News Release No. 367

MISSOURI CLEAN WATER COMMISSION ADOPTS RULE
AMENDMENTS FOR CLEANER STREAMS

Volume 33-367

Contact: Kerry Cordray

(For immediate release)

573-526-4220

JEFFERSON CITY, MO, SEPT. 7, 2005 -- The Missouri Clean Water Commission adopted a Final Order of Rulemaking today amending state water quality standards and effluent regulations to designate more than 96 percent of Missouri's classified stream miles for "whole body contact recreation" use. The rule changes will add bacterial standards to protect swimming uses for about 16,000 miles of Missouri streams and 300 lakes, in addition to those already protected. Those bacterial standards were previously required on only 5,500 miles of Missouri streams.

The changes add whole body contact recreation use designations to all classified water bodies not currently designated for whole body contact, except where it has been shown that no swimming uses occur and stream characteristics make any swimming highly unlikely. Based on those criteria, the rule changes remove whole body contact recreation use designations from fewer than 150 of more than 3,700 classified streams in Missouri.

To protect stream users, nearly 850 wastewater treatment plants throughout Missouri that were not previously required to disinfect their discharges will be required either to add new bacterial controls or show that their discharges will not cause any violation of the bacteria standards on the stream receiving their discharge. The commission amended the compliance schedule in the proposed rule to require each permitted facility to achieve compliance with the rule within five years of the next renewal, significant modification, or first issuance of its operating permit, and no later than 8 years after the effective date of the rule. The rule is expected to become final on or before April 30, 2006.

The Clean Water Commission is promulgating this rule to satisfy concerns expressed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2000. The rule will prevent EPA from promulgating federal standards for the State of Missouri.

Following adoption by the commission and approval by the Joint Commission on Administrative Rules and the Secretary of State's Office, the amended rules will be submitted to EPA for its approval and implementation.

For more information, call the Missouri Department of Natural Resources at 800-361-4827 or contact the Water Protection Program at 573-751-1300.

For news releases on the Web, visit www.dnr.mo.gov/newsrel. For a complete listing of upcoming meetings and events in the state park system, visit the online calendar at www.dnr.mo.gov/calendar/search.do.

###

NOTE TO EDITOR: This version was amended to clarify the amount of time treatment plants have to make the changes called for in the amendment (paragraph #3).