LMVP Data Presented to House of Representatives
Interim Committee on Water Quality

update - download the Committee's Final Report HERE

LMVP data was at the center of a presentation I gave to the House of Representatives Interim Committee on Water Quality Issues on October 24th in Branson. Thanks to David Casaletto of Table Rock Lake Water Quality Inc. (and a fellow LMVP volunteer!), we were invited to testify. The 14 member committee is chaired by Rep. Dennis Wood of Kimberling City and is charged with examining water quality issues as they relate to economic development. The committee spent several days learning about water quality issues around Missouri and hearing testimony. Several groups and citizens who are involved with (or concerned about) water quality gave testimony at the Branson meeting.

This was a great opportunity to get YOUR data in the spotlight. In my presentation I showed a graph that related James River phosphorus concentrations to effluent from the Springfield Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant. It seems that as Springfield has been removing more phosphorus from their sewage effluent, phosphorus levels at Table Rock Lake, site 3 have also decreased. Site 3 on Table Rock Lake is at the confluence of the James River with the main lake. This is a good sign and we will be keeping an eye on this site.

Other data presented was from Flat Creek, on the northern end of the James River arm, otherwise known as Table Rock Lake site 12. In mid-June, a volunteer at this site had difficulty getting water through a chlorophyll filter. It took 20 minutes for water to pass through the first chlorophyll filter, as opposed to the usual 10 seconds. A look through site 12 data from previous years revealed something interesting.

For both 1998 and 2000, the mid-June chlorophyll concentration was 40 times higher than it was in late May at this site. In 1999, the mid June concentration was 100 times that of late May. It seems this has happened again in 2003. I’ll let you know more when the 2003 Data Report is complete

The Interim Committee was also treated to a couple of photos taken by LMVP volunteers. One photograph was of debris found along the shoreline behind a volunteer’s house on the King’s River arm of Table Rock Lake. This debris included several syringes and medicine bottles, such as those that used to administer medications to animals. This stuff probably came from an illegal waste dumping site somewhere in the watershed. These same volunteers frequently pick up multiple bags of trash after a storm event.

Another photo was of an orange/brown stream that collects runoff from a suspected illegal dumping site at the Lake of the Ozarks. This stream runs into the cove where several LMVP volunteers live.

Another point I stressed to the Committee was that volunteer data, YOUR data, is quality data. LMVP data is regarded quite highly by the DNR. This is largely because your samples and filters are analyzed here at the very same University of Missouri lab used for many research and monitoring projects. This ensures that your data will be comparable to other data.

Even lake data that don’t produce exciting graphs are valuable. We use these data to establish baseline conditions. Having baseline data allows us to know what conditions to expect from a lake and allows us to detect water quality changes if they occur.

Without YOUR sampling, YOUR comments and YOUR involvement, this might all go unrecorded. All of the LMVP’s volunteers should be proud of themselves for their commitment to water quality. Your efforts are noticed and appreciated.

Tony Thorpe

Brought to you by the Lakes of Missouri Volunteer Program