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Water Pollution & The Ohio River

1800s

Settlements

  • Civil War (1860s)- separated free states from slave states.
  • Underground Railroad escape routes.
  • Shipping route for coal and agricultural goods headed for major cities
  • However, due to shallow areas, goods could only be shipped during high water in the spring and fall

Construction

  • 1669 La Salle from France was the first European to ever see the river and called it 'la belle riviere' meaning the beautiful river
  • Many settlements followed
  • Early 1800s- Became the primary transportation route during the westward expansion
  • Army Corps of Engineers started projects to remove obstructions to navigation
  • Construction of dams to deepen the water (began in 1820s)
  • The wooden dams had to be replaced in the 1950s by concrete structures
  • Currently 18 'high lift' dams and 2 wooden wicket dams on the Ohio River

What is Pollution?

History of the

Ohio River

Pollution

-the introduction of harmful substances or products into the environment

Sort the Pollutants

www.dictionary.com

late 1800s-early 1900s

Point

Non-Point

  • Growth of cities, navigation, and industry impacted water quality
  • High levels of human sewage and industrial discharges
  • River unsafe for human contact
  • Unable to support fish and other wildlife

Improvements

Types of Pollution

  • 981 miles long
  • created by glaciers that traveled through Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky over a million years ago
  • Native Americans relied on the river as their water source
  • Iroquois called it "OYO" meaning 'great river'

  • 1948 Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) formed a compact to control what goes into the river
  • Treatment and regulation of sewage and industrial discharges
  • 1972 Clean Water Act
  • River now supports fish and wildlife, can be used for recreational activities, and serves as drinking water.

Pollution Now

  • Point Source
  • Non-Point Source
  • Sediment Pollution
  • Toxic Wastes
  • Organic Wastes
  • Regulations of 'point sources' have helped decrease pollution
  • 'Non-point' pollutants, hard to regulate, account for 80% of the current pollution problem
  • Include fertilizers, pesticides, etc that are carried into the river when it rains
  • Failing sewer systems that overflow during heavy rain. High levels of bacteria that make the river unsafe after harsh weather

Point

vs.

Non-Point

What comes to mind when you think about the Ohio River?

Would you eat the fish from the

Ohio River?

Would you drink the water from the

Ohio River?

River Facts

Yes

No!

  • Point: any single identifiable source of pollution from which pollutants are discharged
  • Non-Point: a result of runoff

Why

or

why not?

Yes

No!

  • Drinking water for over 3 million people
  • 130 species of fish have been found
  • Average depth is 24 feet
  • 20 dams and 49 power generating facilities
  • 230 million tons of cargo transported on the river each year

Did you know???

How can we prevent Pollution in the Ohio River?

  • During rainstorms, RAW SEWAGE gets washed into the river at over 1,350 different places
  • Urban runoff contaminates the water
  • Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) in the Northern parts of the river
  • Water that runs through old mines and picks up sulfur and other metals
  • Many parts of the river DO NOT MEET HEALTH STANDARDS for pathogens, PCBs, lead, mercury, metals, organics, and other pollutant

Our Water

Now would you drink the water?

References

DID YOU KNOW...

Over 3 million people rely on the Ohio River

for drinking water!!!

What category of pollution is in the Ohio River?

Point

Non-Point

  • Tap water is safe to drink and use
  • Water meets or exceeds the government standards for drinking water
  • http://www.ohioriverfdn.org/education/ohio_river_facts/
  • http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/drinking/public/water_diseases.html
  • http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/kits/pollution/03pointsource.html

Effects on Wildlife

The Ohio River

  • 164 species of fish
  • Dams keep them from moving freely throughout the river, like they would naturally
  • 80 to now only 50 species of mussels with 5 species being almost extinct
  • Fish consumption advisories that prohibit people from eating certain types of fish

Timeline

  • Clean Water Act 1972
  • Growth of cities and increase in waste
  • Construction of dams begins
  • ORSANCO created
  • Ohio River becomes a primary transportation route
  • Becomes a stop on the Underground River
  • Water becomes polluted and unsafe for people and wildlife
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