Missouri Lake News

Update: Lake of the Ozarks Environmental hazard

This is an update on the previous story about the untreated sewage leak into the Lake of the Ozarks:

The city of Lake Ozark has been sentenced in the case involving a sewage spill over that occurred in the fall of 2007.  According to United States District Court documents just recently filed, the small town faces a $50,000 fine and 5 years probation. The fine will be spread out in annual payments over the course of the next 5 years.

The township made its first $10,000 payment on the day of the sentencing hearing, April 22, in the state capital, Jefferson City.  Mayor Johnnie Franzeskos appeared before the judge on behalf of the city.  His appearance was mainly symbolic as he did not attempt to argue the charges and fines seeing as how the Lake Ozark Board of Aldermen unanimously accepted the terms of the U.S. District Attorneys Office plea agreement during a closed session meeting on Aug. 6, 2008.

The bilge water spill was reported in September 2007 after a lift station failed and subsequently untreated waste water flowed into Lake of the Ozarks. The spill over was investigated by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Department of Natural Resources notified the city of the leak in the pipes and the city responded to the concerns by stopping the flow.  The city did nothing however to clean up the swill that had already flown out of the broken pipe and simply noted it in its documentation of the incident.  This is the main reason the city has been charged with a crime, they made no attempt to clean up the area affected by the polluted water.

In correlation to the offense Ozark city was charged with a felony count of illegality of discharge radiological chemicals according to court documents.

Besides the fine and the probation, the city is also spending $300,000 on a sewer study in addition to upgrades and improvements to the sewer system, as a result of the spill.

All in all this is a pretty harsh penalty to hand out, but it is definitely necessary and will hopefully go a long way in influencing the city to do the right thing if a situation like this ever arises again.