The Missouri Clean Water Commission has approved new water quality rules that bolster protection for rivers and lakes and bring the state closer to compliance with the federal Clean Water Act.
The revised standards, voted on Wednesday, set specific limits for pollutants discharged into an additional 90,000 miles of rivers and streams and 2,100 lakes and are expected to require expensive upgrades for many water treatment facilities.
Missouri went decades without assigning uses or limits for about 150,000 miles of rivers, streams and wetlands, and the commission’s vote comes 13 years after Missouri was warned by the Environmental Protection Agency that state water quality standards needed updating. Federal intervention had seemed increasingly likely, and the revised water quality rules require formal approval from the EPA. The new rules are expected to take effect next year.