The federal Clean Water Act turns 50 years old in 2022, so how has it affected Indiana’s waters?  The short answer is that there have been benefits, but it has also left some water pollution unaddressed.  Indiana has seen a significant reduction in sewage and industrial waste going into our waterways since this law was passed in 1972.  However, the Clean Water Act is weak on some issues:

• It does not address runoff pollution.  73% of the assessed waterways in Indiana have too much bacteria to be safe for swimming largely due to runoff.
• Water cleanup plans under this law (TMDLs) are not effective enough
• It continues to allow permits for wetland destruction, despite Indiana having lost more than 85% of its original wetlands.

Some aspects of the Clean Water Act simply need more effective implementation in Indiana.  In particular, Indiana’s discharge permits are far from the law’s original objective of eliminating pollution discharges, and the permits that have been issued aren’t always fully enforced.  The Environmental Integrity Project released an in-depth report on the Clean Water Act at 50 with recommendations for strengthening the law and strengthening implementation of the law.

Northeast Indiana is a source of nutrient pollution to the Western Lake Erie Basin. Under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Indiana wrote a Domestic Action Plan for reducing phosphorus heading to Lake Erie in the Maumee River. HEC followed the drafting of the plan closely and submitted comments during the public comment period. We are now tracking the plan’s implementation.

There are steps all citizens can take to reduce nutrient pollution. Find out what you can do through our partnership in the Clear Choices Clean Water Program.

The federal Clean Water Act requires states to periodically review and update their water quality standards. In its most recent review, Indiana started the process of changing its standards for the concentrations of metals in lakes and rivers to match national recommendations. HEC submitted comments.

For Indiana’s segment of the Ohio River, it uses the standards established by the multi-state compact for the river known as ORSANCO. Over the past 70 years, ORSANCO scientists have carefully calculated the concentrations of several hundred chemicals that the river could tolerate and still remain healthy for aquatic species and for people. Indiana uses those standards in writing permits for discharges to the Ohio River.

In 2018 there was a proposal to eliminate ORSANCO’s standards. HEC partnered with more than a dozen organizations from the Ohio River states to advocate for preservation of ORSANCO’s pollution control standards, and we were successful!

Photo: Plume approaching Evansville (photo credit: copyright BlairPhoto EVV)

In 2017, the Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust launched Partners for the White River with support for 9 Indiana organizations to help make Central Indiana’s most significant feature more accessible, more valued, and cleaner. HEC’s work in this partnership includes our work to reduce the impact of coal ash at 3 sites: Duke Energy Noblesville, IPL Harding Street in Indianapolis, and IPL Eagle Valley near Martinsville; to reduce the impact of manure; to reduce nutrient pollution; to protect the watershed from irresponsible development; and to create the Mounds Greenway from Anderson to Muncie.