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H2Ohio program shows measurable water gains but faces deep budget cuts, panelists say
Summary
Speakers at a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum described measurable water-quality gains from the H2Ohio initiative since 2019 and warned that recent state budget cuts — roughly $52–60 million annually — remove a substantial share of the program's funding for communities, agriculture and natural-resources work.
Speakers at a Columbus Metropolitan Club forum in Columbus said Ohio’s H2Ohio program has produced measurable improvements in farm- and watershed-level water quality since 2019, but that recent state budget reductions sharply cut the program’s funding.
"It currently it currently is being decimated by this budget," said Representative Dontavious Jarrells, Ohio House of Representatives, who described reductions of about $52–60 million annually to H2Ohio line items in the state budget signed July 1. Jarrells said roughly 73% of EPA-related H2Ohio funds, about 55% of Department of Natural Resources funds and about 12% of Department of Agriculture funds were removed in the latest budget.
H2Ohi…
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