Photo Credit – CMNH
Mentor Marsh not only provides invaluable fishing and birding habitat but it is located just south of a favorite recreational area – Headlands Beach State Park.
Unfortunately, the Marsh is threatened by a proposed permit from Shamrock Building Center, Ltd., that would fill-in and degrade wetlands upstream from the Marsh. Read More
95% of Carroll depends on groundwater and yet, over the next ten years, ODNR will allow 2,000 unconventional gas wells and permit an underground coal mine without informing the public about potential impacts on water quality.
November 3rd, 2010
Water is a fundamental building block of life. As the climate changes and populations increase demand for freshwater is also increasing.
Follow the link to Stop Industry from Stealing our Water
Lake Erie
The Great Lakes contain 20% of all the fresh water in the world. 11 million people receive drinking water from Lake Erie alone. In order to protect this increasingly scarce resource the eight Great Lake State Governors and two Canadian provinces entered into an agreement to promote water conservation, and set thresholds for withdrawals within the Great Lakes Basin. In October 2008, the Great Lakes Compact received congressional approval and was signed into law by President Bush. The Great Lakes Compact is a promise to preserve and protect our water for pubic, business, and environmental uses now and into the future.
In Ohio, The Great Lakes Compact Advisory Board was created in March 2009 in order to develop recommendations for legislation that would meet the requirements of the Compact. The Board is comprised of individuals representing industry, municipalities and the environmental community. Over the past year and a half, the Advisory Board has worked to develop Water Conservation and Efficiency Goals, and limits for withdrawals of water from Lake Erie and it’s tributaries. The recommendations of the Advisory Board will be sent to Ohio’s legislature for approval on December15th, 2010.
Tell ODNR that withdrawal limits should be based upon science not the whim of industry
Unfortunately the final recommendations of the Advisory Board are divided on the key point of thresholds or limits to the amount of water withdrawal allowed for high quality streams. We need a minimum amount of water in our streams to provide drinking water, wastewater dilution, recreational opportunities and aquatic wildlife uses. The Advisory Board utilized an objective science based model to determine thresholds for 95% of the waters in the State. When it comes to our highest quality streams and rivers the Board wants to let special interest determine withdrawal levels. By volume high quality streams represent less than 5% of the water that flows into Lake Erie, but contain the greatest diversity and uses for the public. If thresholds are set too high we will lose biodiversity in our highest quality streams.
