Hey all, some recent articles here in the Midwest have me concerned about the fish consumption advisories, and some false information about the Great Lakes;
Contaminants in Steelhead Trout Prompt Warning
By Tom Henry, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
Mar. 1--Steelhead trout caught from Lake Erie tributaries should not be eaten more than once a month now, according to updated fish-consumption advisories to be released starting today with 2007 Ohio fishing licenses.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's annual update, based largely on tissue samples from 318 fish, does not substantially change basic advice anglers have been given for years to avoid overexposure to cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, as well as mercury and other contaminants that pollute the state's water bodies.
The enhanced trout advisory applies to Lake Erie tributaries in Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, and Ashtabula counties, the state agency said.
In general, people are advised to limit consumption of Ohio fish to once a week agency spokesman Linda Oros said.
Some waterways, though, such as North Toledo's Ottawa River, have longstanding Ohio Department of Health advisories that warn people not to eat any fish caught from them.
Others, such as the Cuyahoga and Ohio rivers, have several species of fish that should not be eaten more than once every two months.
The advisories are based on a variety of factors that include average body fat and contaminants in fish tissue.
To minimize risk, cooks are advised to cut away fat and broil or bake instead of fry.
Much of today's water pollution, especially mercury, falls from the sky and settles on rivers, lakes, and streams after getting into the atmosphere from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources as well as vehicle exhausts.
Some pollutants, though, are so hardy they have remained embedded in sediment. Certain industrial water discharges were banned under the federal Clean Water Act of 1972.
One bright spot: Sunfish and yellow perch are now deemed safe to eat twice a week under the new advisories.
The drawback: Fishermen have reported a steady decline in Lake Erie's yellow perch for years.
Advisories fluctuate from region to region.
Brown bullhead, for example, are generally safe to eat twice a week in northwest Ohio.
But in parts of northeast Ohio, they're so polluted they should not be consumed more than once every two months, Ms. Oros said.
For more specifics, residents are advised to check with local health departments, the state EPA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Women, Infant, and Children centers.
Contact Tom Henry at: [email protected] or 419-724-6079.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
___________________________________________________________________________________________
"I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I just had to ad this page as I was concerned about the false information in this article by Jeffrey Frischkorn. from the News Herald. He say's that the Grand River gets a good grade? Give me a break! I will never fish the Grand River below Mason's Landing again for one reason. I used to fish what is widely known as the Uniroyal Hole, and Pipe Bridge, which I will never do again because of what I saw there about 10 years ago. I was wading just below the Uni hole and I was on the west side of the river after crossing between the Pipe and Uni. While I was there, I noticed a pipe just above the river, and some chartreuse (color) liquid was running out of it. It looked like it was anti-freeze to me. When another angler showed up, and we exchanged pleasantries, I asked him if that looked like anti-freeze to him coming out of that pipe? His response was nonchalant, and matter of fact; "That's not anti-freeze! That's hexavalent chromium from the old Diamond Shamrock plant, and It's been leaking for years!"
Then I saw the movie Erin Brockovich and that made up my mind to quit fishing the Grand river!
Notice how he casually mentions it in closing and nothing else? Hum??
[size=10pt]Area river lands 'Grand' grades [/size]
By: Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
[email protected]
01/25/2007
In spite of continued developmental and agricultural stresses, the Grand River watershed remains environmentally sound. However, chemical pollution, sediments and farm runoff all are having a negative impact on several of the river's tributaries in Lake and Ashtabula counties. The assessment comes from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which closely monitors the Grand River's water quality status.
In Northeast Ohio, the OEPA's most recent report on the Grand River's water quality "revealed exceptional habitat and biological diversity throughout the basin. "This basin includes portions of Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties. The Grand River extends 98.5 miles from its start in Geauga County to where it enters Lake Erie at Fairport Harbor and Painesville Township. At its source, the Grand River is 1,117 feet above sea level, dropping to 573 feet above sea level at Lake Erie. It drains 705 square miles.
