Conversion of reservoir to wetlands will benefit Fostoria

FOSTORIA --- The conversion of Lake Mosier (Reservoir 4) into a recreational wetlands area will help the city of Fostoria both in dealing with environmental concerns and in making the city more attractive to residents and visitors, say Mayor Don Mennel and Safety Service Director Eric Keckler. "We're trying to make lemonade out of lemons," Mennel said in regard to a project scheduled to begin this week by pulling water from Lake Mosier, located off Independence Avenue. The East Branch Portage River Floodplain Reconnection Project, formerly titled the Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Reduction and River Intrusion Mitigation Project, is planned to "result in a reduction of river intrusion and CSO events while also providing water-quality benefits achieved through re-established floodplain and wetlands," according to a news release issued by the city. The actions to come stem from an early-2000s decree from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). "We had to have a masterplan put together of how we were going to not only lessen but try to put an end to any combined sewer overflow into the Portage River," Keckler said. "Even then, one of the pieces that was in that masterplan was turning Reservoir 4 into a wetlands. The EPA came in and said we had to do something about combined sewer overflows and develop a plan on either how to eliminate or at least lesson the number of combined sewer overflows there were in a given year. One of the projects in there was turning Reservoir 4 into a wetland area that would serve as an overflow area when the river gets high and would lessen flooding in the city proper; at a certain height, the water would be diverted back into Reservoir 4." The financing is being taken care of through an Ohio Department of Natural Resources H2Ohio grant for about $2 million that was secured in 2022, said Keckler, who was the city's mayor at the time. Lake Daugherty (Reservoir 1), located a short distance north of Lake Mosier, will continue to serve as a fishing spot, while the city's drinking water will still be drawn from Lake LeComte (Reservoir 5) and Veterans Memorial Reservoir (Reservoir 6). "And we'll still have access to 2 (Lake Mottram) and 3 (Lake Lamberjack) if we need them," Keckler said. "And that won't change at any time." Lake Mosier will serve a dual purpose for the community. "What we envision in the end is, like a boardwalk around the top," Keckler said. "And that may take years for us to accomplish, but in the meantime, it'll serve as, really, the main function of being an overflow. That will be the main function, but the beauty of it will be we'll be able to use it for recreational purposes as well. Birdwatchers – we hope people can walk around it. There are a lot of thoughts about the long-range future of it; things we can do there. But it most likely will be part of the park system in the end." Mennel said he foresees wildflowers and different vegetation being grown in the area. "I suspect, because it's all lake bottom, it will be pretty fertile ground and should grow things pretty rapidly," he said. Mennel said fish in Lake Mosier will not be spared, as the ODNR advised that moving them to another water body would damage an existing ecosystem. Otherwise, the prospects for the area seem bright, with all renovations expected to be complete within a few years, Keckler said. "This will be great for the community in the end because it should be a fun area for people to come and visit," Keckler said. "People may come from all over to see out wetlands area, and that's what I hope to see. It'll be a very functional part of our system. It'll be a very good thing for the community."