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The National Park Service and Ohio EPA will host a public hearing Wednesday to consider the future of a dam on the Cuyahoga River in Brecksville.
The Canal Diversion Dam, also known as the Brecksville Dam, the Station Road Dam or the State Route 82 Dam, was built in 1953 to divert water to the Ohio and Erie Canal. An environmental assessment considered three options: leaving the dam as is, reducing its size or removing it completely combined with building a pump station to divert water into the canal. The third option was deemed the best way to improve water quality and allow fish migration along the river. The assessment did not include a price estimate.
Planning for removal of the dam, located in Cuyahoga Valley National Park, began in 2002. Officials will present an environmental assessment of the project’s effects at a public hearing in Peninsula, before seeking approval from the federal government.