The high quality of the streams in the watershed can be attributed to large areas of unaltered habitat resulting from the river's isolation from populated upland areas, the report says. "This report highlights what the Grand River Partners has been saying for a while: that the health of the stream is exceptional," said Eddie Dengg, executive director of the Painesville-based Grand River Partners.
"It only reinforces a 1997 federal report which calls the Grand River the most biologically diverse stream flowing into Lake Erie whether that be from the U.S. or Canada. "OEPA spokeswoman Dina Pierce said every stream in every state is required by the federal government to be monitored.
It is done to see that the streams "are fishable, swimable and drinkable."
"The cleaner the water is to start with, the less expensive it becomes to make it drinkable," Pierce said. Pierce said the Grand River received "really good scores. "And it just wasn't the river but a number of its tributaries as well," Pierce said.
Eventually the data collected will be used to develop what is called "a total maximum daily load," which highlights wherever impairments are found, Pierce said. "This is community driven. We put out the report and then hold public meetings with interested stakeholders on what needs to be done to improve water quality," Pierce said. "The only thing we might mandate is improvements to wastewater treatment plants. The emphasis is on the community. This is an ongoing process."
Land preservation through parkland acquisition - such as those by Lake Metroparks, the Ashtabula County Metro Parks and the Geauga Park District - as well as conservation easements have helped protect the river, Pierce said. "Lake Metroparks recognized many years ago the significance of the Grand River and we worked on several different plans that were aimed at protecting the integrity of its watershed in Lake County," said Steve Madewell, Lake Metroparks deputy director. "In the late 1980s and early 1990s, we worked with a number of partners to encourage other conservation organizations to increase their commitment as well because we knew we couldn't do the job alone."
Monitoring data collected by the OEPA in 2003 and 2004 suggest the river's diversity includes many rare, threatened and endangered plant and animal species.
Downstream from Mill Creek in Ashtabula County, the river supports the last naturally reproducing muskellunge population found in any of Ohio's Lake Erie tributaries, the report says. "The quality of the Grand River in terms of fish populations is excellent. We've done some electro-shock work in a portion of the river and sampled 15 different species in less than 17 minutes, that include young-of-the-year walleye and a 12-inch muskie," said Phil Hillman, the Ohio Division of Wildlife's fish management supervisor for Northeast Ohio. "It's also loaded with freshwater mussels. We're well aware there's a wide variety of species." However, the river and its tributaries remain vulnerable to stresses such as summertime low water levels and pollution. Contrary to most people's thoughts, the most serious threats to the watershed are not agricultural runoff or erosion from forestry practices, but rather from increasing urban development, Dengg also said. "Especially in the western portion of the watershed," Dengg said. "As we lose natural cover along the corridor, that only degrades the river's water quality." Chief among them is impairments caused by urban and suburban runoff into such tributaries as Red, Kellogg, Ellison, Big and Jordan creeks, the report says. Cemetery Creek in Ashtabula County also is encountering this degradation, the report says.
And Mill Creek near Jefferson suffers from farm runoff, chiefly sedimentation. The aquatic life in the Grand River and near the former Diamond Shamrock lagoons in Painesville and Painesville Township also is meeting criteria and continues to improve over the years, the report says.
But other abandoned waste ponds near here continue to leach hexavalent chromium into the river at levels that exceed water quality standards.
The report recommends continued monitoring and reducing the discharges by at least 40 percent.
The complete report is available for viewing online at GrandRiverBasinTSD2006.pdf.
Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hexchrom/
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/opa/prssrels/2001/18-01.htm
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/dwh/c-ioc/chromium.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexavalent_chromium http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hexavalentchromium/index.html http://www.epa.gov/iris/toxreviews/0144-tr.pdf
Contaminants in Steelhead Trout Prompt Warning
By Tom Henry, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
Mar. 1--Steelhead trout caught from Lake Erie tributaries should not be eaten more than once a month now, according to updated fish-consumption advisories to be released starting today with 2007 Ohio fishing licenses.
