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11. Lake Water Quality Gets Political
- University of Arkansas Press
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CHAPTER 11 Lake Water Quality Gets Political Memorial Day kicks off the summer season at the Lake of the Ozarks. Families pile into their minivans and travel down from Interstate 70 that bisects the state ending in Missouri’s bigger cities. Boats hitched to sports utility vehicles weave through the hilly roads from Arkansas. Shops that barely got by on slower, local patronage await throngs of customers who come to the lake for getaways on water and sand. Anticipation for the tourists expands as days increasingly grow warmer, and the school year comes to a close. The 2009 summer season was expected to be just as busy as in previous years, with vacationers coming for Memorial Day weekend and the rest of the summer months. However, those out on the water that Memorial Day were without information from a recent report that showed high levels of E. coli. Swimmers bobbed, jumped off boats, and splashed in waves as the Missouri Department of Natural Resources kept the report from the public until after the busy tourist weekend. Those swimmers might have become sick from E. coli, a bacteria that can cause flu-like symptoms if swallowed or if it comes into contact with open wounds. Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Susanne Medley acknowledged the agency waited to release the information a month later for fear people would panic. “We wanted to make sure we understood the problem,” Medley told the Kansas City Star in a July 16, 2009, article. “Business and tourism was a consideration.”1 Volunteers from the Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance had helped with the collection of samples that had produced the higher numbers , which were attributed to heavy rains washing soil and other E. coli– laced matter from wildlife and animals into the water.2 The cover up of failing to disclose the crucial health information for fear of losing tourism dollars went straight to the top, to Governor Nixon’s office, which oversees the agency. Then, fingers pointed and heads rolled. Missouri attorney general Chris Koster said that it was Joe Bindbeutel, deputy director of Natural Resources, who chose to withhold the information . Bindbeutel told the press, nearly two months after the incident occurred, it was his choice. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers called for an investigation.3 Mark Templeton, department director, was later put on leave and then went to work with BP after the massive oil spill in the Gulf. Natural Resources officials defended their decision by saying that the department was waiting on more rainfall data because spikes in E. coli often are associated with heavy rainfall that washes the bacteria into the water. The blame game continued for the rest of 2009. A former state official claimed the governor’s office knew about the bacteria back in May. 106 LAKE WATER QUALITY GETS POLITICAL This is a historical photo of Public Beach No. 1. In recent years the Missouri Department of Natural Resources tested its waters for E. coli and would close the beach if counts were high. State lawmakers approved a measure in 2013 to eliminate beach closings for E. coli. Instead, the state agency posts a sign that swimming is “not recommended ” when levels are higher. (Photo courtesy of Missouri State Archives.) [3.88.114.76] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 06:56 GMT) The governor called a huge press conference vowing to improve water quality. Nixon also revealed that Department of Natural Resources failed to close beaches earlier in the summer after high E. coli readings.4, 5 Missouri state parks environmental section head Jim Yancey lost his job because the beaches remained open after he received an e-mail about the bacteria while he was on vacation. Natural Resources also released other longtime staff during the fallout.6 Amid the hubbub, water quality expert, Ken Midkiff, of the Sierra Club, filed a complaint with the state attorney general’s office. Midkiff said that agency violated the state’s open records law. The watershed alliance members and others had asked that Department of Natural Resources release the data. Democratic attorney general Chris Koster’s office said nothing illegal occurred because Natural Resources officials did not interpret the requests as “sunshine” requests, the name for the state’s open records law. “There’s no question that they sat on [the information],” Midkiff says. The area is a tremendous source of income for individual owners and the state of Missouri, but it comes with a lot of politics, he says.7 At...