By Phil Keren
The Summiteer

 

Local leaders say the anticipated removal of the Gorge Metro Park Dam is another step in a years-long process to restore the Cuyahoga River to its natural state, as well as make it cleaner and friendlier to aquatic life.

 

When this project will go forward recently became less clear following the Unleashing American Energy Executive Order issued by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20. In a statement released Jan. 31, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it “has paused all funding actions related to the Inflation Reduction Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act at this time.” 

 

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was providing a substantial amount of the funding for a sediment removal project that must happen in the river prior to the removal of the dam. While the U.S. EPA is in charge of the sediment removal work, the city of Akron is leading the project to take down the dam. An Akron official said their work has been paused.

 

“We are currently on hold with this project while the funding question is worked out in the federal government,” said Stephanie Marsh, director of communications for the city of Akron.

 

Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Walters added, “I hope the project does move forward soon. A lot of work has already gone into this.”

The 57-foot-high, 440-foot-wide dam is located in Gorge Metro Park, part of Summit Metro Parks.

 

“Summit Metro Parks has not received notice from the federal government regarding a pause in funding for the Gorge Dam removal because while many stakeholders are working together to remove the dam, the project is currently in a phase that is being directly implemented by the U.S. EPA and the city of Akron,” said Lindsay Smith, chief of marketing and communications for Summit Metro Parks. “Although there is currently a fluid situation with this project’s funding at the federal level, we look forward to continuing momentum on this effort — now in progress for more than 10 years — which will result in incredible ecological and economic benefits to the people of Northeast Ohio.”

 

During the past two decades, the water quality of the Cuyahoga River has improved due in part to the removal of five dams that stood on the waterway. Those projects in Brecksville, Cuyahoga Falls (two dams), Kent and Munroe Falls happened because of a collaboration among officials at all levels of government and other stakeholders. This partnership is expected to happen again with the anticipated deconstruction of the Gorge Metro Park Dam.

“The Gorge Dam is one of the largest remaining unresolved water quality problems for the Cuyahoga River,” Smith said. “In addition to restoring water quality, removing the dam and the sediment behind it will improve wildlife habitat and improve human health.”

 

The removal of the five dams and the planned tear-down of the Gorge Dam are part of a larger effort to both restore the Cuyahoga River to its natural state and make the Great Lakes cleaner. The Cuyahoga River flows into Lake Erie.

 

The Gorge Dam was constructed in 1911 “to support hydroelectric power generation and to provide cooling water for a nearby coal-fired power plant,” according to information listed on the Summit Metro Parks website. Both of those power plants closed decades ago and the dam no longer performs any productive function.

Because of this industrial history, sediment contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), heavy metals, oil, and grease have accumulated behind the dam. Workers would remove these contaminants through a dredging process before tearing down the dam.

 

After the federal Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972, experts believed that cleaning up the discharges into the waterways would fix the water quality issues, according to Elaine Marsh, Watershed Resource Specialist for Summit Metro Parks.

 

“Since then we’ve learned that’s only a portion of what you need to do,” Marsh explained. “What we are coming to understand is that the balanced ecosystem is the primary thing that keeps the system clean and functioning.”

 

The Ohio EPA conducted a study on a section of the Cuyahoga River from Lake Rockwell to Munroe Falls. This examination — known as the Middle Cuyahoga River Total Maximum Daily Load — was published in 2000.

 

“That was a section of river that had clean discharge and good chemical water quality, but it did not meet the aquatic standards,” Marsh said. “What (the study) found was it was the dams and flow related to the dams that caused the water quality problems for aquatic life in that section.”
 
 Marsh noted the study found the dams were barriers to fish passage, changed the water temperature and altered the food chain.

 

“They just had a radical alteration that is completely unnatural,” Marsh said.

 

Studies were conducted to assess the feasibility of removing the non-functioning dams in the area and eventually five dams on the river— two in Cuyahoga Falls and one each in Brecksville, Kent and Munroe Falls — were taken down during a 16-year period. The Kent dam was removed in 2004, the Munroe Falls dam was taken down in 2006, a pair of dams in Cuyahoga Falls were torn down in 2013, and the Brecksville Canal Diversion Dam was removed in 2020.

