Water Quality

Residents in Cadiz, a small town in southeastern Ohio, have been struggling with dirty, expensive tap water since last summer. An Allegheny Front investigation revealed a string of issues created the problems.

Gov. Mike DeWine said Thursday he wants to get a bond issue before voters this November to secure long-term funding for H2Ohio.

Officials with the U.S. and Canada met this past week to discuss priorities for the next three years on protecting the ecology, water quality and health of the ecosystem in Lake Erie and the other Great Lakes.

Water has always been a big part of the Fernald story. In the 1980s, nearby residents got the news: the water they'd been drinking was contaminated with uranium and other waste. Part of cleaning up the superfund site meant making the groundwater and surface water safe, and repairing the damage to the aquifer and the Paddys Run watershed.

The Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District restored a stream in a Jefferson Township neighborhood to help prevent flooding near houses and better capture pollutants.

The authors say more federal investment is needed to clean up pollution, reduce runoff and restore wildlife habitat.

Crews have been tunneling adjacent to the Olentangy River to make the 3-mile sewer overflow tunnel since March 2023. The project will help ensure sewer overflow during increasingly common severe storms doesn't pollute the river.

Columbus Water and Power says the area's drinking water supply wasn't impacted. The agency had to close a few wells that draw from Big Walnut Creek as a precaution. Crews are now cleaning oil from Three Creeks Metro Park.

Columbus Water and Power knows of more than 24,000 lead service lines still in the ground. The city is working to replace these pipes and also take inventory of private properties that have lead pipes to get those replaced too.

Removing nutrients from Lake Erie reduces harmful algal blooms and low-oxygen "dead zones," but may also impact food supplies for yellow perch, hurting some fisheries.