Posted on March 16, 2022
An experimental project aimed at preventing harmful algae blooms and improving water quality in the Great Lakes is featured in the February edition of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers magazine, The Corps Environment.
The project, known as the Phosphorous Optimal Wetland Demonstration, will use a 25-acre wetland test site in Defiance to try to optimize absorption of phosphorous runoff that harms Ohio’s coastal economies and threatens human health, especially in Lake Erie.
The project is being led by the Army Corps’ Buffalo District and its Mississippi-based Engineer Research and Development Center, in collaboration with the cities of Defiance and St. Marys, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and other non-federal partners.
The project is funded by the EPA’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which recently received a $1 billion investment from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.
It’s not the first project the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, has committed to improving the quality of life for Ashtabula residents.
In March 2021, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District, awarded a $6.5 million contract to Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company for the construction of a dredged material placement area designed to handle about 400,000 cubic yards of dredged material.
Crews then started construction of 1,500-linear feet of stone off the west and south portions of the Ashtabula Harbor East Breakwater.
This project was conducted in close coordination with the Ashtabula City Port Authority, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
At the time, U.S. Congressman Dave Joyce said it’s great news for Lake Erie’s ecosystem and the economy.
“By creating a long-term solution to dredged material management, this project will not only help restore and create natural habitat for aquatic life, but also support jobs and improve the quality of life for Ashtabula residents,” he said.
Ashtabula City Manager Jim Timonere called it “a very important project.”
When the decade-long project is completed, it will create about 16.5 acres of pristine wetland habitat.