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency's annual update, based largely on tissue samples from 318 fish, does not substantially change basic advice anglers have been given for years to avoid overexposure to cancer-causing polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, as well as mercury and other contaminants that pollute the state's water bodies.
The enhanced trout advisory applies to Lake Erie tributaries in Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky, Erie, Cuyahoga, Lake, Lorain, and Ashtabula counties, the state agency said.
In general, people are advised to limit consumption of Ohio fish to once a week agency spokesman Linda Oros said.
Some waterways, though, such as North Toledo's Ottawa River, have longstanding Ohio Department of Health advisories that warn people not to eat any fish caught from them.
Others, such as the Cuyahoga and Ohio rivers, have several species of fish that should not be eaten more than once every two months.
The advisories are based on a variety of factors that include average body fat and contaminants in fish tissue.
To minimize risk, cooks are advised to cut away fat and broil or bake instead of fry.
Much of today's water pollution, especially mercury, falls from the sky and settles on rivers, lakes, and streams after getting into the atmosphere from coal-fired power plants and other industrial sources as well as vehicle exhausts.
Some pollutants, though, are so hardy they have remained embedded in sediment. Certain industrial water discharges were banned under the federal Clean Water Act of 1972.
One bright spot: Sunfish and yellow perch are now deemed safe to eat twice a week under the new advisories.
The drawback: Fishermen have reported a steady decline in Lake Erie's yellow perch for years.
Advisories fluctuate from region to region.
Brown bullhead, for example, are generally safe to eat twice a week in northwest Ohio.
But in parts of northeast Ohio, they're so polluted they should not be consumed more than once every two months, Ms. Oros said.
For more specifics, residents are advised to check with local health departments, the state EPA, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, and Women, Infant, and Children centers.
Contact Tom Henry at: [email protected] or 419-724-6079.
Copyright (c) 2007, The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
___________________________________________________________________________________________
"I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, but I just had to ad this page as I was concerned about the false information in this article by Jeffrey Frischkorn. from the News Herald. He say's that the Grand River gets a good grade? Give me a break! I will never fish the Grand River below Mason's Landing again for one reason. I used to fish what is widely known as the Uniroyal Hole, and Pipe Bridge, which I will never do again because of what I saw there about 10 years ago. I was wading just below the Uni hole and I was on the west side of the river after crossing between the Pipe and Uni. While I was there, I noticed a pipe just above the river, and some chartreuse (color) liquid was running out of it. It looked like it was anti-freeze to me. When another angler showed up, and we exchanged pleasantries, I asked him if that looked like anti-freeze to him coming out of that pipe? His response was nonchalant, and matter of fact; "That's not anti-freeze! That's hexavalent chromium from the old Diamond Shamrock plant, and It's been leaking for years!"
Then I saw the movie Erin Brockovich and that made up my mind to quit fishing the Grand river!
Notice how he casually mentions it in closing and nothing else? Hum??
[size=10pt]Area river lands 'Grand' grades [/size]
By: Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
[email protected]
01/25/2007
In spite of continued developmental and agricultural stresses, the Grand River watershed remains environmentally sound. However, chemical pollution, sediments and farm runoff all are having a negative impact on several of the river's tributaries in Lake and Ashtabula counties. The assessment comes from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which closely monitors the Grand River's water quality status.
In Northeast Ohio, the OEPA's most recent report on the Grand River's water quality "revealed exceptional habitat and biological diversity throughout the basin. "This basin includes portions of Lake, Geauga and Ashtabula counties. The Grand River extends 98.5 miles from its start in Geauga County to where it enters Lake Erie at Fairport Harbor and Painesville Township. At its source, the Grand River is 1,117 feet above sea level, dropping to 573 feet above sea level at Lake Erie. It drains 705 square miles.
