Posted on August 26, 2021
According to the Ohio EPA, the following is a timeline of the river cleanup:
• 2013, Strategic Navigation Dredging: Under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, U.S. Army corps of Engineers dredged 114,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from federal navigation channel in upper and lower river.
• 2013, Jack’s Marine North Slip Sediment Cleanup: Under the Great Lakes Legacy Act, Ohio EPA partnered with U.S. EPA to clean up nearly 12,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment from the river bottom and install a 6-inch sand cover.
• 2012, 5 1/2 Slip Habitat Restoration: 3,840 linear feet of habitat shelves were installed, and 3.6 acres of upland habitat were created on the peninsula.
• 2008, Ashtabula River Navigation Dredging: USACE removed 133,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment downstream of Bridge Street, including 1.5 feet below authorized channel depth to create a cleaner sediment surface layer.
• 2007, Ashtabula River Sediment Cleanup: Great Lakes Legacy Act sediment cleanup removed 497,000 cubic yards of sediment contaminated with PCBs and other pollutants.
“This river faced many problems and it was a big challenge,” said Janet McCabe, U.S. EPA deputy administrator at Thursday’s celebration ceremony. “It took $67.5 million to fund the cleanup, get the toxics out and restore the habitat.”
To get an idea of how much contaminated sediment was removed from the Ashtabula River, picture 350 football fields lined up together. Then pour sediment a foot deep over those football fields. That’s how many PCBs were removed from the river, she said.
