Water management plan causes worry on county level

A group of residents spoke with Cape Girardeau County Commissioners on Thursday morning at the group's regular meeting to express concern over a state water management plan.

Missouri's Nonpoint Source Management Program was designed as part of the Clean Water Act to address pollution from stormwater runoff. Nonpoint source pollution occurs when rainfall, snow melt or irrigation water runs over land or through the ground, picks up pollutants and deposits them into rivers, lakes and coastal waters or introduces them into groundwater, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The agency also said nonpoint sources of water pollution are the leading causes of water quality degradation in the United States.

The plan is revised every five years to consider any needed updates. It was initially approved by the EPA in 1988. The most current draft plan features a few changes that Jan Farrar and other Cape Girardeau County residents say will create problems for landowners across the state.

Their biggest problem lies in the document's language. It defines watersheds -- the management of which is a key part of the newest draft -- as areas of land that catch rainfall and snow melt that drain into low-lying bodies of water. Watersheds can range from a few acres or cover a million square miles, it continues, and are sometimes difficult to delineate. The open definition could include drainage ditches that border many properties in Southeast Missouri.

The document also states nonpoint source pollution includes nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen, pathogens, clean sediments, oil and grease, salt and pesticides. Other pollutants in the draft plan include solid waste, sewage, garbage, chemical waste, biological material, rock, sand, cellar dirt and agricultural waste.

"Rock and sand? I mean, how on Earth are you supposed to stop rain and wind from moving dirt and leaves ...?" Farrar said as she addressed the commission.

The plan would particularly affect those who use land for agriculture. The nonpoint source management draft plan calls for projects such as sediment control, nutrient management and the creation of buffers and field borders as part of agricultural best-management practices.

State Rep. Donna Lichtenegger, R-Jackson, attended the meeting to discuss the plan with the commissioners. She said the Missouri Department of Natural Resources did not reach out to legislators before the end of session to discuss the plan and wrote a letter to department director Sara Parker Pauley. It specifically requests Department of Natural Resources delay implementation of the plan until the Legislature reviews it in the 2015 session.

"This plan evokes a number of concerns amongst [Missouri] farmers, municipal leaders and landowners and therefore places a critical responsibility on all General Assembly members to thoroughly review the program to evaluate its implications, far-reaching ramifications and outcomes," the letter reads.

Lichtenegger also wrote that efforts by the department to discuss the plan with legislators "would have prevented an atmosphere of distrust and skepticism."

She said other Cape Girardeau Republicans -- state Rep. Kathy Swan and state Sen. Wayne Wallingford -- also planned to reach out to Department of Natural Resources to express concerns, and encouraged the county to do the same.

Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy asked to see a copy of the letter Lichtenegger sent to the state agency to review it with other information offered to the commission during the meeting.

The nonpoint source management draft plan is available for review at dnr.mo.gov/env/Wpp/nps/mgmtplan/index.html. Comments will be accepted until Aug. 8 and may be submitted by email to greg.anderson@dnr.mo.gov and should include the sender's contact information, or by mail to Department of Natural Resources, Water Protection Program, Watershed Protection Section, PO Box 176, Jefferson City, MO 65102-0176.

srinehart@semissourian.com

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