By: Susie
Read time: 5 minutes
Rivers shape our cities and our livelihoods. We rely on rivers for clean water, transportation, wastewater disposal, and recreation. Countless wildlife species also rely on rivers for their entire life cycle and serve as crucial migratory routes. The health of our rivers is a direct reflection of the health of ourselves. Therefore, it is essential that we do the work to keep our rivers clean.
The International Day of Action for Rivers is a celebrated every year on March 14th to celebrate achievements, highlight needs, and encourage people to take action to work towards a collective future of free-flowing, clean rivers. But how can we measure how clean our rivers are?
In technical terms, a clean river is often referred to as a river with good water quality. Water quality is a measurement of the amount of (or lack of) pollutants in a river. It is an important factor in determining whether our rivers are safe for things like swimming and fishing. Indiana’s water quality is constantly being monitored thanks to an important piece of federal legislation known as the Clean Water Act (CWA).
What is the Clean Water Act?
The Clean Water Act is a groundbreaking federal law that governs water pollution in the United States. It was established in 1972 after a fire on the Cuyahoga River in Ohio created widespread public awareness on the growing issue of industrial water pollution.
A major goal of the CWA is to “restore and maintain the physical, chemical, and biological integrity of our waterways,” as well as ensuring no net loss of wetlands. The Act establishes several permitting programs aimed at regulating direct discharges into waterways and building on wetlands, all efforts to improve the water quality of our rivers and make sure they stay clean.
Water quality monitoring within the Clean Water Act
The CWA also establishes a water quality monitoring program to ensure that states are meeting water quality goals. Every two years, states are required to identify impaired waterways in accordance with specific sections of the CWA, namely, Sections 305(b) and 303(d).
This assessment is primarily directed towards surfaces waters such as rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs. In Indiana, the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) is tasked with preparing the water quality assessments in coordination with the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Indiana’s water quality
Indiana’s latest water quality assessment was released last year in Indiana’s 2024 Integrated Monitoring and Assessment Report. Here are some key takeaways from the report:
- Indiana has approximately 62,746 miles of rivers, streams, ditches, and drainage ways. The report indicates that to date, 33,643 streams miles were surveyed.
- Of those 33,643 miles surveyed, 24,687 miles of rivers and streams are listed as impaired for recreation and swimming.
- All of Indiana’s 67 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline fully supports aquatic life use, while none of the shoreline waters support full body contact recreational use or human health and wildlife use.
- Pathogens continue to be the top cause of stream impairments in Indiana, with impacts to the potential recreational use of more than 24,728 miles of streams.
- IDEM has assessed approximately 36,264 miles of stream for aquatic life use and has found 68 percent of those to be fully supporting that use.
- Agriculture is listed as a top source of impairment, constituting 11,413 miles of streams.
- IDEM found PFOS (Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid, a type of PFAS chemical), in 100 percent of fish samples.
Working towards better water quality
It is clear from Indiana’s latest assessment that while we are making positive progress, much work remains to ensure that our rivers remain clean and free of harmful pollutants. A troubling fact that emerged from the water quality assessment is that over 70 percent of the waterways that were surveyed are considered impaired, which means they aren’t meaning water quality goals.
Those same waterways do not support any recreational uses, which meaning they are potentially dangerous for swimming and full body contact. Pathogens were among the top sources of poor water quality in our state, which are disease causing organisms that can negatively impact human health. It is important to remove these from our waterways to ensure they are safe for recreation.
Additionally, IDEM began monitoring PFAS chemicals in fish tissue beginning in 2017, and the latest report indicates that all fish samples collected and tested came back positive for PFOS, a type of PFAS chemical. These “forever chemicals” are known to be harmful to human health, so the fact that all fish tested positive for them is very concerning and indicates widespread contamination.
The good news is that we have these monitoring programs in place, giving us some transparency on the quality of our rivers and streams are here in Indiana. But clearly there is much work that needs be done and many steps that can be taken to continue to improve our water quality in Indiana. These include:
- Encouraging nature-based solutions, which emphasizes the utilization of green infrastructure to improve water quality
- Increasing funding and staffing of federal and state environmental agencies
- Improving stormwater, wetland, and agriculture regulations to be more protective of water quality
- Reducing and eliminating harmful pollutants, such as PFAS, E. coli, and pathogens, that enter our waterways
- Increasing education and awareness on the current state of our waterways and what solutions are available for improving them
Finding water quality near you: IDEM’s 303d Tool
On this International Day of Action for Rivers, we encourage you to take action by exploring water quality around the state or in your own backyard. You can utilize a free mapping tool created by IDEM that displays the current water quality and the pollutants, if it is impaired.
Categories: Indiana Clean Water, Sustainable Development and Green Infrastructure, Water & Wilderness Protection