Low Dam Removal and Waterpark Plans!

Yesterday, the Baby Stews took the mini-course to our friends at the Miami Conservancy District and Five Rivers MetroParks to hear about the exciting removal of the Monument low dam a little ways past RiverScape on the Great Miami. Removing the low dam will help the river return to its natural flow rather than a buildup of water behind the dam. It will also allow for a better migration of fish, less chance for poor water quality from sediment buildup behind the dam, and most importantly, resolve the safety hazard that low dams can present. For those of you who are unfamiliar with low dams, they are usually concrete dams with varying height that water runs over that blends in with the river in front of the low dam, so they are not always easy to see if you are paddling down the river.

The plan is to remove the Monument low dam and replace it with a Whitewater Park, with options for a smoother channel or a whitewater passage. These channels along the Great Miami River are part of the Greater Downtown Dayton Plan, which if you haven't checked it out yet, you should! http://www.downtowndayton.org/plan/ The ultimate goal of these new river passages is to create a more aesthetic and recreational use of the river downtown to attract people to the city while still keeping flood protection in mind.

The whole plan is very exciting, but I think that the Whitewater Parks are a great continuation of the conservation that Five Rivers MetroParks and MCD have always kept as a goal for the city of Dayton and Montgomery County.

Here's more on the Plans for the Whitewater Park specifically: http://www.downtowndayton.org/plan/rivers.html

(P.S. The renderings of potential projects are really cool, especially this! http://www.downtowndayton.org/pdfs/recommendations_rivers_appendix2.pdf)

Enjoy this beautiful fall weather!

River love,

Liz (2014 Cohort)