Natural Systems

Opportunity Area #11 Sustain Clean Surface Water Resources

As the demands placed on water resources continue to grow, so does the need for local planning to protect them. The Clean Water Act, enacted in 1972 and subsequently reauthorized and amended, is the primary federal law for controlling pollution to achieve the national goal: to maintain and restore surface waters to levels that provide for the protection and propagation of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and recreation. Waters are assessed as impaired when an applicable water quality standard is not being attained. Impaired water bodies increase costs because of requirements and regulations which are needed to avoid or reduce harmful impacts. In the region’s four Ohio counties, 64 of the 82 watersheds are classified as impaired. In Dearborn County, 127 miles of the county’s 700 miles of streams and waterways are impaired. Of waterways that have been monitored in Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties, 108 miles of streams and rivers and 57 acres of lakes are classified as impaired.

Policy Recommendations

11.A State and local jurisdictions should integrate nature-based solutions in the design and implementation of all new transportation infrastructure investments.

11.B Local jurisdictions should protect water quality through land use decisions and implementation of best management practices for stormwater runoff, with consideration of downstream impacts.

11.C Reduce and repair damage from stream impairment regionwide.

11.D Implement and incentivize agricultural best management practices to reduce nutrient runoff to our waterways.

11.E OKI will pursue funding sources for water quality management to ensure continued regional planning as required by the federal government and to continue technical assistance to local governments and others implementing projects improving surface water quality.