The high quality of the streams in the watershed can be attributed to large areas of unaltered habitat resulting from the river's isolation from populated upland areas, the report says. "This report highlights what the Grand River Partners has been saying for a while: that the health of the stream is exceptional," said Eddie Dengg, executive director of the Painesville-based Grand River Partners.
"It only reinforces a 1997 federal report which calls the Grand River the most biologically diverse stream flowing into Lake Erie whether that be from the U.S. or Canada. "OEPA spokeswoman Dina Pierce said every stream in every state is required by the federal government to be monitored.
It is done to see that the streams "are fishable, swimable and drinkable."
"The cleaner the water is to start with, the less expensive it becomes to make it drinkable," Pierce said. Pierce said the Grand River received "really good scores. "And it just wasn't the river but a number of its tributaries as well," Pierce said.
Eventually the data collected will be used to develop what is called "a total maximum daily load," which highlights wherever impairments are found, Pierce said. "This is community driven. We put out the report and then hold public meetings with interested stakeholders on what needs to be done to improve water quality," Pierce said. "The only thing we might mandate is improvements to wastewater treatment plants. The emphasis is on the community. This is an ongoing process."
Land preservation through parkland acquisition - such as those by Lake Metroparks, the Ashtabula County Metro Parks and the Geauga Park District - as well as conservation easements have helped protect the river, Pierce said. "Lake Metroparks recognized many years ago the significance of the Grand River and we worked on several different plans that were aimed at protecting the integrity of its watershed in Lake County," said Steve Madewell, Lake Metroparks deputy director. "In the late 1980s and early 1990s, we worked with a number of partners to encourage other conservation organizations to increase their commitment as well because we knew we couldn't do the job alone."
Monitoring data collected by the OEPA in 2003 and 2004 suggest the river's diversity includes many rare, threatened and endangered plant and animal species.
Downstream from Mill Creek in Ashtabula County, the river supports the last naturally reproducing muskellunge population found in any of Ohio's Lake Erie tributaries, the report says. "The quality of the Grand River in terms of fish populations is excellent. We've done some electro-shock work in a portion of the river and sampled 15 different species in less than 17 minutes, that include young-of-the-year walleye and a 12-inch muskie," said Phil Hillman, the Ohio Division of Wildlife's fish management supervisor for Northeast Ohio. "It's also loaded with freshwater mussels. We're well aware there's a wide variety of species." However, the river and its tributaries remain vulnerable to stresses such as summertime low water levels and pollution. Contrary to most people's thoughts, the most serious threats to the watershed are not agricultural runoff or erosion from forestry practices, but rather from increasing urban development, Dengg also said. "Especially in the western portion of the watershed," Dengg said. "As we lose natural cover along the corridor, that only degrades the river's water quality." Chief among them is impairments caused by urban and suburban runoff into such tributaries as Red, Kellogg, Ellison, Big and Jordan creeks, the report says. Cemetery Creek in Ashtabula County also is encountering this degradation, the report says.
And Mill Creek near Jefferson suffers from farm runoff, chiefly sedimentation. The aquatic life in the Grand River and near the former Diamond Shamrock lagoons in Painesville and Painesville Township also is meeting criteria and continues to improve over the years, the report says.
But other abandoned waste ponds near here continue to leach hexavalent chromium into the river at levels that exceed water quality standards.
The report recommends continued monitoring and reducing the discharges by at least 40 percent.
The complete report is available for viewing online at GrandRiverBasinTSD2006.pdf.
Sources:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/hexchrom/
http://www.dhs.ca.gov/opa/prssrels/2001/18-01.htm
http://www.epa.gov/OGWDW/dwh/c-ioc/chromium.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexavalent_chromium http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/hexavalentchromium/index.html http://www.epa.gov/iris/toxreviews/0144-tr.pdf