 

“Once those five dams were removed, those five areas in the river in those dam pools … met the goals of aquatic life,” Marsh said.

 

The Gorge Dam would be the last dam removed on the Cuyahoga River. The Lake Rockwell dam will remain in place because it provides drinking water to multiple communities in the Akron area, Marsh said.

 

 

In October 2023, the U.S. EPA and multiple partners announced a project agreement worth $100 million-plus to clean up nearly one million cubic yards of contaminated sediment from behind the Gorge Dam.

 

“The removal of the contaminated sediments will reduce the risk of exposure of these substances to humans as well as fish and wildlife,” according to a statement from the U.S. EPA.

 

The partnership for the sediment removal project is between the U.S. EPA and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, the city of Akron, FirstEnergy/Ohio Edison Company, and Ohio EPA. Under this agreement, the U.S. EPA’s portion of the project — 65% of the cost — would funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. That funding has been paused by one of Trump’s executive orders. The four partners would cover the remaining 35% of the expense, according to a U.S. EPA news release. Marsh said this funding would mainly come from various state programs.

 

Summit Metro Parks, Summit County and the city of Cuyahoga Falls are providing various forms of support for the river clean-up. Summit Metro Parks leaders are working to ensure the project is beneficial to the environment.

 

“We want to protect the interests of our lands and to make sure the project is done in such a way that the land can be restored to our satisfaction in terms of where the infrastructure is, that the river be protected, that we can restore it in a way that will enhance our goals of biodiversity,” Marsh said.

 

Marsh added parks officials are issuing press releases and hosting public meetings to keep people informed about each step of the project.

 

Walters said the city of Cuyahoga Falls provided $50,000 in funding in each of the previous two years and will do so again this year to help pay for sediment removal.

 

 

The U.S. EPA is tasked with hiring a contractor to dredge the Cuyahoga River to remove the contaminated sediment in a process that would take about two years, according to Heather Ullinger, Senior Engineer with the city of Akron Engineering Bureau and the city’s project manager for the removal of the Gorge Dam. 

 

Ullinger said the former site of a power plant owned by the city of Akron along Front Street is expected to be used as a staging area for the dredging operation. The city of Akron received nearly $3.4 million from U.S. EPA through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to stabilize this area. With the sheet pile wall failing, work was done to make sure the site will be safe for the dredging contractor to use. The stabilization work started in October 2024 and Ullinger noted that “90%” of the job is finished.

 

“The remaining work is minimal site restoration and is planned to occur in the spring,” Ullinger said.

 

The city of Akron is providing a sediment storage area on a 30-acre parcel in the Chuckery Area of Cascade Valley Metro Park. Akron received $8 million from Ohio EPA to pay for the preparation of this sediment placement area. That work started in July 2024 and was completed in December 2024, according to Ullinger.

 

“We had to do some grading and some stormwater ditches to prepare that site to receive the material,” Ullinger said.

 

When the dredging work occurs, the sediment would be off-loaded at the former power plant site. The material would be pumped through pipes under the Front Street bridge, alongside the High Bridge Trail, and travel under the High-Level Bridge at North Main Street and end up in the Chuckery Area of Cascade Valley Metro Park.

 

“The sediment will be covered with soil and native plants to complete restoration and remediation,” a U.S. EPA spokesperson said.

Bids would then be accepted for the dam removal project and a contract would be awarded by the city of Akron. This project would consist of removing the concrete structure and stabilizing structures in the dam pool such as the Front Street bridge.

 

“The dam pool changes the adjacent infrastructure,” said Ullinger, who added she expects the dam removal to take about two years. “We can only lower the water level one foot per week. The dam spillway is 57 feet high, so 57 weeks (for the work) theoretically, but there will be other work that’s needed … and we have to account for seasonal variations.”

 

Due to these projects, park and trail closures are expected at both Gorge Metro Park and Cascade Valley Metro Park during the next several years, according to information listed on Summit Metro Parks’ website.

