Abundant Clean Water
The Abundant Clean Water workgroup is dedicated to ensuring that the Ohio River Basin's abundant supply of fresh, clean water that is so vital to the regional economy and the health of its natural and human communities is appropriately protected and restored.
Ohio River Basin Restoration and Protection Plan
ORBA and the National Wildlife Federation have drafted an Ohio River Basin Restoration and Protection Plan to guide future legislation and federal investment towards ensuring safe drinking water, reducing toxic pollution, and restoring wildlife habitat in the 205,000 square mile Ohio River watershed. Supporting the development of the plan has been the main priority of the Abundant Clean Water and Healthy Ecosystems workgroups, alongside a technical committee of over 100 professionals and sovereign nations, for the past several years. Community listening sessions held throughout the basin ensure that the public's input and priorities were integrated throughout the document.
Partner Highlight: ORSANCO
The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission, an interstate agency established in 1948, has been working collaboratively to protect the mainstem of the Ohio River since before the Clean Water Act. Today, they monitor a multitude of parameters to ensure clean drinking and recreation water for the millions of Americans that use the Ohio River.
Challenges to Clean Water
For each threat to abundant, clean water in the Ohio River Basin, there is an opportunity to invest in, restore, and protect our region. Visit the links below to learn more about common threats to water quality and what our partners and member organizations are doing about these challenges.
Abundant Clean Water Workgroup Highlighted Strategic Actions
Workgroup Objectives
1) Assist organizations and states, enabled by the Clean Water Act, in working collaboratively to demonstrate an increased number of water bodies that meet the Clean Water Act’s drinkable, swimmable, and fishable uses by 2030 as compared to 2020;
2) develop effective strategies which can support and enhance the individual utility source water protection programs to meet Safe Drinking Water Act requirements as they are developed and use best practices from these strategies to build collaborative programs to help support Ohio River Basin drinking, industrial, surface and ground water organizations that do not currently have source water protection programs;
3) identify priority waters with high incidences of HABs and convene stakeholders to prepare an Ohio River Basin-wide strategy to help respond to HABs and that will result in measurable reduction in HAB occurrence by 2030 as compared to 2020 for priority areas; and
4) assist ORSANCO in convening water quantity managers Basin-wide such as USGS and Division of Water (DOW) to establish common goals directed at identifying Basin-wide problems affecting water quantity management and recommend strategies to address these goals.
Workgroup Leadership
If you'd like to join the Abundant Clean Water workgroup, email the Chair.
