Ohio EPA decides not to give highest possible protections to Big Darby Creek

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has decided it will not designate the Big and Little Darby Creeks as Outstanding National Resource Waters, the highest possible protection for which environmentalists and others were pushing.

"After considering comments and concerns for and against the Outstanding Natural Resource Waters (ONRW) designation, Ohio EPA believes the best and most balanced approach to protect the Darby is to improve land-use practices that will protect water quality in the watershed," said an Ohio EPA statement that agency spokesman Anthony Chenault emailed to The Dispatch.

That would be done through updates in a water quality managment plan and developing other strategic plans, the agency said.

The decision baffled and troubled those seeking such protections who are worried that encroaching development in the fast-growing area could hurt the biologically diverse streams.

“Overwhelming support for designating Big and Little Darby Creeks as Outstanding National Resource Waters came from public interest organizations, elected leaders and people across Ohio and the nation," said John Tetzloff, president of the Darby Creek Association, in a statement the Ohio Environmental Council provided. "Instead, Ohio EPA decided to listen to a small handful of developers who opposed the designation by falsely claiming it would prohibit development, which it would not.

"Protecting the creeks, their biodiversity and their water quality should be the priority of the Ohio EPA, not catering to the profit-driven motives of builders," Tetzloff said.

Nathan Johnson, senior attorney for land and water at the Ohio Environmental Council, said in an interview with The Dispatch that if the creeks have ecological significance, the Ohio EPA must give them the designation with highest protection. "That's what the regulations say," Johnson said.

Johnson's group said that a wave of suburban development is approaching the watershed, with more than $200 million in pending loan applications for new sewage treatment plants in the area.

In January, Johnson said the Ohio EPA needs to do a comprehensive study to determine the environmental impacts more development will cause, including stormwater runoff in the Big Darby Creek watershed.

Jon Melchi, executive director of the Building Industry Association of Central Ohio, said his group submitted comments to Ohio EPA back in the fall against the designation, which Melchi said would have essentially prevented homes from being built in the watershed.

"We thought it was an extreme proposal," he said.

In its statement, the Ohio EPA said land use practices that safeguard water quality include protecting environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands, forested areas, and highly erodible slopes.

They also could include sustainable development practices for new developments and implementing agricultural practices that reduce sediment and nutrient losses from fields, the agency said.

The Ohio EPA said its choice to not move forward with the designation is discretionary and not appealable.

The Ohio EPA decision comes as Madison County works to build a $100-million sewage treatment plant near the Interstate 70/U.S. Route 42 interchange in the Deer Creek watershed to handle more development.

And Plain City is expected to grow from just more than 4,000 residents to 21,000 in 20 years. The village sits on the Madison County-Union County line.

Groups such as the Ohio Environmental Council, Darby Creek Association, the Center for Biological Diversity, American Rivers, Ohio Scenic Rivers Association, Sierra Club Ohio and the Nature Conservancy submitted comments to the EPA in support of the Outstanding National Resource Waters designation.

In all, more than 1,200 comments were submitted last year, the Ohio EPA said.

Local environmentalist Anthony Sasson said that what is needed in Union, Madison and other counties in the watershed is something similar to Franklin County's Big Darby Accord that was adopted 18 years ago and provides protections in western Franklin County.

In June 2023, the Ohio EPA said it planned on extending protections to the Big Darby Creek in Plain City and Madison County similar to those in Franklin County.

There are several species of mussels in the Big Darby Watershed that are on the federal endangered list.

This past October, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service removed the Scioto madtom from its endangered list because of extinction. The tiny fish a tiny fish once inhabited the Big Darby Creek but has not been seen since 1957.

mferench@dispatch.com

@MarkFerenchik

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Ohio EPA won't give highest possible protections to Big Darby Creek