Since the development of the Ashtabula River Remedial Action Plan (RAP) Council in 1988, the Ashtabula started to address the 6 BUI’s of the Ashtabula. After years of work, the first round of removal of the BUI’s came in 2014 when three BUI’s were removed; this included BUI 1 Restriction on Fish and Wildlife Consumption, BUI 3 Degraded Fish and Wildlife Populations, and BUI 14 Loss of Fish and Wildlife Habitat. In 2018, the BUI 6 Degradation of Benthos was removed.
Last year the last two BUIs, BUI 7 Restriction of Dredging Activities and BUI 4 Fish Tumors or Other Deformities, were removed. In October of 2020 the EPA announced, after 32 years, the Ashtabula AOC will be the first in Ohio to start the delisting process.