The Cuyahoga River AOC Remedial Action Plan
In concert with Ohio Lake Erie Commission and EPA, the Cuyahoga River AOC Advisory Committee (formerly the Cuyahoga River RAP Coordinating Committee) has developed strategies and a list of projects to address each of the impairments. The Cuyahoga River AOC Remedial Action Plans (RAPs) and Management Action List (MAL) are geared toward restoration or removal of Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs).
The Stage 1 and 2 RAPs identified the BUIs and what caused them. In some cases, the actions needed to fully restore the impairments involved large-scale actions such as removing dams or reducing Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) through deep tunnel systems and green stormwater infrastructure. In others, strategically-located smaller-scale projects such as stream restorations, riparian buffers, or sediment capture and reuse were identified to get us closer to our goals. In still other cases, public education and outreach may be the key to instigating the necessary broad-based actions that are needed, such as those to reduce nutrient runoff from fertilized soils.
Based on the RAPs and other evaluations, the MAL was developed and included the necessary actions required to restore the remaining BUIs. The projects selected for the MAL were generally geared towards restoring fish and benthos populations and fish habitat, as well as remediating contaminated sediment. Project details and statuses can be found under “Project Overviews”. While these Management Action projects are critical to restore the BUIs, other actions identified in the RAPs are also important and many of which have or will be implemented outside of the AOC program.
The table below shows the impairments, the strategies, and actions underway, and the status of restoration efforts. For more information on the progress toward addressing specific impairments, click on the impairment.
Steps to Delisting:
1. Implement Management Action Projects (MAPs) to improve conditions and address specific issues,
2. Remove all Beneficial Use Impairments (BUIs) when the target for each issue is reached, and
3. Delist the Cuyahoga River as an Area of Concern (AOC) when all MAPs are complete and all BUIs are fixed.
For more information on the Ohio AOC program and specific metrics for each BUI,
Click here to download the complete updated AOC Delisting Guidance document.
Objective: Reduce contaminant levels in fish tissue to meet state or Lake Erie consumption advisory levels by removing sources of contamination.
Strategy/Action: Compare contamination to applicable species advisories, where such exist.
REMOVED. This impairment was removed in December, 2018, US EPA having determined that advisories for consuming fish caught in the AOC need be no more stringent than Ohio consumption advisories for fish caught in Lake Erie.
Objective: Raise average scores of fish community surveys – Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) and Modified Index of Well Being (MIwb) – to state biological criteria targets. The wildlife populations portion of this BUI is not impaired.
Strategy/Action: Remove barriers to fish passage (dams); improve fish habitat and benthos in Cuyahoga River and tributaries.
This BUI is impaired.
Most projects on the MA list are focused on addressing fish habitat and populations and benthos populations. Two MAs are complete to remove fish barriers within the Cuyahoga River AOC, including the Canal Diversion Dam and West Creek flume projects. Two MAs to improve or create fish habitat are complete (Sowinski Park and Cascade Valley). Other fish barrier removal and habitat creation projects are in various phases of design.
Objective: Meet regional or Lake Erie incident rates of Deformities, Eroded Fins, Lesions and Tumors (DELTs)
Strategy/Action: Remediate Old River Channel sediment; Continue monitoring and assessment in ship channel.
*REMOVED*
Some fish with DELTs have been found in the most recent limited sampling. Further sampling will be carried out to determine if instances exceed allowable levels.
Objective: Average scores of Invertebrate Community Index (ICI) are within state biological criteria guidelines.
Strategy/Action: Remove or modify dams; restore habitat in ship channel and tributaries; reduce sediment from tributaries.
Habitat projects and stream restorations are underway.
Objective: To have no restrictions on navigational dredging or disposal activities due to contaminants in sediment, such that sediments are suitable for upland reuse/disposal, OR sediments meet Ohio EPA guidelines for open water disposal.
Strategy/Action: Identify sources of contamination of existing sediment, or of new sediment being carried into channel, to reduce amount of sediment requiring special disposal.
Most of the sediment in the ship channel is suitable for various upland reuse locations, making it likely that this BUI could be delisted soon. The State of Ohio has recently prohibited open lake disposal, and efforts are underway to develop alternative uses for the sediment. The Port is supporting projects that are capturing sediment before it reaches the channel.
Objective: For Riverine waters (upstream of lacustuary,) when conditions are not impaired as a result of excessive algal growth due to sources of nutrients, or no persistent nuisance growth of algae or blooms of blue-green algae have been observed within the last three years due to sources of nutrients from within the AOC.
