# River pollution



## Carver (Jan 20, 2010)

I have lived along the Ohio River all of my life and I can remember when I was a kid it smelled like a sewer in the summer time. Even now the water is still polluted. The city of Weirton WV has been dumping up to ten per cent of it's raw sewage into the river for many decades. The river bottom is full of mercury and PCB's which work their way up the food chain and into the game fish. The levels of pollution around Wheeling are all above normal and fecal matter is found in the water. This is not a joke, think before you eat the fish out of the river.


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## longhaulpointer (Mar 12, 2009)

who eats fish out of the ohio?


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## Jigging Jim (Apr 3, 2010)

Better than eating the fish from the Gulf Coast, I bet!


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## Carver (Jan 20, 2010)

Unfortunately too many people eat fish out of the Ohio.


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## 7thcorpsFA (Mar 6, 2010)

A friend of mine just ate some stripers he caught from locust creek about half a mile from where it empties into the Ohio just above Meldahl dam. He said they were great eating. I almost puked. I have seen raw sewage floating in that river and a mysterious brown foam in that pool. Still fish it looking for a wall hanger, but couldn't eat anything out of that nasty thang!


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## snake69 (Sep 26, 2005)

I've been eating river fish for years.(I glow a little at night she says, but other than that, no big deal!) Of course, I'm a ways up river when I keep them, whether that matters or not. If you go to the epa advisories, you'll see that the comparison between the Ohio River and Lake Erie are very close and they sell Lake Erie fish commercially. Most of the stuff dumped into Erie settles to the bottom, versus in the Ohio...it flows south! I eat primarlily walleye, sauger and saugeye. I'm told that carp and catfish are way worse to eat as they are bottom feeders, but I eat neither of those.


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## rac123 (May 20, 2004)

Wonder what good all the time and money and EPA regulations are good for? Of course, they say they are making progress,just give them some more tax money. How about make the polluters eat the fish?


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## Carver (Jan 20, 2010)

The pollution on the bottom travels up the food chain. Small fish eat the critters that eat the smaller critters that live in the muck. And then it works it's way up the food chain until it ends up in the game fish that are so delicious.


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## snake69 (Sep 26, 2005)

I'm not trying to be a smarta** here, but you catch some eyes' you don't want, I'll be happy to eat them for you. The crap we inhale every day, the junk that's hidden in our food, fed to the beef, pork, etc before we even see it in the store, sorry folks, I'll take my chances a few times a month. Look at our daughters at 10-11 yrs old now, that's the crap/hormones fed to the cows(my belief anyhow) to fatten them up to get more "GREEN" out of em'! Now our 10-11 yr olds look more like the 16 & 17 yr olds when I was growing up back when! It's funny though, before I went to answer this, there was a banner/advertisement above for a website called "Mercury Facts", pertaining to mercury in fish. Ironic that I never seen it before or coincidental that I noticed it on the Ohio River section!! Gonna check that one out.


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

If it means anything i was talking to a guy that use to work for the EPA and he said that yea there are pollutants in the water but as long as you clean your fish( don't eat the guts) That the heavy metals/ pollutants are mostly in the organs.


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## husky hooker (Apr 6, 2004)

im with snake,i eat crappie white bass all eyes i get out of pike island and never ate a bad fish. i might glow a little but,what the heck im not gonna live much longer anyway!!!!!look at all the recalls.....jees even peanut butter,and im gonna worry about a little ol fish...come on!!


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## snake69 (Sep 26, 2005)

And Husky, every time you turn around, something else is causing cancer....something your 94 ol grandpa has done since childhood. I'll keep enjoying the tasty stuff and worry* later*!


