Water issues are growing; H2ohio can provide help

The forces that shape the annual appearance of algae in Lake Erie delivered a bit of a curveball this season, giving scientists new opportunities to learn about the phenomenon and how to prevent it.

Heavy rains such as those that pummeled Ohio this past spring typically can be expected to produce higherthan-usual runoff of the phosphorus from farm fields that feeds algae. This year, though, those rains were so excessive that many Ohio farmers never were able to plant, meaning less phosphorus-rich fertilizer was applied.

Yet another effect of the rains was that phosphorus remaining from previous years was dislodged and sent flowing downstream.

The end result has been prediction of a relatively severe bloom, rated 7.5 on a scale of 10.

And the new questions raised underscore the value of H2ohio, the farsighted investment in water quality conceived by Gov. Mike Dewine and included by lawmakers in Ohio’s new two-year state budget.

Getting a grip on the algae problem is among Ohio’s most urgent waterquality challenges, but there are many. H2ohio funding also could go toward restoring wetlands (which helps filter

out pollution), cleaning up streams polluted by acid mine drainage and studying the impact of other polluting enterprises such as large-scale livestock farms and urban development around sensitive streams.

We’re glad the General Assembly kept the H2ohio initiative largely intact in the budget, providing $172 million for water-quality work over the next two years and stipulating that, at the end of the 2020-21 budget year, half of any leftover general fund money should go toward H2ohio.

And we hope lawmakers will provide for H2ohio beyond 2021 by approving House Bill 7, which would create a trust fund for H2ohio and provide oversight of its use. Under the bill, which passed the House in June, the Ohio Water Development Authority, which issues bonds and loans money to local governments for water projects, would be trustee of the fund.

The bill also would create the H2ohio Advisory Council to decide how to spend the money.

We urge the Senate to pass HB 7, with due consideration. With the dollars already budgeted for H2ohio’s first two years, there’s plenty of time to get the permanent structure right.