Cuyahoga River

Catchment area of the river

Cuyahoga River in Cuyahoga Valley National Park

The Cuyahoga River ( ˌ kaɪəhɔgə ) is a river in northeastern Ohio in the United States. The river's name is Indian origin and means in the Iroquoian languages ​​Crooked River ( in German about "Spiral Flow " ), as the river is still called.

Run

The river begins its journey actually in Hambden Township, but is officially first formed by the confluence of the East Branch and West Branch Cuyahoga River in Burton. From there, it flows south to Cuyahoga Falls where it sharply turns north and through the Cuyahoga Valley National Park ( CUVA or CVNP ) in northern Summit County and southern Cuyahoga counties. It flows through the towns of Independence, Valley View, Cuyahoga Heights, Newburgh Heights and Cleveland before it empties into Lake Erie. The Cuyahoga River and its tributaries drain a catchment area of 2,095 km ², which extends over six counties.

The river is developed in geologically relatively young history, as during the last ice age glaciers were advancing and retreating again. Through the last glacial retreat about ten to twelve thousand years the catchment area has been greatly altered in Akron. Thus, the originally flowing southward flow was diverted to the north. He picked his meandering path through the moraine. The depth of the river bed reaches, as a rule 90 to 180 cm.

History

The surveyor Moses Cleaveland, who was charged with exploring the Connecticut Western Reserve, reached the mouth of the river in 1796 and decided to create a settlement at the site, now known as Cleveland.

The river formed part of the line that was in 1795 with the Treaty of Greenville to the western border of the United States.

Environmental problems

Due to the industrialization and largely uncontrolled discharge of wastewater from the mid-19th century, the river at this time was a sewer. Oil, flammable chemical waste, animal waste from slaughterhouses and other wastes came into unexplained. This combustible brew floated on the surface, so that the river could burn yourself. In addition, Cleveland moved into its water from Lake Erie, in the flows into the river. Fire on the River plagued the residents across more than three decades. A spark from a blowtorch set in 1936 and floating debris drifting oil on fire. The largest fire on the river caused 1952 more than one million dollars damage on vessels, bridges and buildings on the shore. A few more times, the river was in flames before the fire on June 22, 1969 caught the attention of Time magazine. The former article described the Cuyahoga River as the river that " oozes rather than flows " and in which a person " does not drown but decays ."

The burning of the Cuyahoga River in 1969 accelerated the efforts to control discharges into the River, and led in 1972 to the Clean Water Act, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement and the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The events have also been reflected in popular culture, such as Randy Newman's song "Burn On" (1972 ), REM's " Cuyahoga " (1986) and Adam Agains incurred in 1992 entitled " River on Fire ".

From the 1980s, the water quality has improved significantly and so the river was classified with thirteen other than American Heritage River in 1998. The pollution was a problem, among other things, urban storm water runoff, diffuse pollution and water overflow from combined sewers, because of the many dams and through standing water. For this reason, the Environmental Protection Agency has classified the catchment area of ​​the Cuyahoga River with 42 other regions in the Great Lakes region as endangered.

Hydraulic

The lower river has been the subject of numerous changes. Originally, the Cuyahoga led about 700 meters west of today's confluence with Lake Erie. Today's mouth immediately west of the present city center of Cleveland was created artificially, allowing the unhindered entry of vessels from the lake into the river and vice versa. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dredged the otherwise shallow river on the lower eight miles regularly to a depth of eight meters, so that cargo from the Great Lakes industrial enterprises can achieve in the Flats. In order to facilitate shipping the banks were also straightened and installed the turning basin.

The United States Coast Guard is on Lake Erie and on the lower reaches of the Cuyahoga River an icebreaker to delay the allwinterliche freezing of waterways.

For the purpose of flood control, various measures have been taken in the past. These include the construction of dams and levees as well as the dredging of the river bed. Since numerous settlements lie only slightly in Cuyahoga basin above the river, heavy rainfall or sudden thaw can lead to severe flooding in these areas.

