Dam Removal On Euclid Creek (OH) Has Supporters Upbeat, But Five More Dams Remain

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Euclid -- News of another dam coming down in any one of Ohio's hundreds of streams is practically intoxicating for water quality proponents. So they're partying now up on Euclid Creek -- although in moderation.

Workers with Great Lakes Construction this month ripped out a 40-foot wide, 6-foot high concrete barrier in the stream just below the Highland Road bridge near Euclid Creek Reservation. That's reason enough for conservationists to celebrate. "It's just great and shows how we have changed the way we look at the importance of free-flowing streams," said Kyle Dreyfuss-Wells of the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District, which is supporting the project as a construction manager.

"Because we're so rich in water resources in our region, however, we have a lot of dams which essentially create what some call 'inline ponds' on our streams and that creates sediment accumulation problems upstream and erosion problems downstream." But once a dam goes, fish can better migrate up a free-flowing stream, increasing the number of species traveling several miles from Lake Erie into the upper watershed, biologists say. That, in turn, increases recreational fishing opportunities and improves water quality.

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The sobering reality is that there are still five more dams left choking the creek -- and it took half a decade and a the support of a dizzying mosaic of funding sources and partners to get this one $526,000 job done. "That's true, it took about five years and five major funding sources just to get here," Posius said. "It's really tough to scrape together the money to do even just this one job and the remaining dams may each take five to seven years, though I think we can go much quicker." A spillway under Interstate 90 would be the next likely target from an ecological -- though not an economic -- perspective, Posius said.

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http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2010/12/removal_of_small_dam_on_euclid.html