Ameren’s Sioux Power Station at the confluence between the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers | Photo taken on June 3, 2019 by Derek Hoeferlin. Courtesy Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper.
Dramatic photos of area infrastructure sites and information released by Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper. Everyone should be concerned about how the recent flooding events will affect the local region’s important infrastructure, such as our drinking water supply.
Informational release from the MCW starts below.
Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper Rachel Bartels and volunteer photographers captured aerial photos of the flooded Missouri and Mississippi Rivers in the St. Louis region during three flights taken between May 28, 2019 and June 3, 2019, where they surveyed the extent of the flooding and assessed how flooded infrastructure will impact the region’s clean water.
Flooded Mississippi River near downtown St. Louis, Missouri | Photo taken on June 3 by Derek Hoeferlin. Courtesy Missouri Confluence Waterkeeper.
“The majority of our drinking water is from the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, so we wanted to get up in the air as quickly as possible to document the hazards and the potential risks to our community,” Bartels said.
Among the possible hazards are ponds storing highly toxic coal ash along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, as well as at the confluence of these two major rivers, which have seen seven major floods since 2008 and experienced three record-setting floods in the past three years alone.
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