On Tuesday, May 7th, over 600 fifth-grade students from schools across Columbus and Franklin County attended the annual Central Ohio Children's Water Festival at Franklin Park Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in Columbus, Ohio. The Central Ohio Children's Water Festival is a collaborative volunteer effort from Ohio EPA, City of Columbus, OSU, and local consulting companies. A goal of the festival is to promote environmental awareness of our valuable water resources.



Throughout the day, students rotated through activities, including interactive displays, hands-on workshops, and fun presentations allowing the students to learn about the irreplaceable resource of water and its characteristics. The Ohio WRC provided one of the 25-minute workshops teaching the students about buoyancy and how it relates to density. Students were challenged to determine if items would float or sink based on the principles of buoyancy. Students made origami boats, followed by a friendly competition to determine how many pennies were needed to sink the paper boats.

Have a news article you'd like us to feature? Email us at OhioWRC@osu.edu!

Proposal of Water Quality Standards Beneficial Use Designations Wave 3 (OAC Chapter 3745-1)

The Ohio EPA proposes to amend the following rules of the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC): 3745-1-10, 3745-1-13, 3745-1-14, 3745-1-24, 3745-1-27, 3745-1-28. The Agency invites all interested parties to comment on these rules and will hold combination in-person and virtual public hearing per package. During the hearings, the public may submit written and/or oral comments on the record about the proposed rules. The hearing will be held on June 6, 2024. The in-person hearing will be held in the Summer Conference Room at Ohio EPA, Suite 700, 50 W. Town Street, Columbus, OH, 43215. Virtual attendees must register in advance. All comments received at the hearing or via email must be submitted to dsw_rulecomments@epa.ohio.gov by close of business on June 6, 2024.

Ohio EPA: Rulemaking Governing Public Water Licenses

Ohio EPA Division of Drinking and Ground Waters (DDAGW) is soliciting comments on rules within OAC 3745-84. Ohio EPA will be holding a virtual and in-person public hearing on the rules on June 5th, 2024 at 10:30 AM. Stakeholders will be able to comment in-person within the Ohio EPA Summer Conference Room at the Lazarus Government Center, 50 West Town Street, Suite 700, Columbus, Ohio 43215. Virtual attendees must register in advance. Comments can be submitted by email to ddagw_rulecomments@epa.ohio.gov. Comments should be received at the above address by the close of business, June 5, 2024.

To find more resources offered by Ohio WRC, please visit: https://wrc.osu.edu/resources

Webinar: Freshwater Science - A HABs primer

June 18, 2024 • Virtual

Hosted by Ohio Sea Grant, Stone Lab and the Harmful Algal Bloom Research Initiative, Dr. Chris Winslow will discuss up-to-date information on topics such as nutrient sources in the Maumee River watershed that drive blooms, the progress toward meeting nutrient load reduction goals, and best practices for farmers. Register in advance to attend the webinar.

Conference: 2024 AWRA/UCOWR/NIWR Water Resources Conference

September 30-Octobter 2, 2024 • St. Louis, MO

Hosted by the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), the Universities Council on Water Resources (UCOWR), and the National Institutes for Water Resources (NIWR), the conference will be held in St. Louis, MO focusing on water-related research, management, extension, and education topics. Registration will open soon.

Have an event you'd like us to feature? Email us at OhioWRC@osu.edu!