Maybe Reschedule Your Day on the Ohio River

Planning a fun day of water activities on the Ohio River this summer? You might want to rethink this water frolic because according to an EPA report, the Ohio River is the single most polluted body of water in the United States. Ohio seems to have a bad reputation of bad river water quality, with Cleveland being pegged as a national joke decades ago when the Cuyahoga River caught fire multiple times due to pollution. The question stands, what causes the pollution in the Ohio River to make it so much worse than any other body of water in this great nation?

Areas along the Ohio River have gone through a large period of industrialization over the past century, so it comes as no surprise that the main culprit to this pollution are chemicals in connection to industry. Actually, one factory has a major effect on the issue of pollution in the Ohio River. A.K. Steel located in Rockport, Indiana, is responsible for “over 70 percent of the Ohio River’s toxic chemicals, according to the a report by the Toxic Release Inventory” (Cory). Other companies that dump mercury into the river do so by first diluting it in tanks of water, then release it into the Ohio River. This solution doesn’t make much sense because in the end, the pollutants are still being added to the river, just not as concentrated as before being diluted. As pointed out, the major issues that face the Ohio River are point source pollution from industrial dumping. Through policy and regulation this could be decreased substantially. In the meantime, however, Cincinnati Water Works has implemented a new filtration system that is supposed to filter out all of these chemicals. “This facility is specially designed in order to remove the industrial type contaminants that the gasolines, the herbicides, pesticides, and things like that. If they get into the Ohio River and they get into the water, we can remove them here with our system” (Schack). Let’s hope that this filtration system will help combat the problem of pollution on the Ohio River. Maybe reschedule that fun day on the water for next summer.

Resources:

• Cory, Caroline. “Environmental Protection Agency Calls Ohio River the Most Polluted in Country.” The News Record, The News Record, 24 Nov. 2015, www.newsrecord.org/news/environmental-protection-agency-calls-ohio-river-the-most-polluted-in/article_5d6a04a6-9304-11e5-bf5c-c70efe02bafb.html.
• “Ohio River Pollution Control Standards Are in Jeopardy: Comment by February 24.” Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, 20 Feb. 2018, ohvec.org/ohio-river-pollution-control-standards-jeopardy-comment-february-24/.
• Schack, Jennifer. “Report: Ohio River Most Polluted Body of Water in U.S. for 7th Year in Row.” WLWT, WLWT, 5 Oct. 2017, www.wlwt.com/article/report-ohio-river-most-polluted-body-of-water-in-u-s-for-7th-year-in-row/3551807.