It’s that time again.

The Parks, Soil and Water (PSW) Sales Tax will appear on the Aug. 4 ballot this year as Amendment 1. The amendment, which appears on the ballot every 10 years, gives voters the chance to renew the one-tenth-of-one-percent sales tax that benefits Missouri State Parks and the Missouri Soil & Water Conservation Program.

In 2025, the tax generated about $140 million, revenue split evenly between the park system and the soil and water program.

Ten years ago, the amendment passed in every Missouri county. But this year, we have an inconsistency that begs for attention, because the PSW sales tax amendment could present Barry County voters with a conundrum.

In 2016, the last time the amendment was on the ballot, the land-application of untreated, industrial meat-processing sludge was not a common practice in our county. Since then, land-application has ramped up, and multiple permit applications to apply the noxious brew to Barry County farmlands are now pending with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

The DNR has oversight of both the parks system and the soil and water conservation program, entities that directly benefit from the PSW sales tax, which people like you and me pay when we buy groceries and other goods.

State parks receive about 75% of their operating budget from the state sales tax, while farmers benefit from cost-share reimbursements from the soil & water conservation program.

The mission of the Barry County Soil and Water Conservation District, one of 114 in Missouri, is exemplary. It includes partnering with farmers to implement practices to prevent soil erosion and protect water quality. Farmers who sign contracts with the organization receive cost-share reimbursements from the state, courtesy of the Parks, Soil and Water Sales Tax.

To be clear, the Barry County Soil & Water District does not authorize nor fund the land-application of sludge. However, some of the recipients of past cost-share reimbursements have chosen, or do choose, to land-apply sludge.

The fault for what many of us see as an inconsistency in the program lies with the state legislature for allowing the practice, and with the state DNR, for acting as though Barry County’s peculiar hydrogeology and soil can be regulated by the same standards used for northern Missouri’s fertile soil and non-karst bedrock.

Historically, agriculture and tourism have been odd bedfellows within Barry County. Never more so, perhaps, than with the inception of the land-application of sludge above our karst hydrogeology, which allows land-applied nutrients and toxins to leak downward through fissures in the bedrock, into the groundwater — in addition to running off the surface.

With its porous, soluble proclivities, karst provides rapid-transit avenues for groundwater. However, karst isn’t mentioned in the DNR’s pending draft permits for industrial, land-applied sludge. In a recent DNR meeting on the topic, the mention of karst seemed to be carefully skirted around, as if Barry and other counties with karst hydrogeology aren’t relevant to farm-talk and proposed regulations. 

However, their pending rules will directly affect Barry County, and not in a good way.

A proposed rule requiring only annual soil sampling on properties where sludge is to be land-applied is a slap in the face. Actually, it’s part of the new law passed by the legislature in 2024.

A lot of sludge can be dumped on Barry County soil in a year. Even farmers who land-apply sludge know that the phosphorous contained in meat-processing waste cannot be fully taken up by the grasses grown in Barry County. Repeat applications during a year — the interval between soil samples — will result in banked soil phosphorous and dissolved phosphorous entering ground and surface waters, where it will cause excess algae.

The water quality in Roaring River Spring — in our very own state park — is in danger if the long-term, land-application of industrial residuals is allowed to happen within its recharge area. Any hydrologist will tell you the same.

My partiality for Roaring River State Park, the gem just down the hill in our backyard, is no secret. It’s home to the deepest explored spring in Missouri, and it regularly ranks within the top five most-visited of Missouri’s 93 state parks and historic sites.

We love our state park and the idea of protecting soil and water. But, being asked to vote for a sales tax that, on one hand, benefits our state park, while, on the other hand, benefits some farmers who will land-apply sludge and contaminate our state park’s water, is the height of irony.

It’s a choice we shouldn’t have to make.

Sheila Harris is a long-time Barry County resident and a sales executive and investigative reporter for the Cassville Democrat with a particular interest in environmental topics. She may be reached at [email protected].