Clean Water In the News

Ohio communities and industries violated federal clean water standards more often than in any other state, an environmental group contends.

Environment Ohio reported Thursday that Ohio municipal waste plants or industrial facilities combined to violate legal limits more than 1,800 times in 2005, the most recent year statistics were available.

Those 217 violators represented nearly three-fourths of a total 292 large permit holders in the state, ranking Ohio fifth in the nation for the highest percentage of polluters, the report said.

Pollutants released into streams and lakes included toxic industrial byproducts such as mercury, ammonia or copper and fecal coliform from untreated human waste. The study measured only the number of violations, not the volume or relative danger of any pollutants.

"But in Ohio, half of our rivers and streams are still too polluted for swimming and fishing," Environment Ohio spokeswoman Amy Gomberg said during a news conference Thursday in Columbus. "Not that we should be surprised by that. But we should be outraged."

The group's "Troubled Waters" report was a follow-up to its May report that Ohio waterways had taken billions of gallons of untreated sewage, also in 2005.

Gomberg blamed Ohio's poor numbers on lack of Ohio Environmental Protection Agency oversight because of staff and money shortages.

"It's up to the EPA to enforce these permits, and so far it's unclear if they're taking action to hold these polluters accountable," she said.

Ohio EPA spokeswoman Linda Oros said that the agency helped Environment Ohio get its statewide figures and did not contest their accuracy, but that the report requires some context.

"What's not said is that we assessed more than $22 million in fines for surface water violations between 2001 and 2006," Oros said.

She said Ohio, which has more than 3,000 discharge permits on file, was also one of only a few states that filed reports to the U.S. EPA on all of its permit holders, which may have driven the numbers higher.

"And we've made efforts to step up enforcement," she said. "But we also go through a series of steps to get companies and cities in compliance because the legal route is also the most expensive and time consuming."

Thursday's report ranked Ohio ahead of Pennsylvania, New York, Texas and California as the worst five for total number of violations.

The Troubled Waters report was also rolled out this month to coincide with the 35th anniversary of the passage of the federal Clean Water Act and ongoing congressional debate over details in its renewal, known as the Clean Water Restoration Act.

The proposal has been introduced in both houses. Some have applauded it for reaffirming the original intent to protect U.S. waterways from unregulated pollution, while others have said they are dubious that it may unduly expand federal regulatory authority.

To read the new 97-page report, go to www.environmentohio.org/reports. Other state chapters of the environment group released similar reports elsewhere.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
mscott@plaind.com, 216-999-4148

Click Here to read the story on the Plain Dealer's website