Man this is messed up, some heads need to be slapped or even roll for this, the Missouri DNR knew the lake was infected and they didn't tell the public
Missouri agency withheld report of E. coli reaching unsafe levels in Lake of the Ozarks
By KAREN DILLON
The Kansas City Star
OSAGE BEACH, Mo. | State officials sat for four weeks on a report that showed E. coli was above safe levels in the Lake of the Ozarks around Memorial Day.
Heavy rains in May washed the hazardous bacteria into the lake, which has since returned to safe levels. But for a month the Missouri Department of Natural Resources refused to show the report to residents who demanded to see it.
DNR officials said this week that they withheld the report because they were concerned about the impact it would have on tourism and the public.
“We wanted to make sure we understood the problem,” said Susanne Medley, DNR spokeswoman. “Business and tourism was a consideration. We didn’t want to panic the people.”
But some critics are calling the DNR’s decision to not immediately release the report a cover-up.
“We all thought something must be wrong,” said Donna Swall, executive director of a group that did the sampling May 26 at the lake for the DNR.
She said she begged state officials to release the report.
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.
“All the reasons DNR gave for not releasing the report have to do with the economy,” said Ken Midkiff, who writes and advocates for water quality in Missouri. “The Department of Natural Resources is supposed to protect water quality and the environment".
