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School Closing Information

Funding secured for removal of Peninsular Paper Dam from Huron River

The Peninsular Dam
Doug Coombe
/
Concentrate Media
In May 2020, a section of the embankment to the left of this spillway on the Edenville Dam gave way, sending a surge of water downstream that overtopped and destroyed the Sanford Dam. 

The City of Ypsilanti and the Huron River Watershed Council has now secured enough funding to remove the Peninsular Dam in the Huron River.

Ypsilanti has been working to remove the dam since 2019. The city was awarded a $7.5 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to complete the project.

Now, as Ypsilanti Community, Economic Development and Equity Manager Katie Jones says, they can finally move forward.

“It really restores the natural river to its original look and feel, as well as it will prevent the city from having an emergency and having a failure. And that’s one of the major steps is getting that out, so we don’t have infrastructure problems.”

Originally built in 1867 to generate power for the Peninsular Paper Mill, the state ordered the long idle dam to be removed or repaired in 2014.

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News Reporter and Host Kevin Meerschaert was a student reporter at WEMU in the early 90s. After another 30 years in the public radio business and stops in Indiana, Maryland, Florida, and New Mexico, Kevin is back to where it all began.
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