PANEL FORMED TO PROTECT GROUNDWATER

When Jonell McNeely heard about the Groundwater Foundation in Nebraska, she was interested immediately.

A sanitarian with the Cape Girardeau County Health Department for seven years and a Missouri Department of Natural Resources employee before that, McNeely has been involved in protecting Missouri's groundwater supply for a long time.

The foundation was looking for communities throughout the United States to form Groundwater Guardian Committees dedicated to the conservation of water through education, not regulation.

Martha Vandivort, state water chairperson for the League of Women Voters, asked McNeely to attend a Groundwater Foundation meeting near Washington in November 1994. McNeely saw what other communities were doing to educate people about keeping groundwater safe.

She said the foundation was particularly interested in having Cape Girardeau County join because of its Karst topography -- a kind of land that lends itself to sinkholes and special problems with groundwater.

Beginning Sept. 1, Missouri will have a small amount of influence on how sewer systems utilizing groundwater are constructed. However, Vandivort said it isn't enough.

"You can regulate people, but if everyone doesn't obey, it will not matter," she said. "If people become educated, they won't be able to help but care about water conservation."

McNeely noted that two rural residents of Cape County weren't educated about the best well drilling. While one of their neighbors' wells was protected all the way to the good drinking water, found deep in the ground, these two residents' wells were not.

Sewage made its way through soft rock and into their drinking water. McNeely's tests on the water showed a high level of bacteria.

Besides McNeely and Vandivort, other members of the committee are Harold Landgraf and Randy Norton, members of the Missouri Rural Water Association, and Frank Wideman, with the University of Missouri Extension in Perryville.

The group is looking for a professional well driller to join. Members are available to speak with organizations.