CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2013 A major step in the eventual removal of the Gorge Dam from the Cuyahoga River is about to commence.<\/p>\n
Dignitaries including Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and U.S. EPA Region 5 Administrator Anne Vogel are expected in town this morning to celebrate the plan to remove nearly 900,000 cubic yards of sediment from behind the dam.<\/p>\n
The celebratory event is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at the Gorge Metro Park, which straddles Akron and Cuyahoga Falls.<\/p>\n
Removal of the contaminated sediment is necessary to prevent it from flowing downstream once the dam is taken out, said Lindsay Smith, spokeswoman for Summit Metro Parks.<\/p>\n
Among the contaminants are polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls, which are commonly knowns as PCBs, as well as oil, grease, cadmium and lead, according to the U.S. EPA website<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is highlighting the work that\u2019s happening here and really how exciting this is for our area,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n The 58-foot high dam was built early last century to generate hydroelectric power, which it did until 1958<\/a>. The power-generating station was removed in 2009 and plans have evolved to remove the dam and restore the natural flow of the river.<\/p>\n \u201cWe think the dam was built essentially right on top of the big falls, which was Cuyahoga Falls namesake,\u201d Smith said. <\/p>\n It won\u2019t be known until after the dam comes down whether the rock formations are still intact.<\/p>\n Earlier this year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded Sevenson Environmental, of Niagara Falls, New York, with a $132 million the contract to remove the sediment.<\/p>\n Planning has been going on during the summer and the actual removal should commence in early fall and take three years, Smith said. It involves having boats on the river pump the sediment downstream through pipelines to the Chuckery area of Cascade Valley Metro Park, where it will be safely stabilized with Portland sediment and planted with native vegetation and trees.<\/p>\n Much of the Gorge Metro Park is closed to accommodate the sediment-removal project. The main parking lot is open and the public can still access the upper section of the Gorge Trail, Smith said.<\/p>\n Also involved with the project are the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, the cities of Akron and Cuyahoga Falls, Summit County, the Ohio Lake Erie Commission, FirstEnergy, and the Ohio EPA. <\/p>\n If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CLEVELAND, Ohio \u2013 A major step in the eventual removal of the Gorge Dam from the Cuyahoga River…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":116613,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79],"class_list":{"0":"post-116612","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}