The headwaters of the Cuyahoga falls relatively quickly and produces so in some places rapids and waterfalls. The underflow loses little in height, so that the flow rate is relatively low and the flow of the water longer takes time as the upper reaches. In particular, the navigation comes in the flats without locks.

Dam for introduction into the Ohio - Erie Canal

The dam of Brecksville, which is located around 32 kilometers from the mouth, is the first dam upstream from Lake Erie and therefore has the greatest impact on the migration of fish.

Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam

The largest dam on the river is the Gorge Metropolitan Park Dam (also FirstEnergy Dam ), which lies on the boundary between Cuyahoga Falls and Akron. The dam has a height of around 17 meters. By the dam are the waterfalls that case gave the name of the city of Cuyahoga, flooded after the construction of the dam. The water of the resulting expanded reservoir has a low oxygen saturation.

The dam was built in 1912 by the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Co. and served two purposes: to generate energy through hydroelectric power and as a cooling reservoir for a coal power plant. The energy was set in 1958 and the coal power plant was decommissioned in 1991. Various environmental groups have demanded the removal of the dam. Opponents of this proposal refer to the fact that the once hollow dam was filled at the beginning of the 1990s, complete with concrete and that have accumulated a contaminated with heavy metals and polychlorinated biphenyls sediments above the dam due to the industrial past of Cuyahoga Falls. The Ohio EPA estimates the cost of the demolition of the dam to 5-10 million U.S. dollars and for the remediation of contaminated sediments to an additional 60 million U.S. dollars. The dam has an operating license to 2041st

Headquartered in Fairlawn, Ohio company Advanced Hydro Solutions ( AHS ) requested the resumption of power generation and established the a reduction of pollutant emissions. The project electricity for about 2,000 households would be produced. This plan met with resistance from environmental groups, the park administration, the United States Department of the Interior and the Ohio EPA. It was feared that the project will lead to more erosion and would interfere with the scenic character of the river downstream of the dam by restricting the water flow. On 25 May 2007, a federal appeals court upheld the verdict of a lower court, after the Metroparks, the service company of the park, had the right to refuse to carry out tests on site. Metroparks belongs to Summit County. On 14 June 2007, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission presented Commission (FERC ) the application procedure of AHS provisionally, without coming to a decision, because the company had not complied with deadlines. The retrial was held open if AHS submits the necessary study results. The final decision of the FERC is scheduled for July 2009.

Dam in Munroe Falls

With another dam in Kent, the dam has in Munroe Falls a greater impact on water quality, as the building in the Gorge Metropolitan Park, since the flow gradient is lower. For this reason, the Ohio EPA requires municipalities measures to eliminate these effects.

The dam was rebuilt in Munroe Falls, first in 2005, in the course of this work it was found that there was a natural waterfall at this point. With this new knowledge, some interested sides, including the management of the Summit County, for the complete removal of the dam put an. The plan was revised and approved by the City Council Munroe Falls' on 27 September 2005. The built of sandstone blocks dam was removed and the water falls here now about 130 cm high by a natural edge.

Dam at Kent

The dam in Kent was bypassed in 2004.

Name Variants

Historically, the river was known under various different names:

• Cajahage River
• Cayagaga River
• Cayahoga River
• Cayhahoga River
• Cayohoga River
• Cujahaga River
• Cuyohaga River
• Gichawaga Creek

• Goya Hague River
• Gwahago River
• River de Saguin
• Rivière Blanche
• Rivière à Seguin
• Saguin River
• Yashahia
• Cayahaga River

• Cayanhoga River
• Cayhoga River
• Coyahoga River
• Cuyahoga River
• Guyahoga River
• Gwahoga River
• Kiahagoh River
• White River

Tributaries

In the Cuyahoga River next to many unnamed tributaries also feed the following tributaries:

The specified height of some of these tributaries is different from the respective level of the Cuyahoga River, because these waterways open out over small waterfalls or rapids.