Koster Plans Water Quality Symposium

The Missouri Attorney General is planning to bring scientists, regulators, and the governor to Lake of the Ozarks for a water quality symposium.

On Tuesday, August 17^th and Wednesday, August 18^th the AG will present protecting water quality at Lake of the Ozarks, an environmental road map for the future. Attorney General Chris Koster says over the two days a number of experts and officials will look at the long and short term.

“Short term solutions, short term challenges involve, I think, increased speciation testing. That is one of the things we’re going to be looking at and that means, is the pollution stemming from human sources or is it coming from deer and geese and other wildlife in and around the lake?” says Koster.

Koster says long term requires a broader view.

“So we go from short term solutions like that to very long term solutions. The exploration of the regional sewer system that I think ultimately has to be an answer over the next 35 years for the increasing population of the lake.”

The Attorney General says the symposium will be intensive.

“We’re going to go from about 9am to 5 pm on both days. We’re going to have scientists from the university, we’re going to have people from the Environmental Protection Agency, we’re going to have people familiar with the water quality testing regime both locally at the lake and county levels around the lake and at the Department of Natural Resources.”

Koster hopes to achieve many things but there is a priority.

“Our goal is to separate politics from policy and to focus on policy and science and get down to, what are the real answers facing the lake over the next 20 years?”

After the symposium is complete, Koster hopes to have a white sheet to present to the General Assembly. Koster hopes for local, regional, and even state solution.

“Certainly the establishment of a regional sewer district would mean that the state would have to pass a saw that puts various counties together to establish a regional sewer district to there is going to be some state involvement here but this is a multi – billion dollar resource. It belongs ate various levels, o all Missourians and all Missourians have an interest in making sure that this lake is protected and respected over the next generation.”