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## Daveo76 (Apr 14, 2004)

If anyone ever finds pure ,truly clean , virgin water to fish from, I'd really like to see it.Water is a daily part of our lives and I think we do a better job at keeping it cleaner than we used to. I grew up in the 60's & 70's along the Ohio River close to Portsmouth and the water always stunk like the steel mill next to it and looked like it had tar floating on it all the time. All we caught most of the time were Carp & Catfish. But it's so much cleaner now than it used to be.There will always be something in the waterways, all waterways and there's no getting around it. The smallest things like bird droppings, dead bugs, gasoline, all the trash from high water. It could still be better but I'm also glad that we have done the good job that we have so far. I've caught 9 Smallmouth Bass from the river this month from below Greenup Dam and thats more than I've caught the last 2 yrs, so it must be getting better for them


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## Carver (Jan 20, 2010)

No doubt the river is much cleaner than it was many years ago. That place was an open sewer with only carp and bullhead cats in it.


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## livtofsh (May 13, 2004)

if you are worried about eating fish out of the river . you should never eat out or eat any thing out of the store you would have to eat fish everyday for the rest of your life to worrie about it.. you eat lb after lb of cancer causing agents everyday right out of the store the gov allows for so many pound of bugs and everything else so eat up.. the kid at the drive thru thinks its funny to spit on your food or wipe your bun on his arm pits and they forgot to tell u that the steak you just ate fell on the floor thats because youll never no because all the hair on it melted during cooking dont forget all the pestiside they spray on your food so its pretty when you buy it or all the radiation pumped out of your microwave so u can eat it faster so i say eat up and enjoy no one lives for ever


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## 7thcorpsFA (Mar 6, 2010)

The river is cleaner now for sure. Back in the 60s and early 70s it smelled like a mixture of diesel, gasoline, and sewage. An oil slick was a constant sight, it was sickening,but you got used to it. Because of those memories I just can't bring myself to eat the fish I catch. The river has the potenial to put a monster on my wall, so I still fish it with a big smile on my face!


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## The Ojibwa (May 30, 2010)

If the fish doesn't give you cancer, its the water you drink, the air you breathe, the comercially processed food you eat, etc. There are things much more toxic than fish that you interact with on a daily basis but never give a second thought to.

Catfish and carp are typically worse because they inhabit the benthic regions of the water column and subsequently feed on the organisms living there too. It just so happens, as said before, toxins and pollutants tend to accumulate in the bottom.


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## Carver (Jan 20, 2010)

A lot of people eat those fish no doubt about it. But I can't bring myself to do it. Too many memories and visions of that filthy sewer from years ago and too many stories of raw sewage still running in it today. I agree wih you guys about everything causing cancer and nothing is really clean and safe.. But when the people who test the water tell me that there is raw sewage and e coli bacteria in the water, well it makes me a big chicken.


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## Jigging Jim (Apr 3, 2010)

livtofsh said:


> if you are worried about eating fish out of the river . you should never eat out or eat any thing out of the store you would have to eat fish everyday for the rest of your life to worrie about it.. you eat lb after lb of cancer causing agents everyday right out of the store the gov allows for so many pound of bugs and everything else so eat up.. the kid at the drive thru thinks its funny to spit on your food or wipe your bun on his arm pits and they forgot to tell u that the steak you just ate fell on the floor thats because youll never no because all the hair on it melted during cooking dont forget all the pestiside they spray on your food so its pretty when you buy it or all the radiation pumped out of your microwave so u can eat it faster so i say eat up and enjoy no one lives for ever


Thanks, I feel sooo inspired now!


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

i was born in 64 in moscow ohio. lived hear all my life. when i was kid over half the fish we caught had soars on them. we,ed cut the soars out and eat the rest. i,m 46 now and in good health. if,in u don,t like fish,in the big o go to a farm pond where all the acid rain fall from these power plants.


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## 7thcorpsFA (Mar 6, 2010)

Glad to see you guys are in good health after eating them for years. I was born in Cincy near the river in 57 and remember them fish soars. It's those memories that turn me off. I have fun catching them, throw them back and go to Frisch's and get me a fish samich! Just a wuss I guess!


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## FISHNASTY (Oct 19, 2004)

Adult Flathead catfish eat about 95% live fish, they frequent the exact bottom that sauger and walleye do. I hate the myth that they are bottom dwellers that shouldn't be eaten. The real problem is that they and channels are a fatty fish and that fat stores toxins for long periods of time.


