EVANSVILLE – Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke is urging the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) not to discontinue pollution control standards for the river.
ORSANCO, an interstate commission overseeing the health of the Ohio River, is considering eliminating those standards.
Winnecke sent the commission a letter Monday opposing a proposal to eliminate its pollution control standards.
“Eliminating ORSANCO regulations could be a negative game changer for our community,” he wrote.
The move would leave regulation of what goes into the Ohio up to the states whose watersheds drain into the river and to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the federal Clean Water Act.
The commission is considering the change as part of its regular review of those standards, which it does every three years. Monday was the last day comments were accepted on the proposal. The commission will vote at its next meeting, Oct. 4, in Lansing, West Virginia.
Opponents of the idea worry it would eliminate some added protections not currently required by states and weaken its role in holding states and polluters accountable in some cases.
In his letter, Winnecke wrote: “Evansville is located at Ohio River mile marker 791, well downstream from the river’s origin. Therefore, upstream water quality is very important to our city. The Ohio River is an amazing asset for Evansville. It serves as our water source, but also as a vital recreational venue and picturesque front door.”
Water quality in the Ohio has improved greatly but the river remains threatened by raw sewage discharges from combined sewer overflows during wet weather, urban and agricultural runoff, and toxic chemicals and pollutants from companies with water pollution permits.
Indiana and Kentucky both have consumption advisories for the numbers of fish that can be safely eaten from the Ohio River due to pollutants such as PCBs and mercury. About two-thirds of the river, including Indiana and Kentucky, are not safe for swimming and recreational uses, according to ORSANCO.
The Clean Water Act made it illegal to discharge pollutants into the nation’s navigable waters without a permit. However, the EPA largely left it up to states to issue and enforce these permits.
Before the Clean Water Act or the EPA came about, the eight states with watersheds draining into the Ohio created ORSANCO, with commission members appointedby each state and the federal government.
Six of those states border the river along its 981-mile course, including Indiana and Kentucky.
Jason Flickner, director of the New Albany, Indiana, based group Lower Ohio River Waterkeeper, praised Winnecke’s letter: “Mayor Winnecke recognizes the drinking and recreation water Evansville residents enjoy will be less protected from other state’s pollution without ORSANCO’s rules.
“Business and community leaders near Louisville Waterfront Park and the Ohio River Greenway should also speak up opposing ORSANCO’s proposal to eliminate pollution standards in order to protect the investment that’s bringing the public back to downtownbusinesses and river front events.”
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