Input Sought on Spring River's E-Coli Problems

Residents along parts of the Spring River in and around Carthage are being asked to provide input to help clean up the waterway. KSMU's Michele Skalicky reports.

According to Jasper County Health Department Director Tony Moehr (More), the Carthage Stream Team began sampling points along the river several years ago and found that, especially during high water events, e-coli levels were higher than what the state allows.So, two years ago, the health department began doing its own sampling in eight locations on the Spring River and in several tributaries in the county…

"That sampling goes on during the summer months, pretty much weekly during the summer months, and it has also indicated that in many of the streams in the county there are high levels of e-coli and especially high levels during high rain events, and, you know, wet weather."

A couple of years ago, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources listed about three miles of the Spring River as it goes through Carthage as impaired. Moehr says the e-coli likely comes from a variety of sources including septic tanks and agriculture. The Spring River Watershed Partnership is hoping to address the problem by developing a watershed management plan…

"That looks at what's going on now, what the potential sources are and tries to identify some of the potential sources and looks at options to improve the water quality over time."

Moehr says, once the plan is in place, they can start seeking state and federal funds to address the problem.The Spring River Watershed Partnership is holding a meeting tonight at 7 at the Carthage Technical Center’s agricultural building. They hope to hear from several landowners along the river…

"We're focusing on the segment of the Spring River as it goes through Carthage and then probably six to eight miles on either side of Carthage. That's the segment of the stream we're focusing on for this watershed management plan, so we're looking for input from residents from that area as to what their perceptions are of what's going on in the stream."

Tony Moehr says the public’s input is a vital piece in the process of putting together the Spring River Watershed Management Plan.For KSMU News, I'm Michele Skalicky.