Environmental Economics

State scientists found high levels of E. coli, phosphorus and other pollutants at nearly every
test point in the tributaries that feed the Scioto River northwest of Columbus.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency found that E. coli levels at sites used by boaters and
swimmers were higher than federal safety thresholds.

Dina Pierce, a spokeswoman for the Ohio EPA, said the results are not surprising and that the
overall health of the Upper Scioto Watershed has improved since the mid-1990s.

But the report shows that this mostly rural watershed is still troubled and worse off than
others in the state.

“There’s some work that we need to do here, and we need local people to be on board, because
there’s only so much we can do as a regulatory agency,” Pierce said.

E. coli in the Upper Scioto Watershed, which stretches across Hardin, Marion and Union counties,
likely came from manure spread on area farms and from wastewater-treatment plants, according to the
report.

About 80 percent of the land around the watershed is farmland, and treatment plants line the
rivers and streams there.

The Upper Scioto is a small part of the larger Scioto River Watershed, which includes creeks,
streams and rivers in more than 6,500 square miles ending at the Ohio River near Portsmouth.

via www.dispatch.com