Black River facts

Native American name:
Canesadooharie.

Drainage area: 467 square miles, mostly in Lorain County but also including parts of Medina, Cuyahoga, Huron and Ashland counties.

Length: 111 miles, including East and West branches.

Largest tributaries: French, Wellington, Charlemont and Buck creeks.

Land uses in the watershed: 51 percent cropland, 38 percent rural non-cropland, seven percent residential, three percent commercial, one percent industrial.

Major permitted industrial dischargers: Only one, USS/Kobe Steel in Lorain (there are 24 smaller industrial dischargers and many others which discharge to wastewater treatment plants).

Major permitted municipal dischargers (wastewater treatment plants): Lorain (2 plants), Elyria, French Creek (owned by North Ridgeville), Oberlin.

Number of public water supply reservoirs in watershed: 10, the most in Ohio.

Number of dairy farms in watershed: 200, the most in Ohio.

Agricultural soil lost in basin: 4.7 tons/acre/year.

Highest priority inactive hazardous waste dump: Ford Road Industrial Landfill along the banks of the river in Elyria.

Percent of home septic systems in basin estimated to be substandard or malfunctioning: 75 percent.

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EcoCity Cleveland
3500 Lorain Avenue, Suite 301, Cleveland OH 44113
Cuyahoga Bioregion
(216) 961-5020
www.ecocitycleveland.org
Copyright 2002-2003

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