Public meeting on Riverside Dam modifications set for Friday

The public will get its first look Friday at plans to clear tons of sediment from the old reservoir area behind Riverside Dam and restore the dam. A community outreach meeting will be hosted by the Blanchard River Watershed Partnership from 10 a.m. to noon Friday at the Riverside Park Waterfall Pavilion, 231 McManness Ave. During the meeting, engineers from Verdantas, formerly Hull and Associates Inc., of Toledo, will present recommendations on how to best address sediment buildup, and modify the dam to reduce future buildup and allow fish to pass through the river. Light refreshments will be provided. Anyone wishing to attend can RSVP to Coordinator Lauren Sandhu at coordinator@blanchardriver.org Modification of the dam, along with the removal of the sediment and debris behind the dam, is meant to reestablish the aquatic habitat and recreational use of the area. The dam is located on the Blanchard River at Riverside Park. Riverside Park is Hancock County's oldest park. A history of the dam A check of the historical record on the Riverside Dam shows there's been debate about "tearing out the old dam" since at least 1910, and efforts to "flush" sediment from the Blanchard River as it flows through Findlay dating to at least 1892. Articles detailing the frustration with the dam and the sediment in the river were regularly published by the Findlay Daily Courier at the time. Volunteers were mustered to clean the river bed with "every impediment" to be removed "and to this end, a large number of hands will be needed," reads an article published in the Republican Jeffersonian, dated Aug. 21, 1906. The dam, then known as the "water works dam," predates Riverside Park, which was established in 1906. The dam was actually built to slow water moving through the Blanchard River to allow ice sheets to form in the river. An advertisement in the Jan. 22, 1891, edition of the Findlay Daily Courier, by the Findlay Ice Co., boasts that 16,000 tons of ice were pulled from the old reservoir area above the dam to be stored in two ice houses, located in what is now Riverside Park. Since its construction, sediment has steadily been accumulating behind it, greatly impairing the water quality in the area. Two "sediment islands" have developed behind the dam and continue to increase in size. Sediment in the old reservoir area has reduced the average water depth to only 3 or 4 feet, and has caused a decline in fish populations in an area that was once excellent for fishing, according to the partnership. Excess sediment is one of the main water pollutants in the Blanchard River Watershed, according to the partnership. Too much sediment in a waterway can greatly impact fish populations and other organisms in the benthic community. The loss of these organisms can result in food chain collapse, which can lead to the decline of numerous aquatic species. Nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen can bind to sediment particles and be carried downstream. Eventually, these nutrients and sediment make their way to Lake Erie, and contribute to the algal blooms that occur each summer, some of which produce toxins that can be harmful to both people and animals. The shallow water also makes it difficult to navigate canoes or kayaks in the area. Modern plans A recent archeological review of the historic site was conducted as part of the modern study, and there was no finding, according to Sandhu. The study was paid for by the city of Findlay with an $80,000 allocation from its federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. In all, Findlay is expected to receive about $4.2 million in grant money from ARPA. The partnership received approval from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for a plan, written in 2018, to improve the waterway near the dam and the old city reservoir. Once the engineering work is complete, federal and state grants will be sought to pay for the improvements. The Blanchard River Watershed Partnership is entirely grant-funded and works to address problems that affect the health of the Blanchard River Watershed and to educate the public about the river and its tributaries. In May, the Hancock County Board of Commissioners agreed to contribute an additional $80,000 to the project from the county's flood mitigation fund. The money will be used for the pre-construction phase of the project, which will include the design, permits, costs and continued public outreach. The Watershed Partnership will continue to seek grant funding for the construction. An application has been submitted to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seeking funding from its initiative to restore fish passages in the nation's waterways by removing barriers. The grant focuses on dam modification, fish passages and barrier and sediment removal. A total of $65 million is being made available, and the grants will range in size from $1 million to $5 million. The partnership represents the six counties of the Blanchard River Watershed and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving water quality. For more information about the Blanchard River or the partnership, visit www.BlanchardRiver.org