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## flthednut (Feb 17, 2007)

Yep, I remember back in the day 60's 70's. Seen lots of pollution flowing into the river. Everything from steel mills, chemical plants, other types of manufacturing, Coal mines, Glass factories, and the water waste treatment plants. Seemed like the only fish one would catch was carp and catfish and some did have soars all over them. Even as bad as it was I still had a blast swimming in it. Then in the late 70's I noticed I was starting to catch smallmouth and spotted bass. That was a shock. But then again that's when a lot of the clean water act had started and the jobs started leaving. Yes the river is cleaner than it was when I was a young kid but I know that the pollutants are still there in the muck on the bottom. That may never ever clean out. I guess if ya don't want to eat the fish from there, Don't. Nobody is twisting your arm to do so. I wonder how many tomatos and or corn or other vegetables are grown along the river bottoms that have been flooded and left the ground contaminated with who knows what and do you think that maybe some of these huge gardens use river water pumped up to water the crops? MMMMM ! Marietta sweet corn and some Ohio river eyes with a mater and lettuce salad...... I ain't dead yet.


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## ohiogary (Dec 14, 2006)

I think about all the waterfowl that feeds along the shorelines, than fly into a decoy spread........I would think they would contain toxins


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## PhattyB (Dec 11, 2007)

ohiogary said:


> I think about all the waterfowl that feeds along the shorelines, than fly into a decoy spread........I would think they would contain toxins


Yep, LEAD.


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## husky hooker (Apr 6, 2004)

your choice...eat em or not. i never eat fish from the store cause i never know where they are from.cut the ribcage and belly out,never much meat there anyway, hey hon got the fryer going yet!!!!!!


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## cadyshac (Dec 9, 2005)

I am with you Husky, I would rather eat a fish that I caught and I know it is a healthy looking fish. Where does FRISCHS, KROGER, RED LOBSTER (insert your favorite restaurant here) get their fish from????????? virgin pure clean waters?????????? I think not!!!!!!!! Eating a few river fish here and there is not a big deal to me.


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## ohiogary (Dec 14, 2006)

I just think the epa should come down hard on the ones that are knowingly dumping the polluants in to the river, I also fish the river and eat a few saugeyes. They should place a heavy fine when caught and use the money for stocking programs, better fishing areas, It would be a real treat to have lights at pike island dam pier.....and even a portajon...


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Raw sewage pours into every creek and river in Ohio . That is the way they expell the over load of rain water coming into our sewage plants . If you don't beleive it just go to your local sewage plant it is always built next to a creek or river it is also the lowest point in your county . Because it is gravity fed from your bathroom to the plant . Go on a heavy raining day they will have a huge permant pipe coming out of the plant running full force into whatever creek it is next to . Lake Erie has raw sewage running into it from CLeveland and every little town that butts upto it .
The best sewage plant is at the mouth of redoak creek on the Ohio River . There is a little water falls that comes out of the plant right next to a floating restaurant . I bet 90 percent of the people who are eating there have no idea what that cute little waterfall is . It is the runoff of the sewage plant . 
I have never caught any fish out of the Ohio River that had tumors on it like the fish up at Lake Erie do . I do not eat any fish that has tumors I always practice catch and release on them .


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## Gottagofishn (Nov 18, 2009)

Hmmmm.....Yeah, I have seen the steaming, frothing incoming sources to the Ohio. I don't eat the fish outta there because of those memories. However......just as a comparison.....Here's a little sampling of what you'll find in that delecious ice cold glass of milk!

Pituitary hormones (PRL, GH, TSH, FSH, LH ACTH Oxytocin)

· Steroid hormones (Estradiol, Estriol, Progesterone, Testosterone, 17-Ketosteroids, Corticosterone, Vitamine D)

· Hypothalamic hormones (TRH, LHRH, Somatostatin, PRL-inhibiting factor, PRL-releasing factor, GnRH, GRH)

· Thyroid and Parathyroid hormones (T3, T4, rT3, Calcitonin, Parathormone, PTH peptide)

· gastrointestinal peptides (Vasoactive intestinal peptide, Bombesin, Cholecystokinin, Gastrin, Gastrin inhibitory peptide, Pancreatic peptide, Y peptide, Substance P and Neurotensin)

· Growth Factors (IGF's (I and II), IGF binding proteins, Nerve growth factor, Epidermal growth factor and TGF alpha, TGF beta, Growth Inhibitors MDGI and MAF, and Platelet derived growth factor

· Others... (PGE, PGF2 alpha, cAMP, cGMP, Delta sleep inducing

· peptide, Transferrin, Lactoferrin, Casomorphin and Erythropoietin...


