Two Missouri senators filed legislation on Thursday seeking to strip water quality testing authority away from the state Department of Natural Resources and give it to the Department of Health and Senior Services.

Sens. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, and Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, filed the bills the same day that Lager’s office released a draft Senate committee report on DNR’s decision to delay the release of water quality tests that showed high levels of bacteria at the Lake of the Ozarks last summer.

“I don’t have confidence that the department won’t mess it up again in the future,” said Lager, who headed the committee investigating the incident. “And the Department of Health and Senior Services is responsible for public health and safety.” ( source )

The more we hear about this situation, the more things that jump out at us and the more questions we have. As an example, why do people think that taking the water testing responsibilities away from one politically influenced group and handing it to another politically influenced group will make a difference?

Politics and profit run hand-in-hand and no matter WHO does the testing, when the choice between forcing business owners (local voters) to take a sizable loss in revenue or allowing (non-local) people to swim and spend money even though a slight chance exists that they may get sick from a little bacteria, well…. Which do YOU think people whose jobs depend upon political agendas will choose?

Doesn’t seem to matter WHICH agency you choose, the answer will always come out the same: Get that money.

So, in lieu of having incorruptible third party testing done, which would cost too much money and put a lot of people in government agencies out of work, the public must fend for itself if it wants to know the truth about water quality.

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• 18 Minute Bacteria Test Kit — Test kit detects E.coli, species of Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Klebsiella and many other coliform and non-coliform bacteria in 18 minutes. Excellent test for lakes, streams, ponds, rivers, etc.

• Pool & Spa Bacteria Test — Test kit detects seudomonas, Aeromonas, E.coli, species of Salmonella, Shigella, Enterobacter, Klebsiella and many other Coliform and non-Coliform bacteria in 20 minutes. Excellent test for pools & spas.

Interested in other articles related to this topic?

• Heavy Rains and Runoff Responsible for Elevated E. Coli Levels
• Dangerous Bacteria Level Cover Up?
• Water Testing Costs Money, But States Don’t Have Any!

Just before Memorial Day last year, tests showed high E. coli levels at Lake of the Ozarks. Those results weren’t made public until after a second round of testing showed bacteria levels had dropped.

The fallout for tourism and health was limited. Not so the political consequences for Gov. Jay Nixon.

Since last fall, a state Senate committee chaired by Sen. Brad Lager, R-Savannah, has held hearings into the testing failure.

It has produced useful information, most notably news that other tests showed hexavalent chromium, a heavy metal linked to cancer, in drinking water in Hannibal and Louisiana.

But the committee — indeed, the entire Legislature — is avoiding a much larger and more difficult issue: Clean water.

Missouri’s system for ensuring water quality and safety is broken and about to go bankrupt.

It’s not broken only at Lake of the Ozarks, Hannibal and Louisiana; it’s broken everywhere. ( source )

Sounds like some serious work needs to get done in that state, but where will the money come from? Clearly it sounds like a time when those responsible for polluting the water in that state (and others) step up and pay for the damage they have done in the form of fines, financial penalties and and so forth.

Yep. That SOUNDS like a good idea, but…

Each year, the state Department of Natural Resources tests water at about 350 sites; many are tested more than once.

Most of the money for those tests comes from fees on permits taken out by companies that discharge pollutants into lakes and rivers.

The fees haven’t been raised in a decade, but the cost of testing continues to rise. In 2005, lawmakers established a task force to make recommendations about the issue. It never met.

In 2007, with fees scheduled to expire, lawmakers set up another task force.

It recommended a 35 percent fee increase, with future hikes for inflation. But nothing happened until last year, when the fees were extended at their old rate for another year.

Most observers expect lawmakers to extend the fees without hiking them in the current session.

That means polluters still won’t pay their fair share of the cost for testing, and citizens still won’t be adequately protected.

If lawmakers fail to act, the testing program will be broke by July and gone entirely next year. ( source )

Ouch. So the burden to testing the water in Missouri will fall onto the shoulders of… the taxpayers, and ironically, the same people affected by the polluted water. This assumes, of course, that lawmakers will not allow the water quality testing program to (pardon the pun) wash away entirely.

Articles like this do nothing if not reinforce the notion that when it comes to guaranteeing the quality and safety of the water you drink, bathe in, swim in and use for other everyday purposes including watering your lawn and making sure the family dog or cat has something cool to drink, no one has your best interests at heart… unless you take an interest in the quality of the water yourself.

Sorry, but the days of someone else making sure your tap and well water won’t make you sick ended a long time ago. So we all pretty much have only one option right now: pay qualified water testing professionals to perform a full battery of tests every once in a while AND perform simpler drinking water tests ourselves between laboratory tests.

Otherwise we run the risk of falling through the cracks of an outdated, undermanned, soon to be bankrupt water management system.