Frequently Asked Questions

The City of Cleveland owns Lower Lake and the Lower Lake dam and leases them to the cities of Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights within their boundaries.

The cities of Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District have conducted maintenance on the dam as required.

Please see the recording of the Nov. 18, 2025 joint meeting of the city councils of Cleveland Heights and Shaker Heights, on the Agenda Center page of the Shaker Heights website.

Section 106 federal review will be part of any project that is planned to address Lower Lake dam.

There will be a plan manage wildlife, consistent with existing environmental regulations, in conjunction with any final plan for Lower Lake.

The cities have entered into many agreements with NEORSD over the years regarding the parklands and lakes.  NEORSD has conducted or funded many projects within the parklands. This has included Lower Lake.

The cities have not determined whether there is a need for a coalition or a committee, but the cities have been talking with stakeholders and will continue to seek public input.

Lower Lake dam will be the subject of future public meetings of the Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights city councils and the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District. Public comment will be accepted at these meetings.

In August, the administrations of both cities began considering the idea of holding a joint city council meeting regarding Lower Lake dam at which ODNR would share an overview of dam safety and Lower Lake dam conditions.

The two cities communicated about posting the Nov. 18 meeting on the meetings calendars of their websites. The cities collaborated on a joint news release, which both cities posted on their websites and disseminated to local media.

Both cities posted this meeting on the meetings calendars on their websites on or about October 30. The two cities posted and disseminated a news release regarding this meeting on November 12. The City of Shaker Heights posted the meeting agenda, which included the Zoom link, on November 14. The City of Cleveland Heights posted the announcement and Zoom link on its Facebook page in advance of the meeting. The ity of Shaker Heights also posted information about the meeting on its Facebook page in advance of the meeting.

The estimated top of dam storage volume of Lower Shaker Lake is 178 acre-feet.

Garfield Park Lake Dam appears to not meet the size and hazard thresholds to be regulated by the ODNR Division of Water Resources, so the Division does not have an estimate of its storage volume, but it stores much less water than Lower Shaker Lake. 

Yes. Shreve Lake Dam is a Class I dam located in Wayne County, owned by the State of Ohio, and managed by the ODNR Division of Wildlife. That dam was remediated in 2024 with construction of a new principal spillway and lake drain. Prior to its remediation, the lake had to be drained for 9 years as an Interim Risk Reduction Measure (IRRM) due to concerns that the dam would fail through its principal spillway. An IRRM is a temporary emergency measure to reduce the risk of dam failure until a dam can be remediated, modified, or breached.

There is no listing for Roy Rogers Dam in the State of Ohio in either the ODNR Division of Water Resources’ (Division) Dam Safety Program database, or the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) National Inventory of Dams.

The embankments have an effect, but it depends on the size of the flooding event. The ravine downstream of Lower Shaker Lake Dam is relatively steep and narrow, so it does not dimmish flood waves like a flat, wide valley would.

There is no definition of “unsafe dam” in Ohio’s dam safety laws. In the 1970s, the USACE often used the word “unsafe” for its Phase I Inspection Reports to describe a dam not meeting safety standards. The terms “small floods” and “large floods” are defined terms in the field of engineering. Dam safety engineering generally uses larger design floods than other fields of civil engineering. 

Yes. An estimated top of dam storage volume for any impoundment includes silt and sediment in the reservoir area for two reasons: (1) owners often periodically remove silt and sediment, and (2) when silts and sediment are saturated, they can remain “flowable” or can be easily eroded during severe hydrologic events.

While the Division is aware of this and other infrastructure improvements downstream to address localized flooding, those improvements cannot handle the amount of water suddenly released from a dam failure. The volumes and flow rates of a dam failure are significantly higher than those improvements are designed to carry.

A cleaned culvert is certainly able to address localized flooding better than a clogged culvert, but no culvert can handle the amount of water suddenly released from a dam failure. The volumes and flow rates of a dam failure are significantly higher than culverts are designed to carry.

The Lower Shaker Lake Dam was properly classified as a Class I dam in 1979 as part of the USACE Phase I inspection and has remained in that classification under Ohio’s dam safety laws. Ohio Administrative Code (OAC) 1501:21-13-01 requires a dam to be placed in Class I when sudden failure of the dam would result in either the probable loss of human life, or the structural collapse of at least one residence or one commercial or industrial business, regardless of the dam’s classification based on total storage volume or height. The Dam stores a considerable volume of water during flood events, and the sudden failure of the Dam would release that water into a highly populated, urban area. This has been verified by lower tier analyses and is sufficient for placing the dam in Class I, unless a higher-tier analysis shows otherwise. Because the Dam has severe deficiencies that require remediation regardless of its classification, performing such a higher-level analysis on the Dam would not be useful.

