Dwight Boyd

Grand – Functional River Reaches
Once water is in the river system different types
of river reaches deliver the water to Lake Erie.
River reaches can be crudely categorized into
three types:
1. Estuary reach at the mouth of the river.
2. Backwater reach typically upstream of small
dams
3. Riffle/Recovery reach where pool, run and riffle
sequence are present and repeat themselves.
Natural processes in recovery reaches metabolize
nutrients and help cleanse water and provide
a diverse habitat
Backwater reaches typically are not healthy
reaches, sediment and nutrients accumulate in
these reaches. Natural processes don’t have the
ability to metabolize and cleanse the water.
Note the long backwater reaches in the southern river,
these reaches affect the quality of water reaching Lake
Erie and the dams at the downstream of these reaches
limit fishery migration and habitat diversity.
The ability of recovery reaches to metabolize nutrients
is analogous to the assimilative capacity of these types
of these reaches.