Lorain Harbor
Image shows aerial view of GeoPool dewatering dredged sediment, with Black River in the background.
Lorain Harbor Dredge Management: Innovative Dewatering for Beneficial Use
Project Summary
Lorain has constructed the Black River Dredge Material Beneficial Use Facility on city owned properly located adjacent to Republic Steel. Dredge barges hydraulically unload dredged sediment into innovative dewatering devices called GeoPools. Once dry, the dredge material will be excavated, soil blends created will be beneficially used.
Aerial view of the Black River Dredged Material Reuse Facility in August 2024.
Project Status
Construction of the Black River Dredged Material Reuse Facility (BRDMRF) was completed in 2024. Sediment dredged from the Black River and Lorain Harbor was placed into the completed facility in September 2024.
The BRDMRF, designed by Coldwater Consulting and Geosyntec consultants, is unique with the use of a series of eight GeoPools for dewatering the dredged sediment. GeoPools are an innovative material dewatering technology that assists with the rapid dewatering of large volumes of sediment in a relatively short period. The system consists of a steel frame, assembled in sections and fitted with a polypropylene filter fabric secured along the interior of the pool that filters out water and retains sediment. The sediment remains in the interior of the pool while the filtered water flows via gravity to collection trenches around the periphery of the unit.
Sediment being placed into a GeoPool during the 2020 Pilot Study.
As the use of GeoPools for dredge sediment dewatering is innovative, a pilot project demonstrating their use was conducted in 2020 to evaluate the technology by processing approximately 5,000 cubic yards of sediment hydraulically dredged from the Black River. Additionally, a Residual Solids Evaluation (RSE) report was completed in 2022 that demonstrated that dewatered dredge material can be used as marketable soil and soil blends.
Click this link to see the GeoPool used in the Pilot Study in action.
Partners
- City of Lorain
- Lorain Port Authority
- Coldwater Consultants, LLC
- Geosyntec Consultants
- Terminal Ready-Mix
- Ohio EPA
- ODNR
- USACE
Dredge Capacity
The Black River Dredged Material Reuse Facility is designed and constructed to accommodate 75,000 cubic yards of dredge material per year.
Dredging in the Black River in September 2024.
Funding Sources
Funding for the facility was provided in a $15 million subgrant from Coronavirus State & Local Fiscal Recovery Funds passed through to the City of Lorain by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and $3.25 million in State Capital funds via Healthy Lake Erie Initiative (HLEI) funds administered by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Office of Coastal Management.
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ARPA SLFRF: |
$15,000,000 |
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HLEI Cycle 2 (H.B. 529, S.B. 299): |
$3,250,000 |
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Total State Funding: |
$18,250,000 |
Milestones
- Construction of the Black River Dredged Material Reuse Facility was completed in 2024
- The facility received dredged sediment in September 2024
- A Pilot Study was completed in 2020
- A Residual Solids Evaluation (RSE) report was completed in 2022 that demonstrated that dewatered dredge material can be used as marketable soil and soil blends
Authorizations Required
- Ohio EPA surface water discharge permit
- Ohio EPA Harbor Sediment Authorization