Springfield NewLeader

[Phil Lilley]

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/a...EWS01/603010357

Little Sac may suffer from pet waste runoff

Department keeps eye on animals as possible cause of water pollution.

By Mike Penprase

News-Leader

It may take dogged perseverance to keep an area river clean.

Yard by yard, say officials, pet owners should pick up the pace of picking up after their pets.

Water quality experts say waste from pets and domesticated animals may be partly to blame for bacteria levels in the Little Sac River that are sometimes too high for activities such as swimming and wading.

Some pet owners have a head start in preventing runoff pollution.

Cleaning up after Chopper and Peanut is routine for Miccie and Michael Sylvester.

They want to keep their yard an attractive and clean place for their children, so there's no room for dog droppings. Part of the couple's yard work involves scooping up after their dogs.

The Sylvesters live on North Main Avenue, a section of Springfield where storm water flowing north ends up in the Little Sac River.

Although the Sylvesters clean up after their dogs, there's suspicion people who don't may be contributing to high bacteria levels in the river.

Levels are so high that the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has formed a plan to make the river cleaner.

City and state employees say there are no plans to force people to clean up after their dogs, but they hope that encouraging people to do so could keep the river cleaner.

Dogs, though, may be only part of the problem.

The river's watershed is also home to horses, but some of their owners aren't so sure horses are polluting the rivers.

Genetic science may shed some light on who the culprits are.

A study by the University of Missouri's Food and Agricultural Policy Institute used genetic testing to trace where the pollution originated.

That study says that contaminated springs, septic systems, wild geese and horses all contribute to high bacteria levels.

No testing was done on stormwater runoff from Springfield, however.

City senior stormwater engineer Todd Wagner said that because the plan included reducing bacteria in runoff, that was one gap he'd talk about when he meets with DNR representatives.

"They did a lot of work here, but there are some gaping holes, as you read that study," Wagner said.

Just how much pollution is because of pets is open for debate.

"If pets were only a very tiny percentage, I don't know if establishing an ordinance would make much of a difference," Wagner said.

Instead of telling people what to do about their pets, the effort focuses on encouragement.

One of the more visible efforts is in several Springfield parks, where "DogiPot" stations have been installed.

So far, said Parks and Recreation Director Jodie Adams, the stations providing plastic bags and gloves that dog walkers can use to clean up after their animals have been patronized well.

Because the first stations placed at Phelps Grove, Sequiota and another park are near creeks, the "neighborly" message is to keep droppings from washing into them.

A total maximum daily load plan would set limits for pollutants going into the river and would outline how the river would be cleaned.

The designation is intended to reduce pollution in a stream to levels that don't affect water quality.

In the case of the Little Sac daily load plan, that would mean reducing bacteria to a level of 200 colonies per liter of water during a recreational season running from April to October.

DNR water quality specialist Mary Clark is overseeing the Little Sac plan. She said horse owners might be expected to do more to keep the river clean.

There's little room for arguing about the role horses play in introducing bacteria into the river, Clark said, because the Food and Agricultural Policy Institute's research is close to conclusive.

The research concludes that the city's Northwest Sewage Treatment Plant contributes only a small percentage of the total amount of bacteria in the river.

Some horse enthusiasts question the study, especially the finding that horses cause more contamination than cattle.

"Empirically, it just doesn't hang right for me," said Gail Gartside, a horse owner and a board member of the Show Me Back Country Horsemen.

"Yes, we think everybody should be conservation-minded, but we want to make sure we examine those items," she said of the testing. "We are interested in examining anything that indicts horses."

Equestrians have sent in comments questioning the role horses might play in polluting the river, but Clark doesn't think there's much room for argument.

"We got a letter from the horse people saying they just didn't think it was horses," she said. "The horse people, I think, they're a little naive."

Just as parks play a role in encouraging people to clean after their dogs, a new park will play a role in educating people about keeping their horses environmentally friendly.

The parks department is working with the Watershed Committee of the Ozarks at Valley Water Mill to include a water quality center where best management practices on preventing water pollution will be showcased.

The purchase of a nearby horse farm will do the same for horse owners.

Special programs director Marla Calico said that one of the equine center's roles would be to show how manure treatment and caring for pastures could affect water quality.

Contaminated water from springs that flow into the river could be the hardest problem to address, Wagner, Clark and others say.

Along with recommending reducing bacteria by controlling urban runoff and wild geese, the proposed cleanup plan based on the Food and Agricultural Policy Institute study would reduce pollution from springs.

The difficulty is that although major springs in Greene County have been studied, not as much of that work has occurred in Polk County.

"It's the spring issue that really needs to be resolved through testing," Clark said.

The Watershed Committee of the Ozarks has used grant programs to finance work with landowners in Greene and Polk counties for several years on projects to reduce pollution.

The committee wants to continue that cooperative approach, Watershed executive director Loring Bullard said.

Enacting a daily load plan for the Little Sac is an opportunity for the organization to seek more grants, he said.

But future efforts should concentrate on a small area to determine what pollution-control efforts are most effective, he said.

The Little Sac watershed encompasses some 4,000 square miles, and it isn't practical to carry out projects covering the whole watershed, Bullard said.

The daily load proposal is also being questioned in Polk County by people like 79-year-old Ralph Brumley.

Brumley, who owns 800 acres bordering the river just south of Morrisville, has voluntarily fenced his land near the river to keep cattle out of the water.

He is also leaving land bordering the river alone so trees can grow, and he has devoted some of his bottom land to a tree farm.

He said he wanted to take care of the river, but on his own terms.

That's likely a stance other Polk County landowners will take, Brumley said.