Despite Outcry, ORSANCO Commissioners Vote To Make Ohio River Pollution Standards Voluntary

Environmental groups contend that the widely-opposed change is a "gut punch" to human health and aquatic life.

The Ohio River at Rising Sun. File photo.

(Cincinnati, Oh.) - The multi-state organization which sets pollution standards for the Ohio River is making a major change after 60 years.

Commissioners of the Cincinnati-based Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission voted Thursday to relinquish its role setting pollution standards to protect human health and aquatic life. ORSANCO will instead issue non-binding guidelines for eight states along the river – including Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky – going forward.

According to the ORSANCO website, the revision “maintains ORSANCO's Pollution Control Standards for the Ohio River to protect the uses delineated in ORSANCO's Compact while providing needed flexibility for member states to utilize the Pollution Control Standards or their own rigorously developed and United States Environmental Protection Agency approved water quality criteria for Ohio River discharge permits.”

Environmental watchdogs are concerned that allowing states to withdraw from ORSANCO’s regional standards removes safeguards for ensuring individual states cannot cause harm to states downstream.

A previous effort to revise regional adherence to ORSANCO’s pollution control standards was halted in 2018 thanks to similar public outcry.

That was only a delay as it turns out. This past March and April, ORSANCO held a series of public hearings and welcomed public comment on the topic of revising its pollution control standards.

Thursday’s vote by 18 of the 20 commissioners appointed by governors from each state came despite just nine of more than 4,000 people filing public comments supporting the change.  

A representative of the National Wildlife Federation called it a “gut punch” to the five million people who depend on the Ohio River for drinking water.

“With many of our cities and towns living with unsafe drinking water, now is not the time to pull back from the regional pollution control standards that have provided the framework for regional cooperation and agreement on pollution limits. This can only lead to a race to the bottom that threatens our environment, economy, and public health,” said Gail Hesse, the NWF Great Lakes Regional Center’s water program director.

The foundation says the 981-mile Ohio River continues to face serious threats from sewage, toxic pollution, and farm runoff. The quality of the river water has already led to drinking water restrictions, fish consumption advisories, and recreation restrictions.

“States voting to dissolve regional clean water protections are neglecting their responsibility to protect the health of the entire length of the river and the people who call the Ohio River Valley home,” said Hesse. “This is a monumental step in the wrong direction.”

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