 

 

The city of Akron is also leading the Northside Interceptor Tunnel project, which is mandated by the federal government under the Clean Water Act.

 

“We’re required to capture all Combined Sewer Overflows in the typical year’s storm,” Ullinger said. “We have a tunnel that’s currently under construction right now. It started in September of 2023 and will be done in December of 2026.”

 

For this project, Combined Sewer Overflows — which occur when sanitary sewer contents mix with stormwater and overflow into the Cuyahoga River — will be removed from: Front Street on the south side of the river; just below the Gorge Dam; the High Level bridge; and in Chuckery Park south of the Signal Tree.

“Instead of overflowing into the river they’re going to overflow into the tunnel and be held in the tunnel during the rain event,” Ullinger said. “It’s held back by two big valves and then after the storm event, the valves open and they drain to the existing sewer system.”

 

The water then travels from the sewer system to the city’s wastewater treatment plant. This work may happen at the same time as the sediment project and the subsequent dam removal.

 

 

Both Marsh and Walters noted that removing the dam would create Class II and III rapids for serious and expert kayakers.

 

“The dam from the beginning of the Gorge to Cuyahoga Street, the river falls more than 200 feet in less than 2 miles,” Marsh said. “It’s remarkable geology and it’s unique to Ohio. … This provides an opportunity for paddlers that we never had before and it also provides an opportunity for people who like to watch the paddlers.”

 

Since the two dams were removed in Cuyahoga Falls, there are already Class IV and V rapids in the section of the river near the Sheraton Suites. There is an annual kayak race that happens in this area of the river each spring. With the removal of the Gorge Dam, an additional part of the river will draw interest from serious and expert kayakers.

 

“These kayakers will come from many states away,” Walters said. “There’ll be nothing like this east of the Mississippi. … It’s going to be about two miles of challenging whitewater and that’s kind of unheard of in this part of the country.”

 

Inner tubing and novice kayaking businesses have already set up shop in areas farther upstream where the water flow is calmer. Walters anticipates similar ventures happening in the spots with the more challenging rapids.

 

At High Bridge Glens Park next to the Sheraton Suites, there is a staircase that takes visitors “about halfway” down to the river’s edge, Walters said. The mayor would like to extend that staircase to the river level. That structure could be used by first responders doing a river rescue and by the general public interested in viewing the river. Walters added there are eight dedicated rock climbing spots just south of the Sheraton Suites. Having the staircase travel down to the river’s edge would allow “the rock climbers to get down and then climb back up the rocks,” Walters said.

 

 

In addition to creating a healthier waterway and more recreational opportunities, removing the dam would reveal a natural wonder that has never been viewed by a person who is living today. 

 

“Somewhere near or under that dam … is what’s called the Big Falls, which is what Cuyahoga Falls is named after,” Walters said.

 

The Big Falls is a three-tiered shale waterfall that has been concealed by the Gorge Dam for the past 114 years. In the latter part of the 19th century and the early portion of the 20th century, the Big Falls and the Gorge served as a tourist attraction, according to Marsh.

 

Walters noted that artistic representations of the Big Falls appear on the Cuyahoga Falls city flag, seal and letterhead.

 

“No one alive has ever seen it other than old photographs,” Walters said. “It will be exposed for the first time anyone alive has ever seen it. It’s going to be kind of neat.”

 

While this project carries a large price tag, Marsh believes it’s well worth the money.

 

“Number 1, it’s part of the cost of our clean water infrastructure to restore the Cuyahoga River, and number 2, water is life and we have channeled our thinking around infrastructure as being roadways,” Marsh said. “If you were to add up the cost of the central interchange over the last 10 years and how much money we have invested in that, I’m sure it would be a lot more.”

 

She added the last of six dam removals on the Cuyahoga River should yield an excellent return on investment.

 

“We’re only going to have to spend this money once,” Marsh said. “This will take care of this problem and it will be a fabulous victory for the river. It will be a victory for quality of life and it will be a victory for us looking at the value of clean water.”

 

For more information about this project, visit https://www.summitmetroparks.org/about/free-the-falls/.