JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Democratic state senators are calling for real-time, water-quality tests and denouncing a Republican investigation of problems at the Lake of the Ozarks as a "political witch hunt."
Three Democratic members of a Missouri Senate committee issued a rebuttal Monday to a Republican-authored report provided to the media last week.
The Senate committee began an investigation last year after revelations that the Department of Natural Resources delayed publicizing high levels of E. coli bacteria in the Lake of the Ozarks.
The committee's report recommends transferring water quality testing to the health department. Democrats said that idea needs more study. They said DNR lacks enough money to ensure good water quality.