Considering drought and future needs, experts chart course to preserve water in the Ozarks

Sara Karnes, Springfield News-Leader
·5 min read
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Around this time last year, CU was pumping additional water from Stockton Lake to refill Fellows Lake, which provides the city's drinking water.

Without water, there is no future.

Roddy Rogers, the executive director for SWMO Water, made that statement to members of local news media during a lunch break during the 12th annual Southwest Missouri Water Conference Tuesday at the Darr Center.

SWMO Water is made up of two organizations, Tri-State Water Resource Coalition and the Southwest Missouri Joint Municipal Water Utility Commission. Members include communities, water providers, and utilities from across southwest Missouri working to ensure adequate and affordable long-term water supply for more than 800,000 people.

Stockton Lake identified as a solution to addressing some future water supply needs

Studies have shown future water needs exceed current supplies by 53 million gallons per day, according to SWMO Water. Stockton Lake was identified as a solution to address about half of these future water supply needs.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Kansas City District prepared a feasibility study to assess the viability of potential water supply storage reallocation alternatives at Stockton Lake. Rogers said this task has been 15 years in the making, but may be on its way to completion within the next year or so.

"A water project like this is not a five-year or 10-year project — it's a decades long effort," Rogers said about the original request for relocation in 2007. "It's a very long process with a lot of things involved and you've got to be ahead of it."

If the Corps approves the project, Springfield and surrounding areas will be allocated a piece of storage from Stockton.

"So, if there's a bowl, we've got our slice of storage in that lake," Rogers said. "There's no guarantee of water now, obviously, we've done the studies, but if we get our storage in that lake, we can pull out of that storage until it's gone."

Water management comes with its own challenges

As Rogers referenced, there are no overnight fixes. Most of the work to manage water and provide for residents takes a long time, and memories can be short.

"There's a lot of people there now," Rogers said. "Now you have to keep refreshing that. We keep educating ... It's the nature of the beast."

U.S. Bureau of Reclamation hydrologist Alex Pivarnik discussed the the historically low water levels at Utah's Lake Powell at 25% capacity and Nevada's Lake Mead at 28% capacity during Tuesday's conference. Rogers said Pivarnik's dire presentation is a "harbinger of what can happen here."

"The fact is," Rogers added, "we've been in a drought for a while."

Elizabeth Kerby gave a preview presentation on the Missouri Department of Natural Resources Drought Mitigation and Response Plan and said the southwest part of the state is on the resilient side when it comes to drought conditions. Rogers found that encouraging.

"Springfield, in particular, did this 30 years ago, and that's why they're in good shape now," Rogers said. "But, that's why it's important (and) it's time to do it again for the next 30 years."

With the future in mind, it's imperative to act now, Rogers said.

"You've got to do things that you may not get to see the benefits of but it is going to benefit those who come after us," Rogers said.

One of the biggest hurdles comes down to costs.

"You've go to get people to pay for something that they may not benefit from, but their kids and grandkids would," Rogers said. "Ultimately, it becomes a rates issue, and the rates have to cover these different utilities or different entities, and people are going to want to know, 'What do I get out of it?' Well, we get a solid future. Those who came before us did it for us. It's time to pass it on."

The updated drought plan from DNR is set to be released sometime this month, and will include:

  • Types of droughts that may occur and their impacts in Missouri

  • Assess resiliency to drought - how prepared are water users in mitigating impacts from and responding to drought?

  • Quantifies potential economic impacts from drought

  • Examines the likelihood of drought and identifies the regions most susceptible to drought

  • Characterizes regional vulnerability to drought

  • Develops a portfolio of mitigation actions that may be effective in preventing or minimizing economic and social impacts from drough

  • Offers region-specific drought mitigation and response actions

  • Incorporate lessons learned from past droughts and includes a process to capture what actions do or do not work

Conserving water is never a wasted effort

Water is used in all aspects of life and more of it is being consumed than ever before.

"We put more water on our lawns in a day than a lot of third world families use in 60 days just to survive," Rogers said. "We're using more water different ways."

Small things like turning off the tap while brushing your teeth or shorter showers can help.

"If everybody does it, it does make an impact," Rogers added.

In the 2012 drought, several large industries made significant cuts to their water usage, which they've maintained over the decade, according to Rogers.

"You'll see the demands for Springfield since that time have not risen to the levels they were prior to that drought because of the cuts that were made, people felt they could get by with less water," Rogers said.

Sara Karnes is an Outdoors Reporter with the Springfield News-Leader. Follow along with her adventures on Twitter and Instagram @Sara_Karnes. Got a story to tell? Email her at skarnes@springfi.gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Preserving Ozarks' future water management is 'a decades long effort'