Missouri’s streams are not open sewers
By KEN MIDKIFF
Published Friday, August 1, 2008
(http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Aug/20080801Comm003.asp)

Flat Branch doesn’t exist. That’s according to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and its policy-making body, the Missouri Clean Water Commission. Neither does Brush Creek, which flows through Crown Center Plaza in Kansas City. Same with River Des Peres in St. Louis. And similar streams in Springfield, Joplin and other cities in Missouri. These nonexistent streams total about 80,000 miles.

Or at least these don’t exist as far as protection of water quality goes, for they are "unclassified." There is that portion of the federal Clean Water Act referred to as the "free from" section, which basically says all waters are to be free from litter, debris, stink, excessive bottom deposits, excessive algae and so forth.

However, this is hardly ever enforced, mostly because all of the "free from" things have no standards but rather depend on a subjective assessment of what constitutes "excessive" or what stinks.

While the state does have the authority to grant permits to discharge pollutants and to impose conditions that limit how much of any one pollutant the discharger may dump into a creek, the state does not require such a permit for nonexistent "unclassified" streams. So, while there are some alleged "free from" standards, when it comes to polluting Flat Branch or Brush Creek or River Des Peres, DNR looks the other way.

Now, just to add insult to injury, DNR is poised to remove major protections from streams that it acknowledges do exist. Under the guise of a Use Attainability Analysis or UAA, about 70 creeks - including the North Fork of the Grindstone in this area - DNR is set to remove what is called "primary whole body contact." Alleged "environmental firms" under contract with sewage treatment plants or districts are doing these UAAs.

Ignoring the fact that skinny people and little kids can be submerged in less than 6 inches of water, DNR uses the standard set by the Clean Water Commission and removes all stream segments that don’t have an average "hole" depth of half of a meter - about 20 inches.

There’s no doubt that a person with a beer belly might require 20 inches to get that large gut under the water. And, no doubt, it does require relatively deep water to go swimming. But the federal Clean Water Act doesn’t even mention swimming, but rather sets a goal that all waters of the United States support "recreation in and on the water." Little kids don’t like deep water, but they’ll lie down in riffles that have only a few inches of the wet stuff.

What does all of this mean to you and your children? Well, if "whole body contact" is removed as a designated use, germs cannot be regulated in issued permits. Sewage treatment plants won’t need to remove - through disinfection procedures - the bacterium that is in wastewater discharges that they pipe into our creeks. There have been several outbreaks of "waterborne" illnesses, and there will likely be more if kids submerge themselves in waters laden with germs.

These are our creeks - they belong to all of us. They aren’t owned by sewage treatment plants or by polluting industries. Our streams are not convenient places for them to discharge their gunk. The streams of this state are not open sewers.

But if DNR and the Clean Water Commission have their way, not only will Flat Branch be unprotected, but also so will the North Fork of Grindstone Creek and about 70 other streams throughout the state.

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Somehow, DNR lost its way. Rather than protecting natural resources, water quality and the public health, the department seems to be protecting polluters. That ain’t right.