TOLEDO, March 13, 2023: The Lucas County Commissioners have given to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency a draft of the Agency’s water quality improvement plan to reduce nutrients going into Western Lake Erie from the Maumee River watershed and the Maumee Watershed Nutrient Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL).
Commissioner Pete Gerken said: “The consent decree creating this TMDL is a great accomplishment. “Now, the next battle starts. To be effective, this must happen: Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (CAFO) must have permits to operate and permits must be enforced, and the overall TMDL must have enforcement teeth. Governor DeWine has done a good job with the H2Ohio program. But, we will face new challenges with CAFOs because they will resist. The TMDL needs to be the tool to measure CAFOs and ensure accountability. This cannot be a voluntary process. It has to be measureable, tangible, and enforceable. Otherwise, we will lose the next battle.”