The Environmental Protection Agency and state and local partners announced more than $37.6 million for dredging and habitat restoration in the Maumee and Ottawa Rivers on Aug. 11, targeting a critical watershed that feeds Lake Erie and the drinking water supply for 11 million Americans. EPA made the announcement at the National Museum of the Great Lakes in Toledo, where officials described the investment as a milestone under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, the agency said.
The funding will support dredging of contaminated sediments and restoration of aquatic habitat in one of the Great Lakes’ most ecologically significant tributary systems.
The Maumee River system is a long-designated Area of Concern under the U.S.-Canada Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The designation reflects decades of industrial contamination, agricultural runoff, and habitat degradation that have impaired the river system’s ecological function.
For residents of northwest Ohio and the broader Great Lakes region, the restoration directly affects water quality in Lake Erie, which provides drinking water to millions of people across Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. The Maumee is the largest tributary flowing into Lake Erie and is a primary source of the nutrient pollution that has triggered harmful algal blooms in the lake’s western basin.
Harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie have caused drinking water emergencies in the past, most notably in 2014 when Toledo’s water system was shut down for three days after toxins from an algal bloom contaminated the city’s water intake.
The $37.6 million investment is one of the most significant individual commitments under the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a federal program that has directed billions of dollars toward cleaning up contaminated sites, combating invasive species, and restoring habitat across the five Great Lakes.
Dredging contaminated sediments is a particularly costly but essential step in restoring impaired waterways, as legacy industrial pollutants trapped in river-bottom soils continue to release contaminants into the water column.