Lead contamination in drinking water continues to be a significant concern in Ohio.
With new federal regulations to tackle the issue, local water utilities are accelerating their efforts to replace aging infrastructure.
Kevin Kappers, lead program manager for the Greater Cincinnati Water Works, explained what the changes mean.
"How EPA regulates lead and copper in drinking water changed, so all utilities are reacting to make sure they stay in compliance," Kappers pointed out. "We have already had a lead service line replacement program since 2018, but what that means for us is, we're accelerating that."
Federal Lead and Copper Rule Improvements mandate replacing lead service lines within the next decade. But concerns remain about funding and logistic challenges, especially for smaller Ohio communities with fewer resources to comply with these changes.
Alicia Smith, executive director of the Junction Coalition in Toledo, and other advocates stressed the importance of communication and transparency about lead contamination between cities and their residents.
"You have to tell families what and how this impacts their lives. If you don't do that, then no one's doing it right," Smith argued. "The intersectionality of infrastructure impacts public health, public safety and public awareness, for the benefit of environmental and economic justice."
Maureen Cunningham, chief strategy officer and director of water at the Environmental Policy Innovation Center, emphasized the hazards of lead in water systems.
"Lead is a neurotoxin; there's basically no safe level of lead in drinking water for human health," Cunningham noted. "Replacing lead service lines, and replacing all lead in our water systems, will significantly reduce and hopefully even eliminate the threat of lead in drinking water."
Jeff Swertfeger, superintendent of water quality and treatment for the Greater Cincinnati Water Works, stressed the importance of public participation in updating the systems.
"Participation by the people who own those houses that may have lead lines is really important, to get cooperation in order to get those lines out," Swertfeger explained. "A lot of our pipes are over 100 years old. There's a lot of needs in drinking water now, besides just lead."
Nationally, $15 billion in federal funding is available for lead line replacements.
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A new study by the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality found nitrate levels have continued to rise across the Lower Umatilla Basin Groundwater Management Area.
The report found about 40% of the wells tested exceed the limit of safe nitrate levels for drinking water. Exposure to nitrates can lead to blue baby syndrome, birth defects, thyroid problems and cancer, among other things.
Kaleb Lay, director of policy and research for the advocacy group Oregon Rural Action, said the state has known about the high levels of nitrate in the area for decades but has not done enough to address the issue.
"The state's approach has been basically just voluntary measures to reduce groundwater pollution," Lay explained. "Unsurprisingly, what we've seen ever since is nitrate levels continue to go up."
Lay pointed out synthetic fertilizer, liquefied manure and wastewater are the main sources of nitrate pollution in groundwater. Factory farms, including a major dairy supplying the brand Tillamook, spread their waste on Oregon fields. Lay added the contamination disproportionately impacts low-income Hispanic communities, many of whom work on the polluting farms.
Oregon Rural Action started testing wells in 2022, Lay noted, and has found disturbing levels of contamination.
"Hundreds of people were drinking water that was polluted by nitrates and had no idea," Lay reported. "They hadn't been warned about it."
A good place to start reining in the problem, according to Lay, is to collect more data. Senate Bill 747 would require farms 200 acres or larger to report how much fertilizer they use. It would allow the state to identify overuse and advise where farmers could use less fertilizer.
In written testimony, Oregon farmers opposed to the bill said they do not overuse fertilizer and are burdened by too many regulations.
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Legal action continues in efforts at cleaning up a portion of Ohio's waterways.
The Ohio EPA has been added as a defendant, along with the U.S. EPA, in a lawsuit filed by the Board of Lucas County Commissioners, the City of Toledo, and the Environmental Law and Policy Center, arguing the two agencies failed to have an effective plan to prevent dangerous amounts of phosphorus from occupying Lake Erie. Phosphorus produces cyanobacteria which appears in water as blue-green or brownish algae.
Sandy Bihn, executive director of the nonprofit Lake Erie waterkeeper, calls the EPA's control plan ineffective.
"We've got now, just in the last two years, an increase of 100,000 cattle coming into the Maumee watershed, most of it unpermitted, piles of manure on the ground here, there, and everywhere," Bihn pointed out. "You can actually physically see the manure running off into the streams."
Bihn noted commercial fertilizer phosphorus use has decreased by almost 40% but livestock is increasing and with that comes more manure runoff. She stressed the agencies being sued are more focused on the phosphorus in farmers' chemical fertilizers.
With the reduction in phosphorus, farmers are still having good yields. However, the number of livestock increases, which creates more untreated manure that seeps into nearby land and water. Excessive phosphorus pollution is joined by E. coli bacteria, pathogens, and other harmful pollutants in Ohio waterways and streams.
"About 90% of it is from runoff from the fields; agricultural runoff, and the two major sources of that are commercial fertilizer and manure," Bihn explained. "The path to reducing those harmful algal blooms is simply to reduce the sources, which is not something the programs are focusing on."
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said swallowing water, eating fish or blue-green algae supplements contaminated with cyanobacteria can damage a person's liver and central nervous system or cause death.
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The Eastern hellbender, North America's largest salamander and Pennsylvania's state amphibian, is one step closer to receiving federal protection.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing listing the species as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
Kassie Fenn, Pennsylvania student leadership and education coordinator for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, said their student leadership program's research and advocacy efforts led to the Eastern hellbender becoming Pennsylvania's state amphibian in 2019. She added protecting ecosystems and habitat for the hellbender will also protect habitat for other organisms.
"It's really important for the Eastern hellbender to make it on the endangered species list," Fenn emphasized. "Not only will it draw attention to the hellbender habitat, but it will also draw attention to fresh water habitats in general, and the importance of clean water and the impact it has on ecosystems."
Fenn pointed out the public has until Feb. 11 to submit comments. She noted the Chesapeake Bay Foundation recommends people sign onto its online letter, while high school students can draft their own. Comments can be submitted online.
Fenn highlighted the strong link between the Eastern hellbender and water quality, especially in relation to outdoor recreation.
"A lot of anglers in Pennsylvania love to fish for trout, either through fly-fishing or with their spinning rods," Fenn observed. "Trout really need those clean waterways and healthy waterways to survive and thrive, just like our Eastern hellbender. "
Eastern hellbenders can grow up to 29 inches and have been known to live 30 years. Fenn said evidence shows the Eastern hellbender inhabits certain streams, particularly in western Pennsylvania, although its historical range is much broader, extending into the southeastern United States.
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