Past Reports
Additional Reports
In addition, the University of Missouri Limnology Laboratory’s long-term monitoring on Lake of the Ozarks (LOTO), begun in 1976, resulted in three journal articles, all published in the proceedings of the International Society of Limnology. The first paper, published in 1981, described water quality in LOTO prior to the impoundment of Harry S. Truman Reservoir. In 1988 a second study evaluated changes in water quality associated with the completion of Truman Reservoir. A final paper published in 2000 examined seasonal water quality patterns. Go to the
Lakes of Missouri Volunteers Program website to
to read a summary of these reports
May 1985
MS Thesis by Jeffrey D. Mitzelfeld
This research by Mitzelfeld in the early ‘80s clearly showed that on-site wastewater treatment posed a health-hazard to recreational users at the Lake of the Ozarks. His recommendation at that time was that wastewater be treated in a centralized plant and that effluent from said plant be discharged below the dam. Whether because of his recommendation or not, the cities of Lake Ozark and Osage Beach have followed those recommendations and a great deal of the urban load on the Lake of the Ozarks was thus removed. The city of Camdenton followed suit with a centralized plant and the cities of Sunrise Beach, Laurie and Gravois Mills are not far behind. Much progress has been made since this study of about 25 years ago.
Notes of Special Interest:
During the course of this study the mean fecal coliform concentration in the most highly developed coves was 50 times the mean concentration of that in the main channel.
The highly developed coves exceeded the state standard for recreational waters two-thirds of the sampling times. The number of times a cove exceeded the standard was in proportion to the degree of cove development.
Reference as far back as 1972 is provided showing that elevated fecal coliform concentrations result due to storm events.
During this study, large increases were noted in fecal coliform concentrations in developed coves following each of fhe season’s three main holidays.
Fecal coliform concentrations were also higher immediately after the weekend.
There were occasions when, in undeveloped coves, anchored house-boats near the sampling station resulted in fecal coliform concentrations as high as 364 mpn/ml whereas sampling stations at other locations in the cove showed no such increase.
To protect the health of the public, the author recommended that wastewater be treated in a central wastewater treatment plant and discharged below the lake. The author further states that for those areas in which discharge beyond the lake’s whatershed is not possible, then the discharge should be to the middle of the main channel.
A copy of the abstract as presented in the thesis follows:
Abstract:
“Lake of the Ozarks is a large main stream reservoir located in the Ozark Plateau of west central Missouri. The reservoir attracts an extensive tourist population and, thus, a great deal of recreational development surrounds the lake. The main purpose of this study was to determine if this development affects the water quality of the nearshore waters as measured by trophic status and fecal coliform concentrations. Twenty-nine coves representing a range of development from no development to intensive development and located in the Grandglaize-Turkey Bend region of the lake were selected for study.
The results of the study revealed that nearshore waters had more eutrophic characteristics as development of the adjacent watershed increased. Although differences in trophic status were small, they were consistent. Similar comparisions of fecal coliform data showed large increases in concentrations (up to 50 times) with increases in development. Fecal coliform concentrations were also fuund to be related to population of the lake area as measured indirectly by road use data. Fecal coliform concentrations were observed to increase dramatically during weekends and holidays when the tourist population was also higher.
This study has shown that current sewage treatment methods are not totally effective in the removal of nutrients and pathogenic organisms. If current trends in increased development continue, alternative methods of sewage treatment must be implemented if further degradation of the nearshore waters is to be avoided. Additionally, collection of fecal coliform samples for purposes of water quality monitoring may need to be scheduled during weekends or holidays in order to protect the large number of people using the lake area during these periods.”
NUTRIENTS, CHLOROPHYLL AND BACTERIAL FECAL INDICATORS
IN COVES AND OPEN WATER AREAS OF LAKE OF THE OZARKS, MISSOURI
A Thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School at the
University of Missouri-Columbia In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
Master of Science,
by REBECCA O’HEARN
May 2009
O’Hearn Thesis—notes by a layman
In these notes, abbriviaions are used thourghout as follow:
TP - total phosphorus
TN – total nitrogen
Chl – chlorophyll concentration
FC- Fetal coliform concentration
EC- E-coli concentration
BT- Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, an organism found only in the human gut
Note: the test used here for BT was DNA based and showed only presence or absence
Notes from the thesis:
Human Activities Effect:
Relationships between anthropogenic (human influences) metrics ( measurable elements) and water quality variables (TP, TN, Chl, FC and EC) were not apparent.
Proximity to Dam a Factor:
Values of all constituents tested decreased as proximity to the dam increased.
Factors Affecting Values—Rain and wind speed:
Other factors being equal, wind speed (and its accompanying wave action) had the greatest influence on ec and fc whereas rain events significantly increased these values.
Human Activities Did Affect BT Occurrence:
BT, an organism specific to the human gut, did not respond as the above, but…”…BT was positively related to a surrogate for anthropogenic activity among daily means.”