Regulation and management of localized storm water flooding is not within the jurisdiction of the Division. Removal of a dam removes the risk of catastrophic dam failure. The amount of water, and the speed and force of water, that is uncontrollably released upon anyone downstream of a dam when it suddenly fails, is not comparable to localized flooding in a storm event.

Assuming this question relates to modifying Lower Shaker Lake Dam similarly to Garfield Park Lake Dam, where the dam and lake were modified to be much smaller, and alongside the larger stream, the advantage discussed was that doing so could remove the Lower Shaker Lake Dam from the Division’s jurisdiction. The lake would still have a dam, just one that is no longer regulated by the Division.

Both Upper and Lower Shaker Lake Dams have been classified as Class I since the USACE Phase I inspection in 1979. If the Doan Brook literature lists those Dams as Class II, it is mistaken.

The Lower Shaker Lake Dam has been listed in poor condition since the USACE Phase I inspection in 1979.

Full question: How does ODNR coordinate its reports, findings and/or recommendations with federal environmental law, including the Clean Water Act §§404/401, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA) §§7 and 9, Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), and NHPA §106? To the extent that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers may be evaluating NEORSD’s plans at Horseshoe Lake, will any information or materials presented by ODNR impact such a review?

Answer: It is the responsibility of a dam’s owner to coordinate with the federal government to ensure compliance with federal laws and regulations such as the Clean Water Act §§404/401, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Endangered Species Act (ESA) §§7 and 9, Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), and NHPA §106. ODNR’s Division of Water Resources provides information to the dam’s owner and to federal agencies to facilitate their reviews and understanding of the dam.

Doan Brook is the only watershed that runs through University Circle. With respect to overland flow within that watershed, the Lower Shaker Lake Dam’s basin is the biggest contributor to the University Circle area. There are also small catchments along Doan Brook between the dam and Ambler Park, small catchments around the University Circle area, and a small basin north/northeast of the park. Urban areas also have sewersheds that may differ from overland runoff. For additional information see NEORSD report or refer to the USEPA’s kmz coverage “catchments”.

The Lower Shaker Lake Dam could be modified to meet all current dam safety standards for a lower classification or to remove the Dam from the Division’s jurisdiction.

It is the responsibility of a dam’s owner to evaluate and choose an option to bring their dam into compliance with Ohio’s dam safety laws. It should be noted that the site for Lower Shaker Lake Dam has significant constraints beyond dam safety engineering. Historic remnants, a park setting, nearby roads and many other factors have an impact on the options and costs. An owner of a dam often commissions an engineering study of potential options where the site constraints, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of various options, are identified. Such a study could consider various water features and configurations.

It is the responsibility of a dam’s owner to evaluate and choose an option to bring their dam into compliance with Ohio’s dam safety laws. It should be noted that the site for Lower Shaker Lake Dam has significant constraints beyond dam safety engineering. Historic remnants, a park setting, nearby roads and many other factors have an impact on the options and costs. An owner of a dam often commissions an engineering study of potential options where the site constraints, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of various options, are identified. Such a study could consider various water features and configurations.

Correct. There are generally 3 options a dam’s owner may choose to bring their dam into compliance with Ohio’s dam safety laws: (1) fully remediate the dam to meet all current dam safety standards for the dam’s current classification; (2) modify the dam to meet all current dam safety standards for a lower classification or to remove the dam from the Division’s jurisdiction; or (3) breach (remove) the dam. The dam’s owner proposes their preferred option to the Division for review and approval.

Complete question: Do ODNR guidelines allow us to target the differential-risk, rather than the full-storm risk? (FEMA guidelines allow dam classification to ask about the DIFFERENCE between the "storm event flood" and the "storm event flood including a dam breach" and judge the risk due to the excess only. This was not done in the EAP analysis---the inundation maps shown there represent storm inputs, which actually peak long after the (fairly harmless, easily conveyed) modeled dam breach.)

Answer: 

Yes. Please see Ohio Administrative Code Rule 1501:21-13-02(B) for more information about the critical flood.

The Division accepted the current Emergency Action Plan (EAP) inundation mapping for the Lower Shaker Lake Dam because the overall extent of the inundation was similar to the results of other analyses, and it is useful for providing the general extent of inundation downstream from the Dam. The Division informed the Dam’s owners that the mapping could be used in the EAP until the Dam is brought into compliance, and then the mapping would need to be updated. The current EAP inundation mapping is sufficient for mapping, but not for estimation of detailed impacts. For example, FERC guidance states “it is not appropriate to assume that a dam fails on the rising limb of the inflow.” The “PMF Failure Scenario” in the current EAP inundation mapping was based on failure of the dam on the rising limb of the inflow. Therefore, using the EAP to conclude “fairly harmless” flooding is not appropriate.