MANSFIELD — The Clear Fork Reservoir, the major source of water for the City of Mansfield, was completed four years after the end of World War II.
With a capacity of 4.4 billion gallons and 997 acres of surface water, it has never been dredged.
That may change in the years ahead.
The city’s Board of Control on Tuesday approved a “master service agreement” with Stantec, a southwest Ohio company, that could lead to a study of just what’s settled over the years at the bottom of the reservoir seven miles southwest of the city.
The agreement with the Blue Ash-based company has no dollar amount attached to it, but it does allow for the company to provide planning and design services for the reservoir, according to city engineer Bob Bianchi.
“This is the the baseline agreement and then when we need them to do some work, we would come to the Board of Control on a task-order basis, just like we do with (other contractors for) the airport and the water treatment plant and the wastewater treatment plant,” he said.
“Our first task order will be probably in the beginning of the year where we’re going to talk about planning for the potential dredging of the Clear Fork Reservoir through what will be a saltation analysis and a capacity analysis based off of how the reservoir has silted in over the years,” Bianchi said.
He said that study would cost around $150,000 and would come from the city’s water fund.
Stantec was the only company to submit “qualifications” for the potential reservoir projects, according to Bianchi.
“We have worked with Stantec before, as well. They helped us on the dam seepage project in 2023,” he said.
“It takes a lot of time to learn the history and the components of our infrastructure and to bring in a new engineer on a project-by-project basis doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Bianchi said the four goals of the study would be to determine how much silt has collected, the composition of the silt, whether it makes sense to remove it and the best method to use in removing it.
He said the silt enters the low-flow reservoir from streams and tributaries within a 35-mile drainage area.
“There is a lot of energy in the streams to carry that silt, but there is not as much energy in the reservoir, so the silt will drop to the bottom,” Bianchi said.
The study will help determine if dredging is needed for the long-term viability of the reservoir in terms of water capacity.
“With the silt, we are losing water storage and that is a drinking water facility. We want to make sure we have enough drinking water for the next 100 to 200 years to serve the Mansfield area,” he said.
If the decision is made to dredge the reservoir, Bianchi said the cost would be based on many factors, including disposal of the silt removed.
“It would be expensive,” he said.
The Clear Fork Reservoir is 24 feet at its deepest point, according to the city website.
The lake together with 1,000 acres of surrounding land is available for picnicking, boating, fishing, camping, hiking, hunting and other forms of recreation.
