LETTERS: AREA CREEKS NEED DNR ATTENTION FOR SAFETY OF PLAYING CHILDREN

To the editor:

We would like to share some information with you and ask for your help. The problems concern Juden Creek, just north of Cape Girardeau, and Hubble Creek in Jackson.

You may be aware that the Cape Rock Village sewage lagoon has caused concern during the past summer. While investigating solutions, area residents discovered that the protection which the Missouri Department of Natural Resources provides to Juden and Hubble Creeks relates to protection of warm-water aquatic life and to usage as wildlife and livestock drinking water. The DNR safeguards do not include human use of either creek. Yet these two streams are used almost daily by children as what one official has called "grade-school beaches."

When contacted, Cape Girardeau County's Health Department officials stated that they have held long-term concerns about human use of both Hubble and Juden Creeks -- particularly by children -- due to legal and allowable levels of bacteria and viruses present. Even new Environmental Protection Agency statutes do not monitor bacterial and virological levels in such streams.

We would like to request your help in remedying this situation. First, please help us alert the public that the water quality in Juden and Hubble Creeks (as well as in most small streams in our state) is not maintained at a level which makes it safe for children to play there. Parents, especially, need to be aware of this situation.

Second, please write to the Clean Water Commission. Send letters to: Ed Knight, Director, Department of Natural Resources, Clean Water Commission, P.O. Box 176, Jefferson City, Mo. 65102. Request the following two changes. First, ask for elevation to "Protected' status for Juden and/or Hubble creeks due to their high recreational usage. This status will protect the streams for both human and wildlife use. Effluent released into the streams would have to be purified.

In your letter, give examples. Tell what you have seen or done yourself, including children and adult use in or near either creek. Tell where you have used the creek or seen it in use, and how often. Relevant usages include children's play, adult gathering of bait/food, fishing, and recreational usages adjacent to the creeks, such as jogging, bicycling, bird watching, hunting, day camps, enjoyment of wildflowers, picnicking, or wildlife observation.

Second, request a re-evaluation of the classification system of Beneficial Water Uses to provide for protection of other small state streams used as recreational sites during one or more seasons of the year. Thank you for helping make our streams safer for our children.

IDA DOMAZLICKY

President

Four Seasons Chapter

National Audubon Society

Cape Girardeau