August 5, 2026
H2Ohio is making a healthier Lake Erie 12 years after the Toledo Water Crisis
This week marks the 12-year anniversary of the Toledo Water Crisis, and thanks to leadership from Governor DeWine and the advocacy of the environmental, agricultural, community and business constituencies across Ohio, we’ve seen great progress in the health of Lake Erie.
While algal blooms are a natural and necessary part of the aquatic food chain in the Western Lake Erie Basin, under the right weather conditions, these nutrients feed explosive algae growth. This abnormal growth can create blooms capable of producing dangerous toxins that threaten drinking water, wildlife, recreation, and local economies. On the morning of August 2, 2014, hundreds of thousands of people in northwest Ohio awoke to learn that the city’s drinking water, coming from Lake Erie, had been contaminated with elevated levels of microcystin, a toxin produced by harmful algal blooms in the lake.
City and community leaders stepped up to take care of the community in the face of the emergency, providing bottled water and other short-term necessary solutions. In the aftermath of the event, leaders across the state began discussing what a long-term solution to dangerous algal blooms and other pressing water infrastructure issues in the state should look like.
In 2015, the governors of Ohio and Michigan joined the Premier of Ontario in committing to reduce phosphorus entering Lake Erie by 40 percent by 2025. The agreement recognized that restoring the lake would require cooperation across state and international borders, across industries and ZIP codes.
Public officials in Ohio pledged swift action to reduce phosphorus pollution throughout the Lake Erie watershed. Environmental organizations, community organizations, scientists and academics, farmers and agricultural groups, and business leaders all came together to discuss how to best prevent chronic, severe algal blooms in the Lake. In short, this required programs that would address pollution before it reached the Lake. These discussions became the brainchild for H2Ohio.
In 2019, Governor Mike DeWine created Ohio’s H2Ohio program with support from the Ohio General Assembly. Since that time, H2Ohio has wisely invested hundreds of millions of dollars in water quality initiatives. These include supporting the construction of wetlands that naturally filter pollutants, programs incentivizing farmers to adopt conservation practices that reduce nutrient runoff, improving the health of Ohio’s rivers, and supporting water infrastructure upgrades and lead line removal in communities across Ohio.
The good news is that H2Ohio is working. It has produced measurable progress with scientific results showing a 10 to 12% reduction in phosphorus entering the watershed in recent years. AGL_WLEB_AgReport_2023_Final-WITH-CHARTS.pdf This program demonstrates that reducing phosphorus pollution is possible when governments, farmers, conservation organizations, and local communities work together.
The bad news is that H2Ohio currently relies on biennial state operating appropriations rather than a dedicated, long-term funding source, creating uncertainty for implementation and future planning. In the last state operating budget cycle, H2Ohio took a nearly 40% cut despite strong bipartisan support and strong public polling results for the program.
To keep H2Ohio strong, viable and fully-funded, the Ohio Environmental Council, is leading a campaign, in coalition with over 40 different organizations, to secure full funding for H2Ohio in Ohio’s next state operating budget while building support for a permanent funding solution.
H2Ohio is Ohio’s most successful and broadly supported environmental initiative, protecting drinking water, restoring wetlands, reducing nutrient pollution, and improving water quality statewide. Yet, the anniversary of the Toledo Water Crisis is a reminder that clean drinking water cannot be taken for granted. Communities depend on healthy ecosystems, and environmental stewardship directly affects public health, local economies, and quality of life. H2Ohio was the right solution then and it remains so today. A fully funded, long term H2Ohio will allow our state to continue the progress to ensure safe drinking water for all Ohioans.
