By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent

CINCINNATI, Ohio — A shared interest in water resources in the Ohio River Basin was behind the formation of the Ohio River Basin Alliance. In August the group convened in Charleston, W.Va.; it was their third meeting.

“It is a need that we have in the Ohio valley,” said Alan Vicory, executive director of the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission. “We have abundant water resources here in the valley, second to none in the country. We do not have an effective organizational forum to represent those interests and to talk about the issues relative to good water resources management.”

At this point the alliance is a group of approximately 100 representatives from state, local and federal agencies, not-for-profit organizations, industry and academia. It is in the process of becoming a nonprofit.

The alliance would provide a forum for organizations and individuals interested in stewardship of the water resources of the Ohio Valley to come together, talk about issues and create collaborations among the members. It could also represent the Ohio River Valley’s views in national forums, Vicory said.

This type of forum can provide for an interaction of its members and an understanding of each other’s roles, Vicory said. It can lead to partnerships and sub-partnerships on issues.

“A forum, which would be able to do this, is important, needed and I think welcomed, for the Ohio Valley,” he said.

Five sub-groups of issues to be dealt with have been established: enterprise and infrastructure, water availability and management, restoration and protection, sustainable growth and competitiveness.
At the most recent meeting those groups reported on what they believe the needs are in their respective areas.

“You aggregate them all together and there are a lot of long-term issues that have been thrown to the general group,” Vicory said. “When the alliance is ultimately created, those ideas will probably be prioritized, and around those ideas there will be individual initiatives – whether it be proposed projects, position papers, whatever.”

Finally, the Ohio River Basin provides natural capital which sustains the productivity of parts of 15 states, and is an area rife with water issues. This initiative represents an effort to fill a void in a holistic, integrated approach toward solving some of the water resource challenges across both geopolitical and functional boundaries.

Another meeting of the alliance is tentatively scheduled for early 2011 in Indianapolis, Ind. For more information visit www.ohioriverbasin.org