PIKE COUNTY, Ohio -- A Central Ohio county was given a disappointing distinction.
Pike County was identified as Ohio's leading county for tire-dump sites, with thousands of tires being found in ravines and creek beds.
But there has been a push to clean up the tires.
NBC 4's Lauren Diedrich GOT ANSWERS on what's being done and WHY IT MATTERS to your health and the environment.
There has been lots of heavy lifting going on in rural Pike County -- and lots of dumping going on in the area's many ravines.
Twenty-six areas in the county are being cleaned up by the EPA and county governments.
"Open dumping of trash we deal with on a daily basis. If you don't want to have to pay for trash pickup, it gets dumped," Pike County Health District's Sandy Colegrove said.
Colegrove said so far they've collected more than 10,000 tires at the dump spots.
The biggest worry? Mosquitoes.
"We're especially concerned about it because of the potential for mosquito breeding," she said.
Thousands can breed in dump areas and spread diseases, including West Nile Virus.
The project was expected to wrap up next week.
For additional information, stay with NBC 4 and refresh nbc4i.com -- Where Accuracy Matters.
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