Ohio River Facts

The Ohio River (981 miles; 1582 km) is formed at the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers at Pittsburgh ending in Cairo, Illinois, where it flows into the Mississippi River. In 1669, a French trapper named LaSalle was the first European explorer to write of "Belle Riviere," or Beautiful River which was to become the Ohio.

The Ohio River flows through or borders six states: Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

For a map of the Ohio River Basin, click here: Ohio River Basin (http://www.orsanco.org/rivinfo/basin/basin.htm)

For a listing of all of the Ohio River Tributaries starting with the Allegheny River, go to www.orsanco.org/index.php/tributaries

• The Ohio River is a source of drinking water for more than three million people.
  
  
• More than 25 million people, almost 10 percent of the U.S. population, live in the Ohio River Basin. For a breakdown on Ohio River Basin Population, click here: Basin Population
  
  
• Approximately 150 species of fish have been collected from the Ohio River.
  
  
• The average depth of the Ohio River is approximately 24 feet.
  
  
• The widest point along the Ohio River is approximately 1 mile at the Smithland Dam.
  
  
• No point source pollution from urban runoff, agricultural activities, and abandoned mines is a major cause of water pollution in the Ohio River.
  
  
• There are 20 dams and 49 power-generating facilities on the Ohio River. For hydropower impacts, click here: Hydropower Impacts. The power generating facilities have a combined capacity in excess of six percent of the total US generating capacity.
  
  
• Over 230 million tons of cargo is transported on the Ohio River each year. Coal and other energy products make up approximately 70 percent of the commerce traveling by barge.

Resource and more information:
The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO)