SPENCERVILLE, Ohio (WLIO) — The village of Spencerville will soon be making improvements to the Miami and Erie Canal, thanks to funding from an H2Ohio grant.
The village partnered with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which oversees the canal, to secure a nearly $2.3 million grant for the project. Officials say Spencerville has been working for years to reduce phosphorus levels and algae growth in the canal.
With the funding now in place, plans include dredging sections of the canal along with improvements to the banks and overall water quality.
“Basically, it's to remove phosphates out of the water, get the water quality where it needs to be. There also be some vegetation being planned, some bank armoring, as well as some bank stabilization and some bank cleanup. Very exciting project for the community. This is something we've been working on for a long, long time,” says Ben Suever, Spencerville Village Administrator.
Village leaders say the cleanup will allow residents and visitors to better enjoy the historic waterway.
“It'll be more esthetically pleasing to the eye. Kids wanting to fish in it. They haven't been able to do that. They'll be able to walk along the Buckeye trail and actually have clean water instead of what we have now. Everybody involved working together to get this money will help the community so much," says Mayor Darrell Pugin.
Design work on the project is expected to begin this winter, with construction hoped to start in the summer and be completed by the fall of 2026.
Design work on the project is expected to begin this winter, with construction hoped to start in the summer and be completed by the fall of 2026.
