Clean Water In the News

By Bob Downing Beacon Journal staff writer

Published on Friday, Oct 12, 2007

Ohio was No. 1 in the United States in 2005 in excessive and illegal discharges from sewage plants and factories that polluted waterways, according to a new report.

Ohio had 1,797 such discharges in data compiled by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Environment Ohio said in its report, Troubled Waters, released Thursday.

Those excessive discharges came from nearly 75 percent of Ohio's largest facilities with federal pollution permits, the eco-group said.

A total of 217 of Ohio's 292 facilities or 74.3 percent exceeded their allowable discharge levels at least once in 2005 in data reported by the companies, the report says.

Discharges included untreated sewage, oils, cyanide and toxic heavy metals including mercury and copper.

Such discharges are ''one of the main reasons Ohio's waterways are polluted. We should be outraged,'' said Amy Gomberg, an advocate with Environment Ohio.

The 74.3 percent of facilities with violations ranked Ohio fifth in the country behind Maine (81.6 percent), Massachusetts (78.5), Rhode Island (76.0) and New Hampshire (75.9).

Those discharges should ''raise a serious red flag'' for public health and the environment, Tim Buckley said in a teleconference. Buckley is an associate professor and chair of environmental health science at Ohio State University's College of Public Health.

''By design, the Clean Water Act and the permitting process are in place to protect public and ecological health,'' he said. ''The violations documented in this report are an affront to public health. The cost of these violations is measured in human illness including cancer, neurological and reproductive disorders.''

The report does not quantify how much pollution resulted from the excessive discharges, Gomberg said.

On average, Ohio's large sewage plants and factories exceeded their permitted pollution discharges by 21/2 times the legal limit, the report says.

Ohio also had 118 plants that reported six-fold illegal discharges in 2005, the report says.

Ashtabula County had the largest number of facilities in violation at least once: 11, the report said. Cuyahoga County had nine, it said.

Area permit holders with violations in 2005 included the Summit County Department of Environmental Services with four excessive discharges to the Cuyahoga River and six to the Tuscarawas River.

The Portage County Sanitary Engineer was listed with 13 illegal discharges to Tinkers Creek, a Cuyahoga River tributary.

Medina County was listed with one excessive discharge to the East Branch of Rocky River and two to that stream's West Branch.

The city of Wooster was listed with 19 excessive discharges to the Walhonding River, and the city of Wadsworth had 23 to River Styx.

Other municipalities listed were Twinsburg, one excessive discharge; Louisville, four; Canton, one; Barberton, two; Ravenna, 30; Massillon, seven.

The area private companies listed are:

Earth Tech Inc. in Aurora was listed with nine excessive discharges to Pond Brook, a stream that flows into Tinkers Creek.

Marathon Ashland Petroleum in Canton Township, one violation.

Rittman Paperboard, Rittman, seven excessive discharges.

Republic Engineered Products Inc. in Canton, one violation.

Gomberg recommended stricter EPA enforcement and tougher state and federal laws. That includes Ohio's House Bill 235 introduced by state Rep. Scott Oelslager, R-Plain Township. It would require municipalities to report all sewer overflows to the Ohio EPA and the public. Congress is considering the Clean Water Restoration Act.

The Ohio EPA takes frequent enforcement action against dischargers and has issued $22 million in water pollution fines in the last six years, spokeswoman Linda Oros said.

The agency will try to work with companies to get compliance, may issue orders or might seek legal action against polluters, she said.

The state is also working to solve sewer overflow problems in Ohio, she said.