Former water conservationist Tim Guilfoile fishes in the Ohio River. (Credit: Tim Guilfoile via Eye on Ohio)

We mapped out the toxic wastewater discharges along the Ohio River. Here’s what we learned.

"The scary part is that most people who fish are not aware of these advisories although there are notices with fish and wildlife agencies"

All Tim Guilfoile wants to do is fish. Before his retirement, he had two careers: one in business and one in water quality activism.

Keep reading...

SUBSCRIBE TO EHN'S MUST-READ DAILY NEWSLETTER: ABOVE THE FOLD

Anglers at the Falls of the Ohio State Park. (Credit: William Alden/flickr)

Originals

Whose job is it to reduce toxic mercury in the Ohio River?

Mercury, which damages young brains, is flowing through industrial wastewater into the Ohio River. But the multi-state agency tasked with keeping the waterway clean hasn't tightened controls on this pollution because it doesn't have the authority to do so.

Keep reading...

Waterfront Park in Louisville, Kentucky, during the July Forecastle Music Festival. (Credit: Ryan Van Velzer/WFPL)

Originals

The minds behind Louisville’s riverfront revival

In Louisville, Kentucky, the Ohio River has something of an image problem.

Keep reading...

Jim Casto stands up against the tiled river height gauge along the entrance of the floodwall in Huntington, West Virginia. (Credit: Liam Niemeyer, Ohio Valley ReSource)

Originals

Rising waters: Aging levees, climate change and the challenge to hold back the Ohio River

When 78-year-old Jim Casto looks at the towering floodwalls that line downtown Huntington, West Virginia, he sees a dark history of generations past.

Keep reading...

Volunteers help ReNewport Executive Director Josh Tunning (far left) plant trees where they've depaved sections of the sidewalk in Newport, Kentucky. (Credit: Bonnie Jean Feldkamp/Eye on Ohio)

Originals

The Ohio River community of Newport bands together to slow runoff and add greenspace

The city of Newport, Kentucky, is shaped on its north and west borders by the Ohio and Licking rivers. And while Newport hosts entertainment venues and a bourbon distillery bolstered by views of Cincinnati's skyline, its geography and history also create challenges.

Keep reading...

Justice

RiverWise brings sustainability to Beaver County

The group's executive director says the debate around the ethane cracker being built in his county is predictable. Instead of being for or against it, his group is ready to "do the hard work of developing healthy and creative community together."

Read the Full Article on

www.alleghenyfront.org

Children

On the most populated Ohio River island, this beekeeper found a way to better himself and his community

Dave Watkins lives on Wheeling Island, the most populated island along the Ohio River.

Keep reading...

Nurdle Patrol participant Sam Sugarek shows off a nurdle found along the beaches of Texas. (Credit: Jace Tunnell)

Originals

Ever hear of a nurdle? This new form of pollution could be coming to the Ohio River

When the petrochemical plant being built by Shell Chemical Appalachia in Beaver County is complete, it's anticipated to bring 600 jobs as well as spinoff industries. But some researchers and activists warn that it could also bring a new type of pollution to the Ohio River Valley — nurdles.

Keep reading...

Originals

Fighting pollution and apathy on the Lower Ohio

NEW ALBANY, Ind. — When Jason Flickner was a kid, he built a dam on the creek behind his grandparents' house causing it to flood a neighbor's basement.

Keep reading...

Illustration of the R.E. Burger power plant by David Wilson/Belt Magazine.

Originals

What the petrochemical buildout along the Ohio River means for regional communities and beyond

The R.E. Burger coal-fired power plant's final day ended, appropriately enough, in a cloud of black smoke and dust.

Keep reading...

A barge ships coal up the Ohio River near Cincinnati. (Photo by Lucia Walinchus/Eye on Ohio, the Ohio Center for Investigative Journalism)

Originals

The water is cleaner but the politics are messier: A look back at the Clean Water Act movement after 50 years

In June 1969, a Time Magazine article garnered national attention when it brought to light the water quality conditions in Ohio: a river had literally caught fire.

Keep reading...