For Lake affected waters (lacustuary,) when waters meet the minimum and the average dissolved oxygen criteria listed in Ohio Water Quality Standards (WQS) and no persistent nuisance growth of algae or blooms of blue-green algae have been observed within the last three years due to sources of nutrients from within the AOC.
Strategy/Action: Implementation/Completion of Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) and City of Akron Long Term Control Plans for Combined Sewer Overflow reduction; Green Infrastructure Best Management Practices to reduce surface runoff into storm sewers; Nutrient reduction from non-point sources through education, outreach, and municipal code enhancements; Vegetated riparian buffer restoration to interrupt/absorb nutrients in surface runoff.
*REMOVED*
NEORSD’s Long Term Control Plan has been approved, measures are underway; Akron is implementing CSO reduction work; This BUI has met all necessary criteria to be removed from the AOC.
Objective: For public bathing beaches (applies to Edgewater, Villa Angela, Euclid Beach, and Shoreby Club,) posted advisory days due to E. coli contamination do not exceed 10% or 19 days of the recreation season, and posted advisory days due to algal toxins do not exceed that same portion of the season; or when bacterial impacts from CSOs are being addressed under an approved long term control plan or other legal agreement. For Cuyahoga River from SR 87 to Lake Erie, segment is not on Ohio’s list of impaired waters due to bacteria, or impacts from CSOs are being addressed under a long term control plan or legal agreement and a TMDL is approved and the State and RAP can document that the level of bacterial contamination is not worse than similar watersheds.
Strategy/Action: Implementation/Completion of Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) and City of Akron Long Term Control Plans for Combined Sewer Overflow reduction; Green Infrastructure Best Management Practices and vegetated buffer enhancements to reduce surface runoff of pet and animal waste into storm sewers and streams.
NEORSD Long Term Control Plan has been approved, large tunnel construction and green infrastructure retention measures are underway; Akron is implementing CSO reduction work; Ohio EPA is enabling and funding green infrastructure projects; AOC partners are doing riparian buffer restoration to reduce runoff, impervious surface removal and revegetation projects, and public education on nutrient reduction.
Objective: Access to ship channel and mainstem for recreation and fishing is not impaired. (Note: This BUI is a locally-added impairment.)
Strategy/Action: Increase public park space and greenways in ship channel through completion of Towpath Trail and other sites, and increase fishing access sites in this and other areas.
REMOVED. Having met local goals noting adequate public access improvements, this impairment has been REMOVED from the list of impairments.
Objective: No observed ongoing occurrences of sludge, oil, scum or other objectionable materials that produce color, odor or other nuisances or, if cause is CSO or regulated MS4 discharges, when long term control plan or other legal document is in force. Woody debris, or excessive turbidity after storm events or due to agricultural activity, is not considered an impairment.
Strategy/Action: Identify and remediate sources of materials other than woody debris.
REMOVED. Having confirmed no recent or current instances of aesthetic impairment, the request for removal of this impairment has been APPROVED by U.S. EPA.
Objective: In riverine areas upstream from the lake affected waters (lacustuary), the average Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (QHEI) value within an assessment unit does not diverge from state biological guidelines, or in lake affected waters (lacustuary) the average Lake Qualitative Habitat Evaluation Index (L-QHEI) value does not diverge from state biological guidelines. The ship channel has a designation of Limited Resource Waters, for which targets are lnot applicable. However, it is considered necessary to provide habitat where possible to support migrating fish.
Strategy/Action: Dam removals; ship channel and tributary habitat restoration projects including future habitat as part of Franklin Hill (aka Irishtown Bend) stabilization project; ODNR fish habitat monitoring; green infrastructure along ship channel.
Habitat projects are underway. In the ship channel, Scranton Flats provides significant new habitat, while Cuyahoga County Planning and Cuyahoga River Restoration have installed hundreds of habitat structures on the bulkheads that are accumulating organic material. Efforts to create more behind-the-bulkhead habitat areas such as those created by Ohio DOT beneath I-90 and in sections of Scranton Flats, are moving forward, as are strategies for integrating habitat in the design of the Irishtown Bend park project.
Projects in the tributaries are improving habitat. A habitat plan has been developed including projects identified as high priorities in key subwatersheds.
Preliminary plans for the removal of the Gorge Dam are moving ahead.
The Management Actions plan focusing on fish habitat, benthos, and fish passage has identified priority projects for funding.