A few years ago, I worked on a project on the Cuyahoga River- you can read about it
here. My undergraduate advisor was contracted to make sure that the sediment in the dam pool wasn't going to kill anyone with heavy metal poisoning when the dam was lowered or removed, and suffice it to say that I did the grunt work. I visited the old dam site yesterday. The whole thing turned out very well, I have to admit! They extended the bike trail, and built an ampitheatre using of the curved Berea sandstone blocks that used to make up the dam. The old cornerstone takes pride of place in the parking lot flowerbeds. Finally, they built an observation platform overlooking the rapids where the dam used to be. B and I went there last night, and watched the swallows skim over the riffles, catching whatever unlucky bug that was attracted to the water there.
The Cuyahoga River was used and abused for a century, so the Munroe Falls Dam was neither the first dam built, nor was it the last to fall. Not more than a few miles downstream is Cuyahoga Falls, where the river is eating away at the remnants of low head dams in the gorge. I really don't have a clue how these were even constructed in the first place: the gorge walls are steep, making the riverbed all but inaccesible. Perhaps they diverted it somehow through the canals? I haven't a clue. In either case, they're broken and crumbling now, and whatever industry they fed is long gone, replaced by hotels and restaurants capitalizing on the view.
Even further downstream is Gorge Metroparks- that place kept me sane when I was taking mineralogy. I used to go down, sit at the deck overlooking the dam, and do homework. It's still my favorite of the Metroparks, winter, summer or fall. The Gorge Dam, also known as the Ohio Edison Dam, once fed the cooling pool of a coal fired power plant run by the company of the same name. The building still sits at the intersection of Howe Ave. and Gorge Rd., and has that turn-of-the-century architecture that I wish was more prevalent in industrial buildings today. It's made out of red brick, which bore the coal dust and soot quite well. High, arched cathedral windows stretch up the side of the turbine housing, culminating in black steel smokestacks, which have since been capped. Outwardly, despite years of neglect, it's in pretty good shape. If they could clean up that site and make it into a museum or an office building... but I digress.
The plant has been defunct for years, meaning the dam serves no apparent purpose, except to bury the falls of the Cuyahoga River under a dam pool. Kayakers,
obviously, are not very happy about this. The Cuyahoga river contains world-class rapids- if it were opened for that use, paddlers would come from around the world to test their skill in the gorge. They try now, but they have to sneak around. Because of these damn... dams... the river doesn't meet water quality standards for dissolved oxygen and bacteria all of the time- meaning that the EPA and the Metroparks by extension can't open the river for swimming, boating, and paddling at any time.
At this point, you're probably saying, "Hell, what are they waiting for! Tear the thing down!" And if I didn't know better, I would too. However, it all comes back to the power plant- it was built in 1915, well before anyone knew what heavy metals and PCBs would do to biology (or at least before anyone cared), and a little under 60 years before the Clean Water Act (which, by the way, was inspired by another reach of the Cuyahoga). I can't say this for sure, but I'd lay my last dollar on it- all of their drains led directly to the river, meaning that whatever was in that plant is now in the dam pool sediments. I wouldn't go out there and play in the mud from that reach without a Tyvek and a respirator.
As it turns out, the dam does serve a purpose- it's a makeshift landfill for all that... nastiness. If it were just to magically fail or be removed without dredging, it would create an unmitigated environmental disaster for all points downstream. Unfortunately, like most dams that have outlived their purpose, no one really wants to take responsiblity for either its upkeep or its dredging and removal.
I'm kind of embarrassed that I missed
this. Apparently not too long ago, there was a permit submitted to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to turn the dam into a power generating plant, much to the dismay of Gorge fans like myself. It probably wouldn't have done much- the Cuyahoga has neither the drop, nor the discharge (for most of the year) to generate much more power than would keep the lights on in the plant, but it would have cost the park road construction, views, and probably a good bit of the hiking trail. The permit was terminated not too long ago, but I have mixed feelings about that, too.
Dam infrastructure in this country sucks. That's really the only way to put it. I'm absolutely shocked that the last infrastructure disaster was a highway bridge collapse, and not a catastrophic dam failure. And while the Gorge Dam appears to be in good shape, it's only a matter of time before it too deteriorates, and becomes a danger to everyone downstream. The Gorge Dam can't be removed with the current budget. It would cost too much in dredging, and would divert funds away from other, more urgent projects. I would have felt better seeing someone responsible for its upkeep and maintenence, even if that meant that I had to give up my favorite park in Akron, for the safety of those downstream.
However, as it stands, I guess the Gorge is still in limbo. I hope that someone eventually finds a solution.
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