MCE advocates for nutrient pollution protections on our lakes, rivers, and streams. MCE settled a lawsuit on 12/7/16 against the USEPA compelling the Agency to develop numeric water quality standards for Missouri lakes by 12/15/17. Read more here. EPA published their draft standards on 12/18/17 which were officially published in the Federal Register on 12/27/2017. They offered two proposals, one…
Read MoreMissouri’s Water Quality Standards
The Clean Water Act (303(c)(2)(a)) states “water quality standards shall serve the purposes of the [Act] and consider the use and value for public water supplies, propagation of fish and wildlife, recreational, agricultural, industrial and other purposes, and … navigation.” The CWA requires states to develop Water Quality Standards (WQS) for all classified waters. Water…
Read MoreMissouri’s Impaired Waters
Every two years, each state is supposed to list all of its streams and lakes that fail to meet water quality standards, along with the pollutants that are causing the impairments. The list (known as the “303(d) list” for the section of the Clean Water Act that requires it) is intended to spur states to…
Read MoreMissouri’s Unclassified Waters
What are unclassified waters and why are they important? More than forty years after passage of the Clean Water Act, Missouri ’s unclassified waters are not even receiving the minimal protections required by the Act. Missouri ’s creeks and streams are critical parts of our large river systems. As feeder streams for our big rivers, they…
Read MoreWatershed 101
Are you a committed to protecting your watershed? Welcome to Watershed 101 where you can learn the basics of watershed function, how you can improve the health of yours, and pledge to be a Watershed Warrior! Watersheds are extremely important to the environment as well as the surrounding community. They include the water we use for…
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What’s Up with Watersheds?
What is a watershed? Why is what we do on land crucial to clean water? A watershed includes all of the life-sustaining connections and interconnection that provide us with clean, usable water. The most fundamental of these connections is the mutual relationship between land and water. Every land area drains into a water source which means…
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