BT Could Be Marker for Human Waste Contamination Whereas EC or FC Cannot:
“These results indicate
1) conventional fecal indicators (FC and EC) often represent bacteria from soil erosion and sediment resuspension. Factors controlling these processes often dilute or obscure anthropogenic influences, and
2) relationships between BT and anthropogenic factors are not obscured by hydrologic and climatic processes, which allows detection of anthropogenic influences during circumstances when conventional fecal indicators (FC and EC) fail to detect them.”
Prior Researcher Found Development Areas Higher in FC than non-developed:
Mitzelfeld in 1981 to 1984 study found that coves had greater fecal coliform than main channel and that the fecal coliform in the coves increased as a function of the degree of cove development.
BT an exclusive human gut resident:
New research has documented Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron is largely an exclusive human gut resident and does not replicate in external environments.
RESULTS:
TP varied (over a 28 year period) in direct proportion to dam discharge.
As in prior studies, TP and TN decrease (even in the coves) as Dam proximity increases.
Nutrients nor Chl correlated with anthropogenic activity.
Heavy rain increases FC and EC (Aug 20 of 07 collection after 2.9 inches rain greatly increased the FC and EC). But BT was un-affected.
FC and EC in the Osage Arm were, on average, 4 times higher in the coves than in the main channel.
FC and EC were both higher in main channel coves than in the Grand Glaize coves but no difference was seen in BT counts.
FC and EC, like the nutrients, decreased with proximity to the Dam, but this relationship was not seen for BT
BT was increased as “metrics” decreased (metrics include “land area”, “water area”, and cove perimeter.
FC and EC correlated with one another (avg of 2 to 3 FC per EC) and inversely with Secchi depth.
If FC and EC are present, but BT is not, contamination is from non-human source (or source is not of recent origin); of the samples which exceeded stream effluent standards for EC, only one third contained BT. But on average, the BT counts increased as the FC and EC increased.
What was most compelling was the positive relationship between BT and traffic volume despite record discharge rates, high inflow, possible dilution from increased pool level, and wind speed. (traffic volume was measurement of vehicles on Hwy 54 at a specified point on a Friday prior to holiday weekend vs that on a normal week-day)
More than 3/4ths of samples showing FC/EC did not show BT:
In 2007, FC (262 detections) and BT (46 detections) were detected concurrently in 36 of 311 samples (12%). E. coli (291 detections) and BT were detected concurrently in 41 samples (13%). Therefore, 226 FC positive samples (73%) and 250 EC positive samples (80%) may have represented non-human sources of bacterial contamination or naturalized FC and EC bacteria of anthropogenic origin.
State Park cove showed contamination:
“While anthropogenic influence was not apparent in individual coves because main channel hydrology dominated cove characteristics, Cove 33 mid-reach in the Grand Glaize Arm study area was the exception. Cove 33 was undeveloped and located in a state park. This watershed, however, contains a discharge lagoon that treats septic waste from park visitors (Figure 3, Appendix 5). In 2007, this cove had the largest nutrient, Chl, and EC means of any cove on the Grand Glaize Arm study reach. The largest BT frequency also occurred in Cove 33, which confirmed there was anthropogenic loading of nutrients and EC.”
See
http://www.dnr.mo.gov/loz.htm#initiative
For the DNR website on the Governor’s initiative.
This report by DNR presents the results of the baseline phase of a study directed by Gov. Jay Nixon. These results, based on the 78 samples collected, showed the lake to be of high quality relative to chemical contamination and also, at the time of sampling, to be free of any significant contamination of a biological nature. Only two of the 78 samples showed unacceptably high counts of e-coli whereas the vast majority of samples showed very low levels of e-coli.
As expected and as shown consistently in the past, nutrient levels as indicated by the phosphorus and nitrogen concentrations continue to be relatively high in relation to EPA desired standards. A delicate balance exists between the nutrient level ideal for fish production and that causing undesirable tropic conditions.
An excerpt from the executive summary of the DNR report follows:
“…The Department collected samples at 78 points throughout the Lake to establish a baseline of the Lake’s water quality. The Department then analyzed the samples looking at an extensive range of contaminants. Sample collection and analysis were conducted according to standard procedures set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The Department found sample results indicating elevated bacterial levels at two locations. A low concentration of one Volatile Organic Analyte (VOA) -- n-butylbenzene -- was detected at one location (LC-01). Five pesticide constituents (Atrazine, Cyanazine, Simazine, hexachlorobenzene and hexachlorocyclopentadiene) were detected at very low levels at almost all sampling locations. Of these five, Atrazine was the most frequently detected, however, its levels were below the EPA water quality standard of 3 micrograms per liter. High levels of phosphorus and nitrogen were observed throughout the lake, as well. It should be noted that unseasonably cool and wet conditions during October 2009 led to atypically high flow volume throughout the sample collection…”
