Water coalition expects answer on Stockton Lake source by 2019

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BRANSON MO NEWS:

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — According to a survey of residents in 16 Southwest Missouri counties, nearly everyone agrees that investments need to be made in regional water supply and delivery systems, and infrastructure. But the vast majority of those same people are hesitant when it comes to paying for the additions and upgrades.Ninety-six percent of residents agreed to some degree that an investment is needed, but 82 percent aren’t willing to pay more than $10 per month for them, the survey found.

Those attitudes are the crux of the challenge faced by the Springfield-based nonprofit Tri-State Water Resource Coalition. The group, which was formed in 2003 with the goal of finding and securing reliable water supplies in the Ozarks, met Thursday for its annual conference in Springfield, where it presented the results of a survey it recently conducted on attitudes toward water. The theme of this year’s conference was “communicating the value of water.” That education is necessary, the group says, both because of the lack of residents’ appetite to pay more for water supplies and infrastructure, as shown by the survey, and the risk of strain that drought and population growth could put on two main sources of water for Southwest Missouri: Shoal Creek and the Ozark aquifer.”I think this really kind of shows how we need to continue with this theme of the value of water,” said Gail Melgren, coalition executive director, during a presentation of the survey results. “It’s essential to life; we literally cannot have communities without it.” “‘Someone should make an investment, that’s for sure, but it’s not going to be me,'” she said, interpreting the attitude of the responses.Some of the communities and groups represented in the coalition are Joplin, Carthage, Lamar, Webb City, Branson and Springfield, as well as Jasper County, Greene County and Missouri …



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