E. Coli at Lake of the Ozarks

I just wanted to relay a story I saw on the Kansas City Star yesterday about Lake of the Ozarks.  The story is below:

The Missouri Department of Natural Resources admitted this week that it withheld a report about high E. coli levels in parts of Lake of the Ozarks around Memorial Day “because they were concerned about the impact it would have on tourism and the public.”

That’s what the Kansas City Star is reporting in a shocking story that portrays the DNR as more concerned about revenue in the pockets of Missouri’s lake area merchants  than they are about deadly pathogens possibly getting into the bloodstreams of thousands of boaters, swimmers, water skiiers and fisherman throughout the region.

A national clean-water expert and author said the report should have been released about May 28 when the danger was imminent, not June 26, when it was finally released with lower June samples. The spike in E. coli in one of Missouri’s most popular recreational waters was likely caused by heavy rains that washed human and animal feces into the water.

“We didn’t want to panic the people,” DNR spokeswoman Susanne Medley told the newspaper.

…. so needless to say someone should (and hopefully will) be loosing their job over this one.  It is completely unacceptable to withhold this type of information from the public.  This organization is set up to protect people, as well as the environment by monitoring our waterways.  To not report their findings because of “fear of public panic” is a total joke, and is obviously a very poorly veiled attempt to help the tourism industry at the Lake of the Ozarks.