A conservation group cite's Ohio's unreliable data and lack of transparency as reasons for the state's failing grade in a recent report.
The Izaak Walton League gave the state of Ohio an F in their Clean Water: Your Right to Know report, which are conducted for all 50 states.
Specifically, a lack of testing stations, a lack of microinvertebre testing, contaminated water and a reliance on out-of-date information were the major points noted in the report.
However, some researchers, business owners and the Ohio EPA disagree with the report's findings.
Dirk Morgan, operator of Morgan's Canoe and Livery on the Little Miami River, said he is taking the report with a grain of salt.
"We want clean rivers, that's for sure," Morgan said. "But we do not agree with the assessment in this report."
Eric Partee who runs the Little Miami River Conservancy said the Ohio EPA is transparent, another major complaint of the report.
"We see cooperation and transparency with the agency looking at the Little Miami and it's health," Partee said.
Ohio EPA spokeswoman Heidi Griesmer said the data in the report is incorrect.
The report based testing off of the number of permanent water testing sites in the state, which is 75. Geismer said the monitoring is more extensive than the report projected.
"We monitor 400 to 500 sites per summer, focusing on five watersheds per year," she said.
You can read the report for yourself here.
