Everyone has a role to play in protecting our critical water resources. Residents and stakeholders can be involved in planning for better use of these resources by restoring natural functions to our landscapes and improving the quality of our water. This page includes resources that can help.
The watershed area of Lake Erie’s western basin includes almost 6 million acres across northwest Ohio and parts of southern Michigan and eastern Indiana. The 2 million people who live in the watershed rely on Lake Erie, rivers, and groundwater for sources of drinking water, and people across Ohio and the United States count on our waterways and Lake Erie for fishing, recreation, and agriculture. dive deeper
Everybody has the power to make improvements in water quality. You can make a difference by adopting water-friendly habits, expressing your concerns about water quality to your local, state, and federal elected officials, and providing input as plans to restore our waterways are developed.
Learn about water-friendly habits and take a pledge
Clear Choices Clean Water – Greater Toledo Lake Erie is a water quality education program designed to increase awareness about the impact our daily choices have on our waterways. We encourage everyone (adults and kids alike!) to pledge to start or continue behaviors that improve water quality and water conservation. Not sure how to start? We’ve tried to make it easy – there’s an action pledge for everyone, and we’ve included resources to help. Not sure your actions matter? After taking a pledge, we calculate how much pollution you prevented from entering our waterways. A map shows how your actions combine with others’ to positively impact our waterways.
Operators of drinking water and wastewater plants are essential to protect our water resources and public health. Many facilities in the TMACOG region are in need of operators. Learn how you can fast track your career at waterworksforyou.org
Many water quality issues can be addressed through better state and local policies, but it’s hard to know where to start. TMACOG’s Agenda for Lake Erie (AFLE) details the policies and actions needed to improve water quality in our rivers, streams, and Lake Erie. This document has been developed, reviewed, and approved by a diverse group of private and public sector partners, and represents a regional consensus and commitment to our region’s water resources.
TMACOG’s Advocacy Toolkit explains the process of advocating for legislation you think will be helpful. This toolkit is designed to work hand-in-hand with TMACOG’s policy recommendations, and we encourage you to use the recommendations in the Agenda for Lake Erie in your outreach. The Agenda for Lake Erie identifies whether specific policy actions are needed at the state, federal, or local level, allowing you to target your advocacy to the appropriate lawmakers.
Restoring our waterways almost always requires significant investments of public funds and resources. People who live, work, or have businesses in our region all benefit from improved water quality. Likewise, we are all impacted by poor water quality. Public investment is critical to ensure the long-term operation and maintenance of water quality projects and other public infrastructure. For these and many other reasons, input from community members is an important part of planning for water quality improvement and protection.
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U.S. EPA’s “How’s My Waterway?” webpage (mywaterway.epa.gov) provides information about the conditions of local waterways based on data each state provides. The website includes an interactive map showing information about whether a waterway can be used for drinking water, fishing, and recreation, and how well it supports aquatic life. The maps also identify relevant pollutants and other issues for each waterway.
States monitor bodies of water to determine if they can support uses like supplying drinking water, eating fish caught from the waterway, swimming, boating, and providing an environment that supports aquatic life. If a waterway does not meet these criteria, it is considered “impaired.” The Clean Water Act requires states to identify all impaired waterways in the state and maintain a list of these waterways, referred to as the “303(d) list.” According to the Clean Water Act, states are required to develop a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for all waterways identified as impaired.
Point source pollution enters our waterways through pipes, ditches, and tunnels that are designed to discharge wastes from sewage treatment plants, businesses, industries, and some underground stormwater infrastructure...dive deeper
A TMDL is the maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to enter a waterbody so that the waterbody will meet the state’s water quality standards. A TMDL includes a detailed study that identifies the links between the sources of a waterbody’s impairment and the pollutant reductions needed to meet the state’s water quality standards. A TMDL serves as a roadmap for actions that can be taken to improve water quality. A TMDL analyzes pollutant contributions from various sources to determine appropriate limits for each.
TMDLs calculate an allowable pollutant load for individual point sources and nonpoint sources. These allowable loads are used to assign daily and monthly pollutant discharge limits to each NPDES permitted facility, such as wastewater plants and industrial facilities. Facilities that discharge to impaired waterways are likely to have more stringent discharge limits than those that discharge to unimpaired waterways. Strong discharge limits usually result in necessary treatment upgrades that can be costly to communities.
TMDLs also assign pollutant load limits to nonpoint sources; however, because NPS pollution is not regulated under NPDES permits, states are not required to enforce pollution reduction efforts. Instead, the TMDL relies on analysis and modeling to recommend lists of actions that will reduce pollutant from nonpoint sources. Using the data and targets developed in the TMDL, local partners develop NPS-IS plans to identify critical areas where focused efforts will help a waterway meet water quality standards.
TMACOG is a member organization. Members include cities, counties, villages, townships, schools, and special districts.
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