Hey, All!
If you have time read the whole message below...if not, know that it basically states that the River des Peres and some of its tributaries are currently having their status as "rivers" reviewed...they are being classified as rivers!!! That's big news, as they will receive protections under the law. However, they will only receive full protection if it can be proven that they are used for full-body contact recreation. There is a MODNR meeting being held at Powder Valley tomorrow night for those who have evidence to present. If any of you have the time and interest, it would weigh greatly on the situation to have adults and kids present who can talk about their connection to the River des Peres. Read on if I've piqued your interest...
See you soon!
Ben
------ Forwarded Message
From: lcledan <dsherburne@moenviron.org>
Reply-To: <RdPWC@yahoogroups.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Aug 2008 19:42:51 -0500
To: <RdPWC@yahoogroups.com>
Conversation: [PossibleSpam] [RdPWC] Stream recreational use protection
Subject: [PossibleSpam] [RdPWC] Stream recreational use protection
Hi all -
Black Creek, Deer Creek below Black Creek, and the River des Peres downstream from Deer Creek are going from unclassified to classified stream status this year--thanks to Ted Heisel, who lives near Black Creek and submitted data to the state showing that the creek maintained a permanent flow and supported aquatic life. As a classified stream, Black Creek enjoys much greater protection from the discharge of pollutants from sewage plants, industries, etc. This is all to the good! And because a classified stream can't flow into an unclassified stream (state rules), Black Creek's change in status meant that Deer Creek and the River des Peres had to be classified, as well.
Ordinarily, with classification comes protection for whole body contact recreation--swimming and other activities that provide some likelihood of getting water in your mouth, nose, ears, etc. Fecal coliform and E. coli levels in the water have to be kept below state standards, which means that discharges of treated wastewater from sewage facilities have to be disinfected.
But this is Missouri, and the state, in the form of the Clean Water Commission (which sets the water quality rules) and Dept. of Natural Resources (which implements the rules), is hell bent on not enacting protections that will cost dischargers--like MSD, whose sewer overflows empty into Black and Deer creeks and the RdP and which wants to avoid disinfection in the worst way. So DNR will be contracting for "studies" this summer and fall to see if they can show that these newly-classified streams can't actually support recreational use. If the streams aren't deep enough (a meter deep in pools, a half-meter deep on average) at the three locations they check, then they're deemed too shallow to support whole body contact recreation and they won't get the full protection against bacteria.
The key to this, though, is that if people use the streams for recreation (or have done so any time since 1975), that use has to be protected. If they use it for swimming or other whole body contact recreation, full bacterial protections have to be retained. If they use it for secondary contact recreation (wading, fishing, etc.), lesser bacterial protections are imposed.
So for these newly classified streams to keep their new protections against bacteria (and for us to be able to use them safely), we have to tell DNR where and how we use the streams for recreation. There will be an opportunity to do so this Wednesday evening (6 to 8 PM) at the Powder Valley Nature Center (11715 Cragwold Road, Kirkwood), where DNR is holding a public meeting on its proposed removal of protections on 90 streams around the state. They're bringing a laptop with mapping software, so that people can show them exactly where they use their stream.
There is also a comment period open for submitting written information until August 31. Just send your information on your use of these streams to John Hoke, UAA Coordinator, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, Water Protection Program, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO
65102-0176. You can also email him at john.hoke@dnr.mo.gov, john.hoke%40dnr.mo.gov, john.hoke%40dnr.mo.gov, or fax to
573-522-9920.
For more info on this effort by the state to remove protections on streams, you can go to the Coalition for the Environment web page at http://www.moenviron.org/UAA.asp or call me at 314-727-0600. I'm more than happy to talk about this stuff.
I'm also copying a Coalition e-Alert to the end of this message for a little more info on the issue.
Hope to see you at Powder Valley Wednesday!
Dan Sherburne
Research Director
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
Your Chance to Speak Out for Safe Streams!
Do you think kids should be able to play safely in Missouri streams, without fear of exposure to bacteria that can cause typhoid fever, hepatitis, gastroenteritis, dysentery, and other illnesses? Do you want to make sure your stream is safe for recreational uses like swimming, playing, wading, and fishing?
