Chamber urges DNR to widen focus,

conduct additional E. coli tests

by Nancy Hogland

The Lake Area Chamber of Commerce is attempting to convince Gov. Jay Nixon and the Department of Natural Resources that water testing should be a statewide initiative that includes all public waterways and not just Lake of the Ozarks and that more thorough tests should be run.

According to Trish Creach, executive director of the chamber, the board believes that is the only responsible way to address water quality concerns.

“People voluntarily began a water quality monitoring program here because we are all committed to protecting our resource. And yes, we had some high counts this spring. However it is our belief that any body of water would have had the same elevated levels of bacteria if they had tested after heavy rainfalls like we received,” she said. “There lies the problem. No other lakes are being tested like this – or if they are, they’re not being scrutinized and covered in the media like Lake of the Ozarks. This is not a condition unique to this area and we don’t feel we should be singled out for taking a proactive stance.”

Creach said after being contacted by Steve G. Jeffery and Ryan Russell Kemper, environmental attorneys with Thompson Coburn LLP out of St. Louis, and learning thru a survey that one of the major concerns of members was the E. coli situation, the board decided to invite them to speak at a December breakfast meeting.

The two gave a power point demonstration that included information collected from the National Institute of Health (NIH), the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Center for Disease Control (CDC) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that all zeroed in on the same point – that while there are hundreds of Escherichia coli (E. coli) strains that are harmless, only a minority of E. coli strains are capable of causing human illness. Those considered most harmful created a toxin called Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, or STEC for short.

“The most commonly identified STEC in North America is E. coli O157:H7 or ‘O157.’ When you hear news reports about outbreaks of E. coli infections, they are usually talking O157,” Kemper explained. “However, additional tests are required to determine the strain of E. coli – and those tests are not currently being used by the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). When they report that they looked at 100 milliliters of water under a microscope and found 126 colonies of E. coli, they don’t actually know if the E. coli colonies are the harmful variety that causes illness.”

To prove their point, they displayed a DNR press release dated Oct. 9, 2009 that stated, “Because the purpose of the testing is to provide baseline information for future comparison, rather than providing immediate public health data, the testing method used by the department does not differentiate between strains of the bacteria.”

Judd Slivka, communications director for the DNR, confirmed that statement.
“We don’t have the capacity to do that in our labs. You get into micro graphing and E. coli analysis and it’s a lot more expensive process,” he said, adding that because all E. coli is bacteria, the DNR wanted none of it in Lake waters.

Jeffery, who worked as counsel for the DNR from 1987 to 1993, also told the chamber members that the methodology used to test the water had also been faulty. He provided criteria established by the EPA for testing whole-body contact waters that stated to ensure accuracy, not less than five water samples, equally spaced over a 30-day period, should be taken from the same location. In addition, the EPA outlines strict standards that must be followed on collection and holding techniques.

“The DNR has said they are following EPA guidelines but bottom line – how many of these samplings actually complied? If you go back to the schedule you’ll find that samples were collected once each month – not five times. And while I know that every volunteer that has helped with this project has done an excellent job, there has been no consistency. Everyone that has collected samples has a slightly different technique,” he said. “If the DNR is going to use these tests to establish a baseline then they should follow the recommended guidelines.”

The presenters also addressed concerns of members angry that other lakes throughout the state were not being held to the same standards as Lake of the Ozarks.

DNR Policy Coordinator Robert Stout, who attended the meeting not as a presenter but as a guest, told the crowd that limited staff and resources precluded the DNR from monitoring every lake around the state, adding that with the department facing additional staff reductions, additional testing would be even more difficult.
“We’re doing the best job we can,” he said. Slivka agreed.

“We’ve received calls from folks at Table Rock Lake asking when we’d be testing their water. We recently received a letter from Joplin saying, ‘Hey, don’t forget about us – we have water quality issues,’ but right now, while we have unlimited demand, we have limited resources,” he said.

Promised study was to be ready by deadline

Judd Slivka, communications director for the Department of Natural Resources (DNR), said every available employee in his department had been spending the last several weeks of the year compiling information for the Lake of the Ozarks water quality report requested by Gov. Jay Nixon.

At a late September press conference, Nixon announced a four-part plan designed to “clean up Lake of the Ozarks.” The plan included an inspection sweep of some 400 wastewater treatment facilities that release effluent into the Lake or its major tributaries. The Governor promised a zero-tolerance standard for permit violations would be applied. He also requested a baseline survey of water quality at the lake, including testing of all relevant contaminants. Finally, he said the DNR would institute a strict standard for authorizing any additional wastewater discharge permits around the lake.

In mid-December, Slivka said that because the report was not yet completed, he wasn’t sure of the final results which were to be made public after this issue of the Lake of the Ozarks Business Journal went to press.