It look's like you don't have Adobe Flash Player installed. Get it now.
The waters of the Ozarks are one reason people choose to visit and retire here. But as KSMU’s Jennifer Moore reports, a recent study shows that local streams, lakes and rivers are threatened by development.
22 water sites scattered across a 14 county area of southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas were part of the study. The findings show that most of the sites—including parts of Wilson Creek, Finley Creek, and the James River—received a grade of “C” when it comes to water quality.
David Cassaletto is president of the Ozarks Water Watch Foundation, which sponsored the study.
He says the streams and rivers were all polluted with excessive phosphorous, nitrogen, and sediment that found its way into the water by way of runoff. He says the population boom in the Ozarks is taking its toll on the waters the region is famous for.
“What this really is is a wake up call to everyone to say: we’ve put a lot of pressures because of the population growth in our area on our waters. So we need to wake up and say, ‘Okay, how can we maintain and preserve the waters, and even start to improve them,’ before we go out to our waters and say, ‘Hey, you know, this doesn’t really look inviting,’” he said.
The rivers and streams sampled in the study flow into Beaver, Table Rock, Taneycomo, and Bull Shoals Lakes. The report finds that every site sampled is classified as “impaired.”
“Impaired is a scientific term. But more in general terms, it means that they’re not pristine. They’re not what they were like, you know, 50 years ago,” he said.
The Ozarks Water Watch Foundation is asking public agencies to take another look at how their operations might be affecting runoff in waterways, and it’s recommending that chambers of commerce and civic organizations raise awareness of the findings.
Ultimately, the foundation is asking the public to help keep the Ozarks watersheds clean, before the damage is irreversible.
Cassaletto says that includes pumping and servicing septic tanks regularly, stabilizing eroding streambanks, and using fertilizers and pesticides in a way that don’t harm the groundwater.
The foundation’s website has more tips on how to keep the Ozarks waterways. That website is www.ozarkswaterwatch.org.
For KSMU News, I’m Jennifer Moore.
ANCHOR TAG: Also on that website, you can view the water quality report in full. We have a link from our own website: www.ksmu.org.
