Ohio EPA begins study on Shenango tributaries

The sampling will continue until September.

STAFF REPORT

COLUMBUS — The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has begun an extensive summerlong study of select Ohio tributaries flowing into Pennsylvania’s Shenango River to gather information that will be part of a plan to maintain — and where necessary — restore water quality.

The study area is primarily in Trumbull and Ashtabula counties and includes tributaries to Pymatuning Reservoir, Pymatuning Creek, Yankee Creek and Little Yankee Creek.

Ohio EPA scientists are measuring the streams and evaluation habitats, examining and counting fish and aquatic insects, and collecting chemical samples.

Sampling will continue into September at 41 locations upstream and downstream from the sewage treatment plants, industrial discharges, tributaries, streams, dams and where there have been significant changes in land use practices.

Ohio EPA employees carry photo identification and will request permission from private landowners if access to their property is needed.

Sample results will reveal pollutants present in the water and the condition of aquatic life. The data will give the agency a better idea of where the water is healthy and where improvements need to be made, according to a press release.

The Ohio EPA will then work with local communities and organize, including the Pymatuning Lake Association and Penn Ohio Watershed Association, to develop a water quality plan known as a Total Maximum Daily Load report.

The federal Clean Water Act requires comprehensive TMDL reports for all impaired water bodies. The TMDL is calculation of the maximum amounts of a pollutant that a water body can receive and still meet water quality standards.

More information on the study is available online at:

www.epa.state.oh.us/dsw/tmdl/monitoring_PymatuningCreek.html.