The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is proposing to remove protections against bacteria on 90 streams across the state, and now they want to hear from you. The Department is holding public meetings in seven cities this month, starting tonight in Thornfield, Missouri (see details below). The St. Louis region meeting is Wednesday, August 6.
Why would DNR want to exempt streams from the protections the Clean Water Act envisioned for all the nation's streams? The answer: To save sewer agencies and other facilities--public and private--the cost of disinfecting the otherwise treated wastewater that they discharge into streams. Meanwhile, DNR has spent many hundreds of thousands of public dollars on studies, called Use Attainability Analyses (UAAs), that are used to justify these exemptions.
DNR's UAAs rely almost exclusively on stream depth to determine whether a stream can support swimming and other recreation. If the stream isn't deep enough--at least a meter deep in holes or a half-meter on average--at the few sites sampled (which total only 5-10% of the stream's length), the state assumes people can't swim in the stream and exempts it from protections normally required for swimming and other "whole body contact recreation."
Kids and even adults often engage in whole body contact recreation in much shallower water, however. On a hot day, lying down in ten inches of a cool stream entices children and adults alike. And it's quite possible that people enjoy locally-known swimming holes located on the
90-95% of the stream not surveyed. In either case, exempting their stream would leave these people exposed to dangerous bacteria.
But the greatest flaw of the UAAs is that there is no requirement to contact or interview local residents about their use of the stream, even though any such use by anyone since 1975 would require that protections against bacteria be kept in place. Indeed, few UAAs have bothered to include any interviews with those who would know how and where a given stream is used.
When DNR compounded that omission by barely publicizing the public comment period on the proposed exemptions, the Coalition sent news releases to every county where streams were recommended for exemption and sent letters to many local residents asking them to submit
information on their streams. The heavy response and the public's displeasure with the state's efforts to remove protections from streams prompted DNR to quickly extend the comment deadline to August 31st and schedule a series of public meetings--while making the groundless accusation that we had spread "misinformation" and caused "public alarm that is totally unnecessary."
You will therefore have two opportunities this month to make your voice heard on behalf of safe and clean streams. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is holding public meetings during August at the following locations:
* Thornfield - Aug. 4 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Thornfield School, Hwy
95, immediately north of Thornfield
* St. Louis - Aug. 6 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Powder Valley
Conservation Nature Area, 11715 Cragwold Road, Kirkwood
* Poplar Bluff - Aug. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's
Southeast Regional Office, 2155 North Westwood Boulevard, Poplar Bluff
* Kansas City - Aug. 19 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's
Kansas City Regional Office, 500 NE Colbern Road, Lee's Summit
* Springfield - Aug. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's
Southwest Regional Office, 2040 W. Woodland, Springfield
* Macon - Aug. 25 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's Northeast
Regional Office, 1709 Prospect Drive, Macon
* Jefferson City - Aug. 27 from 6 to 8 p.m. at the department's
Lewis and Clark State Office Building, 1101 Riverside Drive, Jefferson
City
While we expect these meetings to be, in large part, an attempt to repair DNR's image, they will also be an opportunity to express your views on UAAs and the state's stream exemption effort as well as to provide specific information about how and where you use your favorite
streams. Please include information on non-whole body contact recreation, such as wading, boating, or fishing, since these also expose people to bacteria and viruses and should require at least some level of protection.
Those attending the St. Louis meeting should note that UAAs are being done this summer and fall on Black Creek, the portion of Deer Creek below Black Creek, and the segment of the River des Peres downstream of Deer Creek. If you have information about recreational use of these
streams, please provide it at the meeting or in written comments. It's entirely possible that these streams will be added to the other 90 streams recommended for exemption from bacteria protection later this year--unless DNR hears that people use them.
For maps of the affected streams, short comment forms you can submit, and more information about the UAA process, please see the Coalition's UAA webpage.
Written comments--as detailed as possible about how and where you or others use your stream--will be accepted until August 31, 2008. Please send them to:
John Hoke, UAA Coordinator, Missouri Department of Natural Resources,
Water Protection Program, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176
Or email: john.hoke@dnr.mo.gov <mailto:john.hoke%40dnr.mo.gov><mailto:john.hoke%40dnr.mo.gov
>
Or fax: 573-522-9920
Thanks for your efforts to keep Missouri's streams clean and safe!
Dan Sherburne
Missouri Coalition for the Environment
