Cleaning up a dam mess
Major milestone, sediment clean-up will bring Cuyahoga River closer to a Gorge Dam-free future
The largest remaining impediment to a free-flowing Cuyahoga River is the Gorge Dam in Summit County, and on Thursday, officials gathered to kick-off the clean-up effort that will ultimately allow the dam to be removed once and for all.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 Administrator Anne Vogel, along with other state, local, and national officials and our own CEO Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells, addressed reporters at a press event August 28 near where 850,000 cubic yards of sediment behind Gorge Dam will soon be removed and then safely relocated, treated, and rendered harmless.
That volume of sediment could cover 11 football fields almost 12 feet high.
Following completion of the sediment remediation work, set to begin in September and continue for the next two years, the dam will be removed in a subsequent project.
Restoration of a free-flowing river and removal of these contaminated sediments will allow for the ongoing recovery of biological communities within the Cuyahoga River, an effort long supported by the Regional Sewer District.
“Our role in the Gorge Dam project is a testament to the benefits of our Regional Stormwater Management Program,” said Sewer District CEO Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells. “For this project, our work will focus on restoring the aquatic habitat in the Area of Concern [AOC] through stormwater projects up and down the river.”
In 2022, the Sewer District entered the Gorge Dam Sediment Remediation Project Agreement as a Non-Federal Sponsor with USEPA, Ohio EPA and other participating Non-Federal Sponsors, to provide an in-kind contribution for the Project through the District’s design and construction of aquatic habitat restoration projects in the Cuyahoga River AOC.
To date, the Sewer District’s in-kind contributions across four different regional stormwater management program projects total more than $13 million.
“This is the last significant in-river impediment to delisting the Cuyahoga River [as an AOC],” explained Mike Blair, Sewer District Project Manager II who has worked closely tracking our involvement. “The recovery process of the Cuyahoga River is well known nationally and internationally, and this project represents a significant national event demonstrating partnership and water resource recovery.”
Speakers at the press event included EPA Regional Administrator Vogel, Governor DeWine, Dreyfuss-Wells, Rep. Shontel Brown, Rep. Emilia Sykes, Akron Mayor Shammas Malik, Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters, and Summit Metro Parks Executive Director Lisa King.
