SALEM, Ohio — H2Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine’s flagship water quality initiative, doesn’t have as many friends as it once did in the Ohio state legislature.
In April, House lawmakers proposed slashing the program’s funding by more than $120 million over two years to $150 million, down from the $270 million requested by DeWine. Then, on June 11, the Ohio Senate released its own version of the spending plan, one that preserved those deep cuts. While some senators introduced amendments to partially restore some of H2Ohio’s funding, the gap remains largely unfilled.
The Senate bill has now returned to the House for revisions. DeWine is expected to sign off on the final version of the biennial budget by the end of the month.
The proposed cuts mark a sharp departure from the program’s history of bipartisan support.
Since 2019, H2Ohio has brought together state agencies, local communities, farmers and researchers to reduce phosphorus runoff, one of the key drivers of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie. That collaboration has produced measurable results.
The Ohio Department of Agriculture has enrolled about 3,200 farmers in voluntary nutrient management plans. These producers utilize best management practices such as planting cover crops and wield precision phosphorus application across 2.2 million acres of farmland. Meanwhile, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources has partnered with nonprofits and private landowners to launch 203 wetland restoration projects.
So far, 113 of those projects have been completed, restoring nearly 18,600 acres of wetlands and natural habitat to help trap and filter excess nutrients before they reach Ohio’s waterways.
Phosphorus levels in Lake Erie watersheds peaked at 13.5 million pounds in 2019. By 2023, that number had dropped to about 7.6 million pounds, thanks in part to H2Ohio’s targeted efforts. While progress varies year to year based on weather and water flow, the long-term trend points to modest but meaningful improvement in water quality.
Although he declined to comment directly on the proposed H2Ohio cuts, Jordan Hoewischer, Director of Water Quality and Research with the Ohio Farm Bureau, said in a statement to Farm and Dairy that farmers have made major strides in balancing productivity with environmental stewardship, and H2Ohio has been key to that effort.
“Thanks to Governor DeWine and the General Assembly’s backing of H2Ohio since 2019, the program has been an accelerant of the enormous progress made by farmers to find the right balance between increased yield, reduced fertilizer application and better nutrient utilization,” Hoewischer said.
Hoewischer added that research shows that more phosphorus is being removed from the soil through crop production than is being added by farmers each year. Additionally, levels of dissolved reactive phosphorus — the type that fuels algae growth in Lake Erie — have been trending downward over the past five years.
“Maintaining this momentum is vitally important, and H2Ohio will play a crucial role in keeping soils healthier and water cleaner,” he said.
Conservation groups have sounded the alarm about the potential stalled progress. The Nature Conservancy, a global nonprofit based in Virginia, urged the Ohio Legislature to restore the program’s full funding.
“If H2Ohio isn’t fully funded, it will cripple our state’s ability to address the chronic harmful algal blooms that plague our waterways, including Lake Erie, and the outdoor recreation economy it supports,” said Bill Stanley, the organization’s Ohio state director, in a press release.
The group warned that the proposed 45% cut would undermine efforts to modernize water infrastructure, weaken protections for natural lands, jeopardize wetland restoration and stall voluntary conservation practices on farms.
At a recent Ohio Agriculture Conservation Initiative farm tour on June 9, farmers emphasized how vital continued funding is for water quality improvement efforts like those supported by the H2Ohio program. From large-scale hog operations to mid-size row crop farms, producers shared firsthand how conservation tools backed by H2Ohio, such as variable rate fertilizer application, cover crops and edge-of-field monitoring, have helped them reduce runoff while keeping their operations efficient and productive. But with cuts threatening the program’s future, many expressed concern that momentum could stall.
Despite growing concerns over potential funding cuts, state officials are staying tight-lipped as budget negotiations continue. A spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Agriculture declined to comment, and DeWine’s office offered a similar response, citing the ongoing nature of the budget process.
Still, the governor’s January executive budget made clear his commitment to the program, calling water quality in Lake Erie “critical to the state’s strategy for clean water” and key to ensuring that Ohioans have access to clean, safe water for generations to come.
But as lawmakers debate the state’s two-year budget, the program’s wide-ranging goals risk being sidelined amid competing spending priorities.
Ohio Republicans are pushing to flatten Ohio’s personal income tax to a single 2.75% rate by next year, a move critics charge would disproportionately benefit wealthier residents. Simultaneously, the Senate’s budget plan includes $600 million in public funding for a new Cleveland Browns stadium in Brook Park.
Senate Democratic Leader Nickie J. Antonio excoriated Ohio House Republicans over their budget in a May press conference, calling it a handout to the wealthy and special interests. She argued the proposal sacrifices public education, food assistance and housing relief in favor of private school vouchers, tax cuts and stadium subsidies and called for full funding of H2Ohio, among other programs.
“Martin Luther King reminded us that budgets are moral documents. They lay out the values and the priorities of a state through the lens of legislative creators, but for the party of Lincoln in the state of Ohio that claims to prioritize children and families, this budget contains broken promises and failed policies that illustrate just the opposite,” she said.
