Treating the Lower Reservoir

Missouri has given Ameren permission to treat the Lower Reservoir with a chemical, Alum, that will cause the clay that is floating in the water to drop to the bottom of the reservoir. Ameren has until Tuesday to submit a detailed report on this action. Once the reservoir is treated it should only take a few days for the water to clear. While this will not help clean up the lower river near the lodges it will make sure it doesn't get worse. The only thing that is going to help the lower river is enough floods to wash the clay down to Clearwater Lake. We had a hard short rain early Thursday morning and when I went to town yesterday at 11am the river was up at the bridge and it was muddy again, not cloudy green. So each time we have some higher water the clay will get stirred up and cloud the water, but it will also head a little further south which is good.