Shoal Creek Watershed Improvement Group

The Joplin Globe, article in today's paper, Cash Flow Into Creek, describes the award of $224,000 from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) to the Shoal Creek Watershed Improvement Group. Drew Holt, who works with the watershed group, said the bacterial loading is coming from three sources. “DNA tracking during low flows and higher flows showed three primary sources. It’s one-third human, one-third poultry and one-third cattle,” he said. Property owners along the creek and its tributaries will be eligible for assistance, along with homeowners living within a half-mile of environmentally-sensitive areas, such as losing streams, sinkholes and springs, the MDNR said. The grant was funneled from the federal government to Missouri’s Water Protection Program through a Clean Water Act appropriation.

Information about the project is available by contacting MDNR’s Water Protection Program at (573) 751-1300 or Drew Holt with the Shoal Creek Watershed Improvement Group at (417) 838-1939.