Today, as a cloud of black sludge from the nation's worst coal waste spill inches downriver toward Cincinnati at about a half-mile an hour, the Ohio is in the best shape it has been in a century. Waste water treatment plants and federal clean water regulations have revived the river from its decades as a cesspool that sickened people living along it during the first half of the 20th century. That is a much tougher problem. Tougher because our everyday existence causes this pollution. Stan Hedeed, a biology professor at Xavier University, said solutions to point-source pollution, such as the liquid coal spill in Kentucky, are much easier to find.
Accidents lead to investigations.
Investigations often lead to regulation. Regulation can offer a solution. But fertilizers, hog waste, oil or dirt being washed into the river from rainfall is a very different problem, Mr. Hedeed said. The point-source issue is solvable. You can haul someone into court based on that type of problem.