Originals

Paddling 300 miles to protect the waters of Ohi:yo', the 'good river'

For degawëno:da's, paddling the length of the Allegheny River over the course of four months this year was to be a "witness to the raw element of the natural world."

Keep reading...

BarbiAnn Maynard drives 45 minutes from her home in Martin County, Kentucky, to a spring at the Mingo-Logan county line in West Virginia to fill containers with fresh water. (Credit: Curren Sheldon/100 Days in Appalachia)

Originals

'That's vinegar:' The Ohio River's history of contamination and progress made

In 1958, researchers from the University of Louisville and the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission gathered at a lock on the Monongahela River for routine collecting, counting and comparing of fish species.

Keep reading...

www.nextpittsburgh.com

Toxics

On media: These journalists speak for the river

Several media outlets, including Environmental Health News, are collaborating to give voice to the Ohio River and its watershed.

Read the Full Article on

www.nextpittsburgh.com

Children

Pennsylvania is discharging radioactive fracking waste into rivers as landfill leachate

A Public Herald investigation has uncovered that DEP is allowing 14 Sewage Waste Treatment Plants to discharge radioactive fracking waste as landfill leachate into 13 Pennsylvania Waterways.

Read the Full Article on

publicherald.org

From our Newsroom

We mapped out the toxic wastewater discharges along the Ohio River. Here’s what we learned.

"The scary part is that most people who fish are not aware of these advisories although there are notices with fish and wildlife agencies"

Whose job is it to reduce toxic mercury in the Ohio River?

The minds behind Louisville’s riverfront revival

Rising waters: Aging levees, climate change and the challenge to hold back the Ohio River

The Ohio River community of Newport bands together to slow runoff and add greenspace

RiverWise brings sustainability to Beaver County

On the most populated Ohio River island, this beekeeper found a way to better himself and his community

Ever hear of a nurdle? This new form of pollution could be coming to the Ohio River

Fighting pollution and apathy on the Lower Ohio

What the petrochemical buildout along the Ohio River means for regional communities and beyond

The water is cleaner but the politics are messier: A look back at the Clean Water Act movement after 50 years

Paddling 300 miles to protect the waters of Ohi:yo', the 'good river'

'That's vinegar:' The Ohio River's history of contamination and progress made

On media: These journalists speak for the river

Pennsylvania is discharging radioactive fracking waste into rivers as landfill leachate

LISTEN: EHN's Pittsburgh reporter discusses air pollution from U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works

The battle over pipelines, population and property rights in Texas’ Hill Country

"Texas claims to be very sympathetic to property rights. On the other hand, they support oil and gas. What this project has exposed is that these two priorities are not equal."

Exposed: How willful blindness keeps BPA on shelves and contaminating our bodies

EHN.org investigation finds regulatory push to discredit independent evidence of harm while favoring pro-industry science despite significant shortcomings.

Trump’s other war is going well

No, not the war against the press. Or impeachment. Or immigrants. Or reality. But the swamp-draining, regulation-stomping, soul-crushing assault on the environment.

Good River: Our reporters want to hear your Ohio River stories and concerns

Text "OHIO" to 765-227-2602 to share with our seven-newsroom collaborative.

A lasting legacy: DuPont, C8 contamination and the community of Parkersburg left to grapple with the consequences

"We all have stories of friends and family, neighbors, dying too young or being diagnosed with various medical problems"

"The scary part is that most people who fish are not aware of these advisories although there are notices with fish and wildlife agencies"

"Texas claims to be very sympathetic to property rights. On the other hand, they support oil and gas. What this project has exposed is that these two priorities are not equal."

EHN.org investigation finds regulatory push to discredit independent evidence of harm while favoring pro-industry science despite significant shortcomings.

No, not the war against the press. Or impeachment. Or immigrants. Or reality. But the swamp-draining, regulation-stomping, soul-crushing assault on the environment.

Text "OHIO" to 765-227-2602 to share with our seven-newsroom collaborative.

"We all have stories of friends and family, neighbors, dying too young or being diagnosed with various medical problems"

Above The Fold

Above the Fold