Cuyahoga cleanup means it’s safer to eat Cuyahoga fish
Fifty years after the Cuyahoga River burned for the last time, the river’s fish are back on the menu.
It is one step in a decades long cleanup after the river and its fires helped spark environmental awareness nationwide. Since the Cuyahoga River was designated an Area of Concern by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1987, officials have been working to remove 10 beneficial use impairments—things keeping people and animals from using the river fully, freely and safely. The ban on eating Cuyahoga fish is the most recent one to be lifted.
“It’s an amazing comeback story,” said Jenn Elting, the senior public information specialist for the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, an organization created to help clean up the Cuyahoga after the fire.