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HUBBARD -- Another step has been taken toward removing a dam in the community, partially as a result of a resolution approved by city council.
At a council meeting earlier this month, city officials approved authorizing the city's board of control to advertise for qualifications for design-build services associated with the Valley Mould Dam -- suspending the second and third readings and passing it as read.
The resolution's approval comes a month after Mayor Ben Kyle reported the Eastgate Regional Council of Governments had secured all the funding necessary to remove the dam, following talks that picked up in March.
Kyle touched on the dam's removal after attending at a guided paddling trip in Warren with the Mahoning River Corridor Mayors Association to celebrate two decades of river revitalization and the removal of local dams
"We're having the benefit here in Hubbard, with (the) improvement we're trying to do over at Little Yankee (Run)," Kyle said. "It's just a great example of everyone working together for the common goal of water improvement, and water quality is so important."
Kyle said Eastgate has brought in $2.5 million for the project thus far.
Stephanie Dyer, Eastgate's environmental program manager, explained the Valley Mould Dam has been part of the industrial legacy of the portion of Trumbull County it occupies -- changing hands over the years.
Dyer said removing the dam will improve water quality, noting that it's listed as an impairment based on Ohio EPA standards -- mainly affecting wildlife that benefits from it.
"Part of the impairment includes fish and bug populations; it's specifically for the fish species, where it's inhibiting them from mobilizing up and down the stream. So, when you have that happening, you're not allowing them to diversify within the stream channel, within the river itself."
Dyer said sediment has also accumulated over time, covering up much of the habitat fish and bugs use.
"Ohio EPA, a lot of times when people think of impairments when it comes to water quality, a lot of times people think of chemical impairments," Dyer said. "It's not necessarily the chemicals, as much as it is the aquatic life."
Dyer said the instream quality and the recreational quality are also studied, dealing with measuring the amount of bacteria in the water column.
In terms of what to expect when the dam is removed, Dyer said it will alleviate some of the upstream flooding that has taken place at the Interstate 80 and Route 62 interchange.
"You won't have that pool that is backing up water because downstream, there is no other dam that is located downstream of this Valley Mould Dam," Dyer said. "Once we remove that, you're going to see a lot of that flow flushing downstream to where it meets the Shenango River and flows to the Ohio at that point."