Water Quality of Table Rock Lake Public's Number 1 Concern

In the Ozarks Waters newsletter on November 19th, I discussed the upcoming public meetings the US Army Corps of Engineers was holding to discuss the planned revisions to the Table Rock Lake Master Plan. I would like to revisit that topic in this newsletter. I will make an effort to not repeat what was said earlier and if you missed that newsletter, you can find it by clicking HERE.

At the time these public meetings were being held, the actual Master Plan was not available to review. It is over 30 years old and 30 years ago we all still used typewriters so the Corps had to scan it in, all 443 pages. I am happy to report that the plan is now available on the Corps Master Plan web page. It is divided into three separate parts: (1) 1976 Table Rock Master Plan Supplements; (2) 1976 Table Rock Master Plan Main Text; (3) 1976 Table Rock Master Plan Plates (Maps).

Map "plate" from 1976 Table Rock Lake Master Plan

The attempt to get the public to the Master Plan meetings was overwhelmingly successful. The Corps held one "agency" meeting for governmental, regulatory and nonprofit agencies and organizations and three meetings open to the general public. The total attendance at these meetings is estimated at over 1800 people. I have held public meetings on various topics and if you get 25 or 50 people to show up you are patting yourself on the back. To get an average of 600 people per meeting can only mean the subject was of major importance to them and the subject was the future of Table Rock Lake.

Public Corps Master Plan Meeting

At these meetings, the Corps (and their contractor hired to handle the Master Plan update) gave a presentation and then asked those in attendance to answer these three questions:

How would you like to see Table Rock Lake in 20 years?
What about Table Rock Lake is most important to you?
What is the one thing that could be done to improve the lake?

The attendees were asked to put their answers in two places: on a "sticky note" that was then collected and tallied, and on a comment card that was either turned in after the meeting or sent to the Corps after the meeting. There was no opportunity for verbal comments at any of the public meetings. If you did not attend one of the meetings, you still have until Friday, December 14th to send in comments. All the Corps contact information is contained on the comment card and it can be downloaded HERE.

Master Plan Timeline

While we do not know the demographics of the 1800 people at the meetings, I will give an educated guess that most were local lake area residents and business owners. I say this because I talked to many of them after the meetings. And the top concern given in response to the questions asked above, at all three public meetings and at the agency meeting was: WATER QUALITY. Other subjects like failing septic tanks, no big boats, better fishing, etc. were also given but water quality was by far the top.

So what were they saying? What does water quality mean and how does the Corps now address it in the Master Plan and the Shoreline Management Plan when it is someday updated. I know what I think they were saying, but I would recommend the Corps hold a series of "focus group" meetings that drill down and find out exactly what the public really means by water quality.

I have always said that the group that is most protective of our land and streams is the local farmers that live and work on the land they love. Along those same lines, the groups most protective of the lake should be the adjacent land owners that love the lake and the businesses that depend on the lake for their livelihood. And I think these groups would be the most protective IF we engage them. Ask them for their opinion, listen to their concerns and issues, work with them to find win-win solutions and educate them on how to better protect the lake.

The organizations are already in place to help the Corps accomplish this mission. The water quality groups such as Table Rock Lake Water Quality, James River Basin Partnership, Kings River Watershed Partnership, Roaring River Watershed Alliance and Ozarks Water Watch are the ones that first come to mind. A partnership with Corps, the Ozarks Rivers Heritage Foundation and the water quality groups can lead the Corps in this mandate of "water quality" that was spoken loud and clear at each of these meetings. This partnership can work with and educate the public on what water quality means for Table Rock Lake.

How would you like to see Table Rock Lake in 20 years............

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Quote of the Week

"In the end, our country will be defined not only by what we create but by what we refuse to destroy."

~John C. Sawmill

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Pollution Surfaces as Top Concern of Table Rock Lake Meetings

OzarksFirst.com (KOLR 10 Springfield)

By: April Hansen

Updated: December 3, 2012

BRANSON, Mo. -- Homeowners near Table Rock Lake hope to clear up some questions about murky water. During recent meetings about the lake's master plan, this was one of the biggest concerns. The pollution running into the lake may be coming from your home.

Table Rock Lake's water quality has been a major concern for years, dating back to 2001 when the EPA approved a phosphorus removal effort at wastewater locations. Springfield's Wastewater Treatment Plant was found to be a main source for the overload of nutrients getting into Table Rock Lake, causing an excess of algae, cloudy water, and pollution. Now ten years later, a similar problem is surfacing.

For half a century, the lake has played host to tourists and locals. "One of the main draws for me was the lake and I can go out in the middle of it and swim, but now it's getting to the point where I don't really want to be comfortable doing that," says resident Robert Reynolds. Hundreds of other concerned lake-goers agree. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, leading the new master plan, noticed. "How do you want to see Table Rock Lake in 20 years?" asks Dana Coburn with the Corps. "Of course people were saying, 'We want to see a clean, clear Table Rock Lake.'"

