Ohio's five regions contain more than 29,000 miles of named and designated rivers and streams and 35,000 miles of undesignated streams, a 451-mile border on the Ohio River, more than 188,000 acres among more than 450 lakes, ponds, and reservoirs and more than 230 miles of Lake Erie shoreline. Ohioans get drinking water from both surface and ground water. More than half of Ohio's total groundwater is used for drinking water. Although some progress has been made in curbing point sources of pollution in Ohio, particularly through Clean Water Act grants for municipal sewage treatment, industrial and municipal discharge of pollutants continue to threaten Ohio's surface waters. More than half of Ohio's water pollution problems are caused by non-point sources of pollution, including agricultural runoff of pesticides and fertilizers, suburban, industrial, and commercial development, and wetlands modifications and destruction.
Agriculture is Ohio's number one industry.
In 1995 there were 74,000 farms in Ohio covering more than 15 million acres with an average farm size of 205 acres. Ohio ranks among the top states in pesticide product registrations and licenses issued. Ninety-one percent of Ohio's corn crops are treated with two or more herbicides a year, according to the Environmental Working Group's 1994 report, Tap Water Blues . Forty percent are treated with three or more herbicides per year. Ohio has the highest application rate for the triazine herbicides in the Midwest states, according to a 1997 Environmental Working Group study .