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Timeline

The Long Path to Recovery for the Black River
1970

  • Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) formed

1972

  • Clean Water Act passes and leads to regulation of discharges

1979

  • Steel mill faces air pollution enforcement action

Old Picture of Steel Mill.jpeg
1980

  • Brown bullhead catfish liver studies conducted

1982

  • Ohio EPA conducts intensive survey of the Black River

Fish Sampling in Stream.jpeg
1983

  • Ohio Department of Health issues contact advisory for the lower Black River

  • Ohio Department of Health issues a Do No Eat Fish advisory for the lower Black River; later revisions of advisory follow

  • Steel mill coking plant closes

Old Black River Advisory Sign.jpg
1984

  • Brown bullhead catfish liver studies conducted

  • Black River is identified as a Great Lake Area of Concern by the International Joint Commission

Water pollution3 - old picture.jpeg
1989-1990

  • Remedial dredging of contaminated sediments begins

1991

  • Black River Remedial Action Plan (RAP) formed

1992

  • Ohio EPA conducts intensive survey of the Black River

  • Brown bullhead catfish liver studies conducted

Bullhead catfish tumor 1992.jpeg
1997

  • Ohio EPA conducts intensive survey of the Black River

  • Brown bullhead catfish liver studies conducted

2002

  • Ohio Department of Health lifts contact advisory for the lower Black River

  • The Black River RAP applies for and receives a re-designation of the Fish Tumors and Other Deformities Beneficial Use Impairment from "Impaired" to “In Recovery"

2005

  • Black River delists benthos impairment in the East Branch; it is the first RAP area in the U.S. to completely remove any impairment

2009

  • Lower Black River Ecological Restoration Master Plan completed in December 2009

2011

  • Black River Remedial Action Plan Stage 2 Report completed in November 2011

Planting Trees on Remediated Land in Lorain.jpeg
2011-2013

  • Fish sampling and fish tissues studies conducted by the Ohio EPA 

  • City of Lorain secured numerous grants for ecological restoration activities within the Black River AOC

  • Invasive species removal along the lower six miles of the river as a result of a U.S. EPA Challenge Grant

Fish Shelves and Replanting 2011-2013 (1).jpeg
2014

  • Ohio EPA releases updated delisting guidance for Ohio AOCs

  • The name is changed from the Black River RAP to the Black River AOC Advisory Committee

2015

  • Black River AOC Advisory Committee votes to begin the process to delist BUIs for fish and wildlife consumption and eutrophication and undesirable algae

  • U.S EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office gives approval to re-designate the AOC to exclude the East and West Branches of the Black River. Based on environmental data, the branches do not significantly differ from other agricultural non-AOC watersheds around the Great Lakes.  

2021

  • The U.S. EPA announced the 100th Beneficial Use Impairment from a U.S. Area of Concern, a historic milestone in restoring the Great Lakes. This accomplishment occured at the Black River AOC, where the EPA removed the Degradation of Aesthetics beneficial use impairment.

  • USACE completes substantial repair of confined disposal facility in Lorain Harbor (pictured). Click picture for more information.

Lorain Harbor wetland.jpg
2022

  • Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) for Restrictions on Navigational Dredging Activities - REMOVED

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Lorain Harbor dredging in nav channel.jpg
2023

  • LoCoBROH app is launched. It allows users to virtually visit project sites, view pictures, identify species, & more​

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  • U.S. EPA removes the 'Fish Tumors or Other Deformities' Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) on October 6, 2023

2024

  • Local, state, and federal partners have worked together in substantially completing all management actions, with the final step anticipated to be finished in summer 2024.

management actions.jpg
Pre-1900

  • 1st Iron Furnace (1860)

  • 1st Sanitary Sewer (1892); it pumps sewage directly to the Black River, resulting in an increase of typhoid cases

  • Johnstown Steel relocates to Lorain (1894-1895)

  • Johnstown Steel becomes Lorain Steel (1898)

  • 1st Blast Furnaces, Lorain Steel (1899)

Unloading at steel operations 2.jpg
1901-1910

  • Lorain Steel becomes part of US Steel (1901)

  • First pipe made at National Tube Company (1905)

Unloading at steel operations.jpg
1910 - 1970

  • Limited environmental regulation of discharges

Water pollution - old picture.jpeg
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