Proposed Removal of Cuyahoga's Biggest Dam

The photo on the left shows the original Cuyahoga Falls, circa 1880, which are about a 25-foot drop now buried behind the abandoned dam you see on the right. The Gorge Dam has been recommended for removal by the Ohio EPA. Photo via KeelHaulers.org 

Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials want to bring down the largest dam on the Cuyahoga River, but what to do with the concrete rubble and more than 800,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment trapped behind it remain the two biggest obstacles to demolition.

EPA officials presented a study during a public meeting in Cuyahoga Falls outlining possible options for dredging the sediment, where to dispose of it and how much the demolition project would cost Thursday.

Removal of the dam itself and disposal of the associated rubble would cost about $12.3 million. Removal and disposal of the 832,000 cubic yards of sediment, enough to fill 38 football fields to a depth of 10 feet, would cost an estimated $57.4 million.

Read local news coverage of the meeting here:

Akron Beacon Journal

WKSU 89.7 FM

Cuyahoga Falls News Press

Removal of the abandoned dam would open up an incredible stretch of Class IV-V whitewater that would link two already popular sections of whitewater on the Cuyahoga, the Upper Gorge and Lower Gorge. The project would restore the river and create one of the most intense and accessible sections of whitewater in the Midwest by linking the three sections.

This photo from American Whitewater via AkronHistory.org shows a rapid now buried beneath the dam pool of the abandoned Gorge Dam.

This photo via the University of Akron archives shows the original Cuyahoga Falls, which are buried behind the 60-foot tall and 420-foot wide Gorge Dam.