond to reports, phone calls, and other messages about environmental problems.  The EPA relies on the public and the public’s awareness to help them find offenders.

LOWA meetings are moving to Tuesday evenings and will be at the Porta Cima clubhouse at 6:30.