You may be better off with the fish!


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## Carver (Jan 20, 2010)

I think I am gonna starve myself to death. No wait a minute. How about beer and pretzels?


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Think about this one how is it that the walleye and yellow perch out of Lake Erie are fine to eat nothing wrong 1 meal a week . BUT everything else that swims in Erie is once a month or more . How could that be ? Just maybe they the Gov isn't telling us all there is to say about the walleye and perch . Why you say would they do that MONEY . Millions and millions of dollars of our hard earn dollar is spent trying to catch and EAT walleye and perch .
What river caught on FIRE no it wasn't the mighty Ohio River guess again !


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## boonecreek (Dec 28, 2006)

maybe i,ll start playing golf and turn into a veggie !!!!! yea right, give me a double portion of channel cat ( out of the river ) and a glass of milk. man u can die in u,er sleep. i,ed be more conserned about if i were going to heaven or hell!


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## bnt55 (Nov 15, 2009)

Before you make a statement regarding the edibility of an Ohio River fish, just remember that each state puts out a report on fish consumption. Here are some helpful links to help ease some minds out there....or not. 

Kentucky Fish Consumption Guide

Ohio Fish Consumption Guide


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## kyjake (Nov 21, 2007)

I was born in 1939 and have been eating fish from the river back when I probably shouldn't have been.As others have pointed out the river is a much different place than it was even forty years ago.If those fish I was eating long ago when the river looked like coffee and smelled in places like sulfuric acid they shouldn't hurt one now.I have only cleaned one fish in the last several years that had any kind of damage to the flesh and think it was from a bruise.There is no way you can buy fish in the grocery store that are as good as sauger and walleye from the river.Smallmouth,sauger and walleye are more numerous lately so the cleaner water is having a good effect on the fishing.
Jake


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## ohiojmj (Apr 16, 2004)

Never eat fish or drink water that Steelers fans have "used".


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## Mushijobah (May 4, 2004)

Fecal Coliform dies at about 71 °C


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

I don't know everything by a long shot, but I will say that back in the day when water was the stinky poo water it was a lot better than it is now.... Well not better. Mercury was in the water.( mercury was sprayed on logs,yea sprayed with a sprayer!! to keep the wood from rotting) WTF Then they realized it was great for birth defects....

Fecal matter is decomposable. meaning it brakes down and in a short time plus it isn't as bad as the chemicals that are in there now... They are made and used because of there uncanny ability's to not brake down. 


I don't mean to go on a tangent, but I am.

Think about this. When we fly in to outer-space to other planets what do we look for. WATER!!!! Now we have contaminated our water. Whether it is our lakes, creaks, or rivers we are slowly destroying what gives us life. WATER!!! Our ground water is getting contaminated from all the scotts/truegreen chem lawn company's. Our farming practices of no-till just round it up and pop it in the ground... We can spray round up on 200 acer field one day. Then a down pour of rain the next. Not to mention that we have acid rain!! It is real it has been damaging Maple leaves. Just ridicules. 

Oh yea, I forgot about the oil spill which was down played by the gov. and BP. Unbelievable!!!!!!


I am not a tree huger by any-means, But when do we stand up and put a stop to all the crap. Short cuts to save money. It has come to bite us in the ass In the financial sector lets hope it doesn't with our natural resources! I have a friend that changed there oil on this navy ships.( not by him self) They dumped it along with there trash in the ocean. *Do as I say not as I do. *

Sorry I am done. It is upsetting I have kids. Think about how different things are now from when your grandfather was in his 20's or 30's. I hope that the things my kids and grand-kids hear from me are not "yea we really use to swim and water ski in the river" 

Think about it!!!!


