Not Good News as to the Health of the Rivers

[WebFreeman]

I know at one time Todd Parnell, whose family has a long Branson history, was treasurer. I don't know if he still is.

He is an interesting project they did with Bradleyville. Does anyone know how that turned out? It had to do w/ replacing septic tanks at no charge to citizens.

http://www.news-leader.com/springfield/spe...eyvilleone.html

[Terry Beeson]

DANG I need PowerPoint at home... I could get the presentation that would be of interest to some chambers together a lot sooner. Might even be able to present it... (Hard to get me to open up and say anything as you all well know...)

[WebFreeman]

Ok, last link, I promise. This looks like a list of all the land-care not for profits in the SW MO and NW Ark w/ contact info. Some of you may be involved w/ these groups already. If so, sorry for the redundancy. www.nrcs.usda.gov/Programs/rcd/pdf_files/landcarearticle2.pdf

[taxidermist]

Stop and think about what the real problem for the rivers are? Its not the farmer, its not the rancher its not even the chicken grower!!!

It is us so to speak.

You run down to Home Cheapo or some other store and buy a bag of Scotts turf grow or some other high powered fertilizer.

You dont read the directions just joe blow down the road uses it and his yard looks good.

Noone take soil samples into the local County Agent office for testing!! The reports show less than 1% of the home owners use this free or almost free service.

The bag says it will treat 15,000 square feet, noone measures their own yard, they just assume its that big and the home owner puts the whole bag on their yard.

Now we have the fact there are no buffers to help slow and catch this toxic mess. it runs to the street, to the storm sewer and right into the streams.

There is some stats available that you can google it

www.epa.gov/twg/2003/proposals/upper_white.pdf

www.adeq.state.ar.us/poa/forums/white_river_0011/gen_session_present.pdf

www.mo.nrcs.usda.gov/news/news/5th%20Edition%20of%20NL%20Nov%2006.pdf

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=n...amp;btnG=Search

Anyway here is the links do the reading.

[RiverRunner]

Taxidermist,

That is a good point. I imagine the stuff used to make synthetic fertilizers could peel paint off of your car.

[Crippled Caddis]

Interesting point Taxidermist. I feel if we ever do learn what ails our waters that we will find that petro-chemical fertilizers are a far more responsible factor than poultry wastes. Poultry wastes are, after all, a natural product while petro-chemicals are a total question mark.

However recent research indicates that a newly pinpointed contaminant may have more far-reaching effects.

In an article <http://berkshireflyfishing.blogspot.com/2007/01/edc-pollution-in-idaho-waters.html>

found on Berkshire Fly Fisher's News Service it is said:

<EDCs (endocrine disruptor compounds) are found in herbicides and pesticides, plastics, pharmaceuticals, residues from contraceptives and hormone replacements, cleansers, human waste and pollution from feedlots.>

<Now, scientists have evidence that some of these EDCs, called xenoestrogens, might cause conditions such as testicular cancer, urinary tract birth defects, low sperm counts and the premature onset of menses in females.>

<"The dirty little secret in all this is that almost 90 percent of all pharmaceuticals manufactured in this country are made for agricultural use, and they're disposed of inside a watershed," Finch says.>

<Jack Williams, a senior scientist for Trout Unlimited, says in an e-mail that his organization has been "asking EPA about what they are doing with endocrine disrupting chemicals, but can't get a reply from them.">

<Aquatic biologists noticed that wild fish and frogs evidenced significantly increased rates of sex reversal, gonadal cysts and other reproductive tract tumors, dead tissue and decreased fertility.>

It also hints that EDCs may be responsible for decreased fertility and erectile disfuntion in human males. That would certainly explain the unadmitted epidemic that is indicated by the explosion of 'Male Enhancement" drug advertising everywhere you turn.

But read the entire article. And have a tranquilizer handy. CC

[WebFreeman]

Do you any of you in Ark. no Jerry McKinnis? I noticed he's retiring from The Fishin' Hole, but his production company does a lot of those shows on ESPN2. I would think a celebrity in the outdoor world like him might help get some pub. Plus, the state is a sponsor of his show touting it as a outdoor rec. spot.

[Danoinark]

I may not have much to give but my time on this effort, but I can give that for sure.

RiverRunner, and that is the most important. I appreciate that gesture from you and others here.

Dano

[David Bolin]

I would be interested in participating in a grass roots water quality improvement effort. However, I'm not particularly interested in a strategy that depends almost entirely on lawyers and law suits. That may be necessary at some point, but maintaining a man made trout fishery probably isn't going to be sufficient grounds for a suit. Everyone that has a vested interest in a clean water system from Fayetteville to the Mississippi will have to be on board to accelerate improvements with legal action (e.g. cities water systems, boat dealers, lake resorts, river resorts, etc...). Our fishery is a small player in the big picture. But there's got to be something we can do to move water quality up the priority list at the state capitol.

I'm way over my head on this particular subject. But I've read multiple times on John's board and again in this thread that no sedimentation studies have ever been done on the lakes. Maybe that's the place to start. How could a group organized by Davy and others get a study done? Take a look at this link:

http://www.epa.gov/owow/lakes/kezar.html

Maybe that would be a place to start.

db

[RiverRunner]

An intersting read. I would be curious to see how this process would work on a larger lake like Bull Shoals or Norfork. The main factor I would think would be to increase the quality of water that is coming into the system, in other words, tougher water quality regs when it comes to runoff. Also, David has a good point, this organization does not need to lawyer up right away, maybe later, but not right away. We first need to educate stakeholders to the benefits of improved water quality, and get them on board before any kind of legal action commences.