BUIs

The last remaining BUI in the Michigan AOC, the Degradation of Benthos, was removed after federal, state, and local partners determined that measures of benthic community health met established criteria.

Tumors and deformities were historically elevated in fish populations in the Black River and Cuyahoga River Areas of Concern (AOCs) as a result of legacy industrial pollution and poor water quality. Contaminant source control and water quality improvements in both AOCs, and remediation work in the Black River AOC, reduced rates of fish tumors and deformities to meet Ohio’s AOC restoration targets, prompting the removal of the Fish Tumors and Other Deformities Beneficial Use Impairment (BUI) from these AOCs.

EPA announces that habitat for mink and bottom-dwelling plants has improved enough to remove the Degradation of Fish and Wildlife Populations Beneficial Use Impairment from the Rochester Embayment AOC in Lake Ontario.