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## I Fish (Sep 24, 2008)

No, by all means, DO NOT EAT THE FISH. Go buy yours at the grocery Please, leave those polluted ones for us less fortunates. Actually, there have been several studies in the world that compare our water quality to that of other countries. It turns out, the EPA takes what they think is safe and divides it by about 10, just to make sure they are "accurate". Say what you want, but for some reason people seem to take the EPA's studies as gospel.


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## NKUSigEp (Jun 21, 2007)

I'm no expert here but I feel my line of work (Cincy Waterworks) qualifies me a little more than most to provide a decent response. The river is cleaner now than it's been in decades (30's and 40's). Storm drain over-flow does make its way to the river on occasion, but is not pumped into the river. Treated sewage is, but only after the treatment process. A lot of communities are now installing separate sewage and wastewater lines, which eliminates the storm-drain over-flow. Besides, sewage is the least of your worries. Mercury and lead are present in some areas in very small amounts but the vast majority of which immediately fall to the bottom due to their weight, and rarely end up in wildlife (which certainly doesn't make it any less dangerous). Other chemicals (petroleum products leaked from boats?) which stay in the water column have a much larger impact and can kill forage and game fish alike.

Two other killers are slowly making their way into the river system as well - disease and invasive species of fish. Snakeheads and Asian carp among others are definitely not good for the Ohio river fishery. And disease has yet to really make itself known but I've got a feeling that stress, water quality, over-fishing, and other factors are going to add up and we may see a huge drop in population/quality, etc.

PS - I always catch and release. I don't much like the taste of freshwater fish (except some occasional walleye or farm-pond channel cats).


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## NiceBass66 (May 12, 2010)

Bet the rivers and lakes are cleaner thatn the ones in the central valley of Cali!! (The fish are growing legs out there! ) hehe


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## C J Hughes (Jan 24, 2006)

Just returned from the river . Mayflies hatched they were everywhere, weed beds growing out from the banks 10 to 15 ft . River shiners and shad hatch unbelieveable they are 1 to 2 inches millions of them . For the first time ever I met a guy who was fishing for muskie on the Ohio River said they had been catching them up around Portsmouth . We caught 50 or more drum on silver jigging spoons . 1, 20# bluecat on cut drum 1, 10# channel cat, several smaller ones on jigging spoons , 1, 6 inch flathead on the jigging spoon . Untold hybrids and whitebass on white 100 series bandit . 1, 10 inch sauger on a jig and a minnow . We saw 1 bald eagle mature and 2 immature . I would say the river is in pretty good shape.


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

I see a lot of wildlife at the zimmer plant and beck jorge but I wouldn't eat any thing from around it.

*NKUSigEp* Yea, the non native species are or will cause a problem in our water ways.

Sorry for my tangent a few post ago. I just re-read it. LOL

I see short cuts in so many things to save a buck and that does more damage than good.


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## chadwimc (Jun 27, 2007)

wildman said:


> I see a lot of wildlife at the zimmer plant and beck jorge but I wouldn't eat any thing from around it.
> 
> [ QUOTE]
> 
> Why not? The power plants are more heavily regulated than your sewer department.


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## GETTIN' THERE (Apr 17, 2007)

Anybody been keeping up on the woman that is swimming the entire length of the Ohio River..Pitts. Pa. to Cairo Ill. Guess she expected to finish this Sat.
If you google "woman swims ohio river" you can see the different news stories.
Guess if she does not get sick or die from that it can't be too bad LOL!


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## wildman (Sep 3, 2008)

chadwimc said:


> wildman said:
> 
> 
> > I see a lot of wildlife at the zimmer plant and beck jorge but I wouldn't eat any thing from around it.
> ...


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## SigShooterWB (Jul 12, 2010)

Hers somethings for everyone to consider! my go to cat bait is hard Salami, I can buy it at Wall- MARX! and let it sit out for a week and it wont even hardly turn color. I but it from some mom and pop store and its spoiled after a day out! bottom line the stuff we buy at the store is so full of chems we dont even know about I think I'll take my chances on the Ohio


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