Bridge over the Ohio River in Cairo, Illinois
Image Source: © 2011 Jonathunder on Wikimedia
The Ohio River is the Mississippi River's largest tributary, forming near Pittsburgh from the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers and joining with the Mississippi 981 miles later in Cairo, Illinois. The Ohio River borders or flows through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Nearly 10% of the U.S. population, about 25 million people, live in the Ohio River Basin and more than 5 million people rely on the river for drinking water.
Source: Ohio River Foundation
This page focuses primarily on documents related to Illinois portion of the Ohio River Basin, where flows along the southern border from where the Wabash joins it in Gallatin County to it's confluence with the Mississippi River near Cairo, Illinois.
Ohio River: Selected Documents in Chronological Order
Report on the Ohio river basin in Illinois by
Publication Date: 1939Revised edition of the report prepared for the National water resources survey of the National resources committee, 1936-1937.Ohio River pollution survey: Final report to the Ohio River Committee by
Publication Date: 1942
Temperature and Turbidity of Some River Waters in Illinois
byPublication Date: 1948Illinois State Water Survey Report of Investigation no. 1
Data are presented on the temperature and turbidity of river water at six stations along the Illinois, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. These data are analyzed to show the periods year by year in which certain limiting conditions exist, both as to temperature and turbidity respectively, and
also to determine the correlation of these phenomena within certain limited ranges. The trend in temperature and turbidity variations along the Mississippi River is indicated, and comparative data are offered for all stations.- A Study of the Pollution and Natural Purification of the Ohio River byPublication Date: 1958
Ohio River Basin comprehensive survey by
Publication Date: 1969Phase 1 of the water quality management basin plan for the Ohio River Basin by
Publication Date: 1976- Physical impacts of navigation: Ohio River field data collection
byPublication Date: 1988 - Impacts of Barge Traffic on Waves and Suspended Sediments: Ohio River at River Mile 581
byPublication Date: 1989 - Biologically Significant Illinois Streams : An Evaluation of the Streams of Illinois Based on Aquatic Biodiversity
byPublication Date: 1992The Ohio River is covered on pp. 440-457. Critical Trends Assessment Project Phase II Inventory of Resource Rich Areas in Illinois: An Evaluation of Ecological Resources by
Publication Date: 1996The Ohio River is covered in the section on Cretaceous Hills (pp. 158-162)- A Study of Impacts and Control of Wet Weather Sources of Pollution on Large Rivers byPublication Date: 2002
The loads of selected herbicides in the Ohio River basin, 1997-2000 by
Publication Date: 2002- Ohio River Ecological Research Program (ORERP): 2014 Ohio River Monitoring Results byPublication Date: 2016
Data and more
- Ohio River DataFrom Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO)
- East Palestine Ohio Train Derailment Spill Response (ORSANCO)
Access publicly available sample data
Library resources
- A primer on groundwater resources in the Compact District of the Ohio River Basin byPublication Date: 1984
- Ohio River water quality fact book byPublication Date: 1986
- Assessment of nonpoint source pollution of the Ohio River byPublication Date: 1990