Shitstorm Hits Lake of the Ozarks
|Behold the miracle of the green screen|
When a severe thunderstorm causes a power outage in the Ozarks, on the other hand, several thousand gallons of raw sewage end up spewing into the state's primary boating and swimming destination.
According to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, the sewage spill happened Sunday night when a lift station at Lake Ozark lost power, "allowing wastewater to back up and eventually flow into an unnamed tributary of the Osage River."
Here's the official version from the DNR:
The overflow began at approximately 4 p.m. and continued until approximately 5:30 p.m.An estimated 2,500 gallons of raw sewage seeped out during the power outage.
City crews cleaned and treated the ground over which the wastewater flowed before reaching a ditch that eventually reaches the Osage River. The rain that accompanied the storm system mitigated the impact of the spill on the waterway, rendering an on-site investigation impractical.
The department considers discharges of wastewater from sanitary sewer collection systems to be potential threats to public health and the environment. Such discharges have the potential to contaminate lakes and streams, causing serious water quality problems.