It's a vision that local water watch groups say lies in the hands of homeowners. "We have been concerned with failing septic tanks for over ten years," adds David Casaletto with Ozarks Water Watch. He says after the phosphorus removal effort at wastewater plans, organizations noticed an improvement in water quality. But now, lake homeowners need to help continue the ground that's been gained. "A good majority of those older homes built in the 70s and even early 80s and 60s," adds Casaletto. "They have an old 500-gallon metal tank that probably by now is rusted out."

To watch video or read more, Click: HERE.

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Table Rock Lake plan questioned

Branson Tri-Lakes News

By Evin Fritschle

Dec 7, 2012

Hundreds of area residents and property owners turned out last week to hear what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to do with Table Rock Lake, but many of them, including some who make a living working on the lake, say they're not getting any answers. The Corps announced this fall it planned to revise the Table Rock Lake Master Plan, a document outlining uses for the areas around the lake. The existing master plan dates back to the 1970s. Officials at several public meetings last week said improving water quality is a major concern. But for several dock builders and marina owners on Table Rock, that doesn't explain why the Corps also announced a moratorium on shoreline activity requests pending completion of the master plan update.

Cecelia Sasser, who owns Colliers Boat Docks in Lampe and Kimberling City, with her husband, Jim, said almost all the company's business is on Table Rock. What the moratorium means to the Sassers, and others, is that they might be going out of business. "We have a 50-foot boat that we run on Table Rock," she said. "We can't just put it on a trailer and move it somewhere else." Sasser said her company also has a full shop and crew, all of which adds the company's overhead. Corps officials gave those wanting to submit shoreline activity requests until Dec. 1. Requests received by the start of the month will have to be considered by the Corps. About 90 percent of those shoreline requests are for new boat docks or boat dock additions, Jeff Farquhar with the Corps said previously. Sasser and others said the Corps only gave people a 10- to 14-day notice, however, not long enough for some to complete the required paperwork.

Doug Blevins, co-owner of D&R Dock Builders in Reeds Spring, said the moratorium is going to put dock builders like him out of business. "In my mind, I don't see much other choice," Blevins said. "I've got a farm and cattle to take care of, but the guy who works for me or someone else, the general laborer who is just out there working, I can't tell him to just take six months or more off and come back. "He's got a house payment to pay and kids to feed. He's not going to be there in six months," he said. Blevins said he doubts the Corps will complete the master plan and the shoreline management plan, which is a part of the master plan outlining shoreline activity uses and requests, in only a year. "It's probably going to be more like two to five years," he said. "They're going to put me out of business. I've been in business for 25 years." Blevins said he doesn't understand why the state or the Corps would halt dock building.

To read more, Click: HERE.

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Group asks EPA to help clean up Missouri streams

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

November 30, 2012

By Jeffrey Tomich

An environmental group says Missouri has failed for decades to adequately care for its rivers, lakes, wetlands and streams, so it's again asking the federal government to step in and do the job. The Missouri Coalition for the Environment on Friday petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to use its authority under the federal Clean Water Act to help protect thousands of miles of waterway that lacks adequate safeguards from pollution.

The goal of the 1972 Clean Water Act was to make all of the nation's waterways suitable for fishing and swimming, and states are required to do so unless a scientific analysis shows it's impractical to meet that standard. The EPA has authority to take over the job if necessary. And Friday's petition is the coalition's latest effort to get federal regulators to do just that.

"We love water in Missouri," said Kathleen Logan Smith, executive director of the St. Louis-based Coalition for the Environment. "We have some of the best water in the country, but we really need to step up and protect it." The coalition sued the EPA in 2003 and again in 2010 in an effort to force the agency to promulgate water quality standards in Missouri. In the 2010 case, U.S. District Judge Nannette Laughery agreed that the state was out of compliance with the Clean Water Act. But she denied the coalition's attempt to force the EPA to step in.

At the time of the order, the Missouri Clean Water Commission, the governor-appointed board that sets water quality standards, was on the verge of voting on a proposal to help protect an additional 85,000 miles of rivers, creeks and streams and 26,000 acres of lakes, moving the state a step closer to compliance with federal law. But the proposed rules were pulled from consideration at the last minute with little explanation.

To read more, Click: HERE.

Contact Info
OZARKS WATER WATCH MISSOURI OFFICE ARKANSAS OFFICE

David Casaletto, President PO Box 636, 2 Kissee Ave., Ste. C 1200 W. Walnut, Ste. 3405
(417) 739-5001 Kimberling City, MO 65686 Rogers, AR 72756

contact@ozarkswaterwatch.org