The Scars of Project 459: The Environmental Story of the Lake of the Ozarks

9. Modern Effort for Water Quality

CHAPTER 9 Modern Effort for Water Quality Donna Swall flutters about among Camdenton area chamber of commerce members after a breakfast meeting, shaking hands and connecting people through introductions. She’s brought a tableful of volunteers from the Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance, the group behind the modern-day push for the lake’s preservation. Among them is Mary Jo Doores, a new member who is taking notes so she can learn from Swall.1 “Oh, I want to introduce you to someone,” Swall says. “He’s helping us do something really exciting, and it’s going to make national news.” Swall, who was the group’s executive director, points me to a friendly looking guy. He’s an engineer with Schultz Survey and Engineering, Inc. A few minutes later Swall explains the exciting news for the spring ahead. Rocky Mount community on the north shore of the lake is to start work for a sewer system that will connect 220 homes while getting them off septic tanks. It’s the first phase of remedying the subdivision that is riddled with aging septic systems. “We need to hook up the sewers and put in [landscaping] and filter the storm water,” Swall says. The watershed group is helping to set up low-impact landscaping during the construction process. It’s a new approach that the group presented to the engineering and sewer companies that could make a big impact in the future when it comes to stopping erosion and pollution into the lake since the neighborhood has a densely populated shoreline. Engineers are stepping forward, and the sewer districts are helping to foot the bill along with a state revolving fund (low-interest loan) to Rocky Mount Sewer District. The project is one of the watershed group’s success stories. Swall is even more excited that previous water monitoring results can be compared with results following the project to see what kind of effect their efforts have made. “This will tell us something,” she says. Lake of the Ozarks Watershed Alliance (LOWA) started with an attempt to bring together nearly twenty state, local, and federal entities while focusing on engaging citizens. The alliance incorporated in August 2006, adding technical advisors from various government agencies and signing on more and more lake residents to lead the way. “LOWA is a proactive group of local residents formed to protect and preserve our lakes and watershed. Prevention is better than repairing problems economically, health-wise, and for safety,” the group’s website says. The watershed group’s driving force is Swall. She has owned a home in Sunrise Beach since 1981. She moved to the lake full-time in 2006. She scuba dives and is passionate about water. Her background in airline software marketing, organizing events, and helping to set up a watershed alliance in Kansas City that sent middle school children to monitor streams in a program called “True Blue,” makes her perfect for the job. Swall says the thousands of expected baby boomers moving to the lake could make it the third largest populated area in the state. “We must have a plan. It’s much easier to take a lake that is not in so bad shape and keep it healthy,” she said just two months after the alliance’s first meeting in 2006.2 The watershed alliance describes its mission as to protect, preserve, and improve the lake, its watershed, and natural resources while maintaining the economic, social, and environmental health of the area. The group is the main volunteer contingency for water sampling and the instigator of an effort to keep the lake clean. Its members provide documents and resultsforthe public, nudge volunteersintocovestocollect watersamples, and educate the public about land management to thwart erosion. Since its inception, it has sponsored events to create awareness for updating sewer systems and helping landowners combat pollution runoff into the lake. When the EPA put the Niangua on its impaired list, the alliance decided to craft a plan to try to tackle the problems affecting the water quality and get the lake section off the agency’s targeted list. 84 MODERN EFFORT FOR WATER QUALITY The group faces hurdles by way of the Ozarks’ geography, lack of regulating jurisdiction, exploding development, and second-home population. Yet while the watershed group is busy trying to improve water quality , they are also trying to play nice with the corporation responsible for the...