CLEVELAND: The Board of Directors of the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority has approved acceptance of a $1 million Ohio Healthy Lake Erie Fund grant. The Board also approved use of those funds for capital improvements at the Confined Disposal Facility 12 that will increase Port efforts to maximize its useful lifespan and provide a viable alternative to open lake dumping of Cuyahoga River dredge sediment.
In 2015, the Port began implementing its “Plan B” for extending the useful life of CDF 12. The plan consists of using water flow to sort and then vertically stacking sediment onsite, enabling “harvest” of the useful and non-harmful material, according to a news release.
These efforts and other Port innovations will result in decades of additional space at the CDF to store sediment that can’t be safely used, while keeping it out of the open waters of Lake Erie. The Board also awarded a contract to Mark Hayes Construction, Inc. to make the necessary capital improvements to the sediment management facility.