Dam options examined

Preliminary designs for modifications to the Riverside Dam are done, and the project is moving on to the pre-construction phase in December. About 50 people attended a community outreach meeting Friday at Riverside Park, 231 McManness Ave., to get a firsthand look at options for the historic dam. The meeting was hosted by the Blanchard River Watershed Partnership. During the meeting, Jordan Rofkar, a project engineer for Verdantas, formerly Hull and Associates Inc., of Toledo, reviewed preliminary designs for the modifications and outlined the scope of the project, which will include dredging the river above the dam and removing about 40,000 cubic yards of sediment. The project will also create a fish passage through the dam area, while maintaining and improving recreational access to the river and a pool area within the old reservoir area. Choices The three design options come with different price tags. Fully replacing the dam with a rocky ramp that would span the entire width of the river would cost an estimated $5.4 million. The rock ramp would be designed to look natural, but would be engineered to maintain water levels, churn the river water and allow fish passage through the area. Another option would be to cut a channel through the dam at an estimated cost of about $1.8 million. The third option would be to construct a bypass channel and go around the dam, at an estimated cost of about $1.1 million. There's also a possibility that the final project could be some combination of all three. Provided the funding is available, construction could begin in the spring of 2024 and be completed by the summer of 2025. The dam, formerly 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. 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. Getting a consensus The shallow water also makes it difficult to navigate canoes or kayaks in the area. 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 information about the Blanchard River or the partnership, visit www.BlanchardRiver.org