Location: Taney County is located in southwestern Missouri and within its boundaries lay Table Rock, Taneycomo, and Bull Shoals Lakes along with more than 70 rivers and streams. Taney County has a total area of 652 square miles of which 632 square miles is land and 19 square miles is water. The county is drained by the White River and its tributaries.

Mission Statement: Therefore, be it known to all good citizens of the beautiful County of Taney, that the pollution of the water of this County is unacceptable, a threat to public health and wellbeing, aids in the creation of public nuisance, harms fish, wildlife, and aquatic vegetation and life, impairs economic, agricultural, domestic, recreational, and other important uses of water; and so, therefore, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of this County through the political subdivision entitled the Taney County Regional Sewer District to conserve the waters of this County and to protect, maintain, and improve the quality thereof for public water supplies and for economic, domestic, agricultural, recreational and other beneficial uses, and for the enhancement of fish, wildlife, and aquatic vegetation and life.

Objectives: The Taney County Regional Sewer District is empowered by law toestablish rules and regulations governing the installation, management, and operation of sanitarysewer systems serving residential and commercial structures within the boundaries of theDistrict. The Taney County Regional Sewer District shall have all of the powers necessary andconvenient to provide for the construction, operation and maintenance of its collection andtreatment facilities and the administration, regulation, and enforcement of its pretreatment program.

Taney County voters approved the formation of the sewer district, with the boundaries constituting all of Taney County, Missouri, at a Special Election held on Tuesday, November 8, 1983. The ballot results were 2,365 "yes" votes and 1,334 "no" votes. Subsequently, the Taney County Regional Sewer District was formed under Missouri State Statute Chapter 204.

The proposition presented to the voters at the Special Election in 1983 was brought about at the request of the Taney County Court (now Taney County Commission). The Commission petitioned the Taney County Circuit Court to create a common sewer district, suggesting that it comprise the entire Taney County watershed and also suggesting that it be named Taney County Regional Sewer District.

The Circuit Court then appointed a special commission of three people who were given the task of defining the boundaries of the proposed district. The special commission fulfilled their duties per state statutes and their report is recorded in Book 263, Page 606, at the office of the Taney County Recorder.

The issue was then submitted to the citizens and in the subsequent special election, the voters approved the proposition. As a result of that election, the Circuit Court of Taney County on December 15, 1983 issued a decree incorporating the sewer district as the Taney County Regional Sewer District and set its boundaries to encompass all of Taney County.

The Circuit Court Decree of December 15, 1983 also ordered that the Taney County Commission would be responsible for appointing five people as Board of Trustees to control and operate the Sewer District.

The first Board of Trustees was established, per State Statute 204.322, by the County Commission, on January 3, 1984.

Each board member is appointed to a five-year term. The terms are staggered so that one board term expires on December 31st of each year. The retiring board member may be reappointed for a new five-year term or a new board member may be appointed.

The current Board of Trustees hold regularly scheduled meetings on the third Tuesday of each month at 9:00 a.m. in the conference room of the District's office building at 6733 E. State Hwy 76, Kirbyville, MO.

From the date of establishment until 1993, the Sewer District mainly served as a regulatory agency. The District provided approval for onsite septic systems, developer built projects, investigated complaints, and provided inspections of the private package treatment plants, which at the time there were about 140 throughout the county. The District also took monthly samples from county lakes and streams and sent them to Springfield for testing.

In 1993, the County Commission approved funding in the General County Revenue operating budget for a Water Quality Laboratory. This enabled the Sewer District to purchase equipment and supplies for the testing of water and provided the District with the opportunity to offer Taney County residents the service of testing private and public drinking water. This also enabled Sewer District staff to perform the actual testing of the samples they collected from the area's lakes and streams.

Another change in 1993 that affected the Sewer District was the approval by Taney County voters of a One-half Cent Sales Tax to be used specifically for wastewater capital improvements.

Currently the tax generates approximately $8,000,000 annually, which supports the District's capital improvements in the unincorporated areas of Taney County.

At the beginning of 2012, the Sewer District began its first year operating as a separate political entity from Taney County. The Utility portion of the District is supported by service fees collected from sewer system users and other revenue sources such as capacity fees, grinder pump impact fees, and inspection fees.

The annual operating budget for the District is $2.0 million and several million dollars in capital improvement projects per year.

The District has 11 employees and its own in-house GIS and Asset Management Program as well as a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system. The staff consists of an administrator; utility supervisor; administrative assistant; two accounting/billing personnel; four field personnel; and an IT/Project Manager.

The District has used the county's share of the sales tax dollars to design and construct six sewage collection systems and over eighty-five (85) miles of sewage collection mains. The District serves approximately 3,800 residential structures and around 178 commercial customers.

Since the District's first project, which was in the Short Creek watershed, the District has constructed the Lakeshore, Holiday Hills, Coon Creek, and Poverty Point collection systems. Wastewater from these systems is treated at the City of Hollister Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The collection lines consist of gravity, force main and small diameter pressure sewers. The District maintains 31 lift stations which range from 15 hp duplex stations to 200 hp quadplex stations as well as 673 low-pressure grinder pump units. The maintenance duties for the grinder pumps include answering service calls and replacement and total rebuilding of the pumps.

The District continues to make improvements to and extend the service areas of these systems through various projects. Some examples of these improvements are:

Over the years, the District has entered into agreements and purchased capacity in various area treatment plants. Through these agreements, the District currently owns 150,000 gallons per day of capacity in the City of Rockaway Beach's Regional Sewer Plant; and approximately 2.06 million gallons per day of capacity in the City of Hollister Treatment facility; and 190,000 gallons per day in the City of Forsyth's wastewater treatment facilities.

The District has constructed some facilities such as the Bee Creek System, Table Rock Acres, Damsite/Spring Creek, and Meadow Ridge and turned them over to the respective community for operation and management. The District has applied for and received numerous grants and loans for many of its projects, including securing funds through an SRF loan for the Bee Creek System which is now operated by the City of Branson.