Ohio River Watershed

The Ohio River Watershed has an area of approximately 39.8 square miles and contains 49.5 stream miles.

The table below shows the various land-use percentages for the watershed.

Water Quality Impacts

The Ohio River attracts heavy recreational use, including boating and fishing. However, fish have been shown to contain PCBs and chlordane, both toxic substances. PCBs leak from old electrical transformers that have been dumped in streams or buried. Chlordane was once used in pesticides; although it is now illegal, it remains in the environment for many years. Other sources of pollution include runoff from the almost completely paved surface area of downtown Louisville and from combined sewer overflows during heavy rains. Most sewers in the watershed are combined sanitary and storm sewers. Other non-point sources within this watershed are herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers.

The Ohio River Watershed has a large number of point source discharges. The watershed also contains a high number of industrial users and general permittees.

The following table summarizes point sources in the Ohio River Watershed.

Monitoring

MSD has performed monitoring activities within the Ohio River Watershed.

Strategies

MSD is currently in the process of prioritizing Jefferson County watersheds for development of a water quality-based evaluation tool. A schedule has not been established for the development of a water quality tool for the Ohio River Watershed.

Project Implementation

MSD has undertaken a number of projects within the Ohio River Watershed, ranging from water quality projects to those that reduce flow to the system.

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