Ohio River again tops list for industrial pollution

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The Ohio River once again leads the nation for industrial pollution.

That's even as the eight-state commission that sets the river's water quality standards recommends relaxing rules on mercury and certain other toxic chemicals.

By all accounts, the river that marks Kentucky's northern border and Indiana's southern flank is much cleaner than it was a generation or two ago.

But recent numbers — compiled by Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission and the commission's latest proposals for changes and variances to water quality standards — show the Ohio very much remains a working river that cuts through the heart of American industry.

"You are going to have pollution in some shape or form," said Gerald Smith, who has been fishing the Ohio for 40 years and is youth director for the Kentucky Bass Federation. "Over the years they've done a real good job of controlling it."

But he added: "I'm not saying it can't be better."

The ORSANCO report published in February and updated last week provides an analysis of the latest pollution discharges found in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Toxics Release Inventory, a national database that tracks pollution to the air, land and water.

It shows the Ohio topped the nation's waterways for pollution discharges from industry at 24,180,821 pounds in 2013, the most current year available. The amount is more than double what industries pour into the Mississippi River, which ranked second. The report also found that the Ohio has led American waterways in industrial pollution since 2001.

While those numbers may seem large, commission officials urged the public not to be alarmed. The industrial effluent gets diluted in the river's vast flow of water, they said.

"The volume of the Ohio River is considerable," the agency said in a written statement. The EPA data does not factor in the river's volume, so its inventory does not reveal the actual concentrations of the pollutants, which helps determine their environmental impact, ORSANCO said.

The commission also said 92 percent of the toxic discharges were nitrate compounds — most of those from AK Steel's Rockport, Ind., plant — and yet the river still meets human health standards for nitrates.

AK Steel spokesman Barry Racey said his plant's releases meet "the strict parameters of federal and state environmental regulations."

He also shifted the blame for nitrate pollution in the Ohio to farm run-off from nitrogen-based fertilizers, which is not required to be reported in the EPA's Toxic Releases Inventory.

For their part, clean water advocates pointed out that regardless of their source, nitrates contribute to toxic algae blooms and the oxygen-depleted Gulf of Mexico dead zone, which last summer was about the size of Connecticut.

"ORSANCO should be doing more to limit these toxic pollutants, rather than trying to rationalize the numbers," said Tim Joice, water policy director for the Kentucky Waterways Alliance.

Pound per pound, some chemicals are more troublesome than others, and "a little bit of mercury causes a lot of problems," acknowledged Peter Tennant, the commission's executive director.

Though mercury ranked 48th by weight of toxic chemicals or metals dumped into the Ohio in 2013, it is persistent in the environment, and builds up through the food web, from tiny creatures to fish to predators like bald eagles, or people.

Mercury discharges in the Ohio are also increasing, up more than 500 percent, from 61 pounds in 2007 to 380 pounds in 2013.

ORSANCO has been concerned about mercury for a long time. In 2003 it adopted rules that after 10 years would phase out so-called "mixing zones" for mercury and other bio-accumulating pollutants.

Mixing zones allow companies to take their mercury measurements downstream from their discharge pipes, after some dilution.

This past week, however, the commission proposed to put on hold indefinitely the use of mixing zones for existing industrial facilities. Instead, any mixing zones would be handled through permits issued by states.

States would be encouraged to eliminate them "as soon as practicable," but with no deadlines.

"A final decision will be made by the commission after considering all the public comments," said Jason Heath, assistant chief engineer for the commission.

Plants would need to demonstrate measures taken to reduce their mercury discharges, Heath said, adding that a mixing-zone ban for new industrial facilities remains in effect.

But critics said the proposal would lead to a patchwork of different standards for especially dangerous types of pollutants up and down the Ohio.

"ORSANCO is essentially stepping back from its responsibility ... to set wastewater discharge standards, and instead allowing states to regulate their permitted facilities differently throughout the Ohio River Basin," Joice said.

"We would much prefer that ORSANCO continue with the approach it took in 2003, now 12 years ago, to ensure uniform protections throughout the basin for the Ohio River."