The Environmental Protection Agency and state and local partners announced more than $37.6 million in funding for restoration and remediation along the Maumee and Ottawa Rivers in Toledo, Ohio, on Aug. 12.
The work includes dredging and habitat restoration at the Maumee Area of Concern, one of 43 Areas of Concern designated under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, according to EPA. The funding involves federal, state and local partners.
The Maumee watershed is the largest watershed draining to Lake Erie and a major source of nutrients contributing to harmful algal blooms that have plagued the lake in recent years. In 2014, a massive algal bloom contaminated Toledo’s drinking water supply and left approximately 500,000 residents without safe tap water for three days.
Areas of Concern are sites where environmental degradation has caused specific documented harms to water quality, wildlife or human health. The restoration work aims to eliminate those harms and eventually remove the site from the AOC list.
For millions of Ohio residents who depend on Lake Erie for drinking water, recreation and economic activity, the Maumee restoration directly affects the health of the lake ecosystem. The Lake Erie watershed supports a regional economy estimated at $16 billion.
The Great Lakes restoration program has operated with bipartisan congressional support for more than a decade. The program has addressed contaminated sediment, habitat loss and invasive species across designated sites in eight states.
The $37.6 million commitment continues the long-term federal investment in cleaning up legacy pollution in the Great Lakes basin, the largest surface freshwater system in the world.