The Cuyahoga River has come a long way since the fire 50 years ago. But it still faces an environmental threat in the form of stormwater and development.
Rainwater rolling off asphalt and rooftops can carry contaminants into the watershed. Local government agencies across Northeast Ohio have laid out rules for developers to limit the harmful effects of stormwater.
A Wetland At The Edge Of A Parking Lot
At Kent State University, Assistant Professor Lauren Kinsman-Costello and her research team stood at the lip of a wide basin dug into the ground near the edge of a parking lot. At the bottom: puddles and a lot of mud. Some geese and a duck showed up to paddle through a shallow pond.
Kinsman-Costello said this basin鈥攁nd another like it just across the street鈥攃ollect rainwater that runs out of storm drains on campus.
鈥淏efore any city or any or any buildings or any roads were here,鈥� she said, 鈥渕ost of the water that would fall on the land would seep into pores in the soil, basically tiny little holes, and it would enter groundwater, and little by little, it would accumulate in streams.鈥�
But today, parking lots, roads and buildings cover up that ground. The water needs somewhere to go, so it races through storm drains back into the environment. It can carry pollutants鈥攍ike road salt and fertilizer鈥攁long for the ride.
Human-made wetlands like this one can slow that process down. Kinsman-Costello said they鈥檙e meant to mimic natural wetlands, attracting plants and other organisms. Some parts of the basins will always contain water, while others will fill up when it rains.
鈥淭he hope is that not only will these basins provide some baseline flooding protection,鈥� she said, 鈥渂ut they鈥檒l provide some other benefits as well, some ecological and environmental benefits.鈥�
This device helps researchers gather samples of water entering the wetland. [Nick Castele / ideastream]
Kinsman-Costello and her team are studying how effective these human-made wetlands are at filtering out chemicals. They test water quality with a device that looks like a big plastic barrel.
鈥淪o underneath here, in this area, we鈥檒l put 24 water bottles,鈥� she said, opening latches on the barrel and removing the top section to show an empty space inside.
A small computer tells the device to collect samples when it rains. The team planned to lower it through a manhole into one of the pipes leading to the wetland.
The water flows from these wetlands into Kent鈥檚 municipal storm system. Eventually, it reaches the Cuyahoga River鈥攋ust like most stormwater in this highly developed watershed.
鈥淎nywhere along the river that鈥檚 close to an impervious surface, like a sidewalk or a parking lot, is going to be at risk of stormwater runoff issues,鈥� Kinsman-Costello said.
The risk isn鈥檛 limited to chemicals, either. A sudden rush of stormwater can cause flooding and erosion. Bill Zawiski with the Ohio EPA said that can especially hurt smaller streams that feed the Cuyahoga.
鈥淲hen you have all these stormwaters from parking lots and roofs entering a stream in a very short time following a rainfall event, it鈥檚 like a bulldozer running down that stream,鈥� Zawiski said. 鈥淭he water itself scours.鈥�
On its way to the Cuyahoga River, Mud Brook flows between a housing development on the right and Sycamore Valley Golf Course on the left. [Nick Castele / ideastream]
Reining In Stormwater At Mud Brook
Managing development and stormwater can be a political issue as well as an environmental one. It鈥檚 playing out right now not far from the Cuyahoga Valley National Park, where Mud Brook passes underneath Akron-Peninsula Road just before it connects with the Cuyahoga River.
Next door to the brook is Sycamore Valley Golf Course. Developers are proposing to build 143 townhomes there, right next to a floodplain.
The city of Cuyahoga Falls requires them to develop a plan to manage the stormwater that will run off the properties and into the brook. last month for developers working in Mud Brook and several other watersheds.
Sycamore Valley Golf Course sits on 28 acres off of Akron-Peninsula Road. [Nick Castele / ideastream]
Greg Modic, one of the developers on the Villages at Sycamore project, said the team intends to comply with these new rules. They鈥檒l build the townhomes outside and above the , he said, and will build two big catch basins for stormwater.
鈥淲e鈥檙e really kind of capturing that water, choking it back, and letting it release at a much slower rate,鈥� Modic said, 鈥渟o the Mud Brook鈥檚 not experiencing that big gush of water all at once at it.鈥�
Plans for the Villages at Sycamore development from April 25 of this year. [Donald G. Bohning & Associates]
The Mud Brook watershed covers nearly 30 square miles, stretching from Hudson south to the northern reaches of Akron. About 60 percent of the land there has been developed, according to the Ohio EPA. saying that pollutants from combined sewer overflows and stormwater runoff threaten aquatic wildlife.
Many locals have showed up at public meetings to oppose the project. They said they鈥檙e worried about flooding and don鈥檛 want to further change what they see as the rural character of the valley.
. But Councilman Russ Iona voted against it. He said the developer has followed the city鈥檚 requirements so far, but he鈥檚 concerned about the area鈥檚 history of flooding.
鈥淪o the whole area is low, and it鈥檚 been flooded,鈥� Iona said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going to put more impervious surface to an area that鈥檚 been flooded. Logic tells me it could make it worse.鈥�
It鈥檚 likely not the last time a city in Northeast Ohio will wrestle with what development and stormwater mean for the Cuyahoga River.
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