As a Missourian who appreciates clean drinking water and recreating in our many lakes and streams, I ask you to not advance HB 1691 and SB 981, which seek to redefine "waters of the state". These bills would legalize pollution of many of Missouri waterways and groundwater systems, create great uncertainty in jurisdictional boundaries, and lead to increased costs for the state to determine if waterways are within the bounds of state jurisdiction. The legislation also legalizes the pollution of groundwater – we simply can’t afford to allow for pollution of water resources, especially when the state is in an extended drought. We should be protecting our water supply more, not less.

Every Missourian should have access to clean water. HB 1691 and SB 981 are damaging bills that serve to degrade the precious water resources of this state. I am asking for your help to stop the advancement of this destructive legislation. HB 1691 and SB 981 seek to redefine "waters of the state" in a way that will cause harm to residents and visitors of Missouri. These proposed bills would: Create more uncertainty regarding if a water falls under the jurisdiction of the Missouri Clean Water law. The current definition of Waters of the State is straightforward. The proposed definition change creates much more uncertainty because it requires a hydrologic or geologic study/determination based on amount of water flow or connection to surface water. This uncertainty will result in a substantial inability for the state to regulate many currently regulated sources of water pollution and a delayed and expensive decision-making process to determine if new sources of pollution are within the jurisdiction of the Missouri Clean Water law. Remove groundwater from being protected as waters of the state unless it can be proven that the groundwater has a connection to surface water. Determining if groundwater has a connection to surface water requires a geological study. This change would cost the state time and money. Missouri’s 2023 Census of Public Water Systems, shows that over 2 million people drink groundwater from public systems. Only 1.3% of these people drink water from systems that receive groundwater “under direct influence” from surface water. It would appear that the remaining 98.7%, or 2,111,255 people in Missouri receiving public water, would have sources of water that could be legally polluted under this legislation. This does not include the thousands of people who drink from private wells, which would be at risk as well. Please do your part in serving the Missouri public by not advancing HB 1691 and SB 981.

I am writing today to bring to your attention the extreme consequences of HB 1691 and SB 981. These two bills seek to redefine "waters of the state" in Missouri, in a way that will lead to more pollution and cost time and money to the state of Missouri. These bills are a severely negative change to anyone who drinks, cooks, or bathes with water from within Missouri, swims or recreates in our Missouri rivers, lakes, and streams, fishes for sport or consumption in Missouri, owns a home on one of Missouri’s lakes, and especially have the potential to negatively impact quality of groundwater for people served by private wells. The bills remove intermittent and ephemeral streams from being protected as waters of the state. These tributaries are the beginning of larger streams and rivers, and downstream water quality is directly influenced by upstream input of pollution. Allowing pollution of the headwaters of rivers is essentially allowing for pollution of downstream waters, and therefore, allowing for pollution of waters of the state, which are intended to be a shared resource for the beneficial use of people. Many of our streams are already running low and have less ability to absorb pollutant loads. The redefinition also removes wetlands and groundwater from being protected as waters of the state, unless a connection to surface water can be determined. This determination costs time and money. Both intermittent and ephemeral streams serve as habitat for many aquatic species in Missouri, some that are species of conservation concern, for which government funded programs are working to conserve. The proposed change undermines current efforts of Missouri agencies and their mission to protect public natural resources. This change also directly undermines taxpayer funded programs to conserve water in the state, in particular the state Soil and Water sales tax, that directs millions of dollars each year for the purpose of reducing pollution of our state waterways. This tax passed by an overwhelming majority by vote of Missourians, being approved by 80% of the vote in 2016, passing in every Missouri county. Missourians have spoken clearly through their vote of this tax – Missourians want clean water and are willing to pay for it. These two bills only serve the purpose to allow for negligence to occur, at the expense of the health of every person downstream and people being served by groundwater. Water is a precious resource, we must protect more, not less. I ask that you serve the Missouri public and halt any advancement of HB 1691 and SB 981.