CINCINNATI — While Lake Erie gets the most attention, Ohio is home to hundreds of other lakes as well. One of those is getting a multi-million dollar upgrade to clean it out for families and wildlife.

What You Need To Know

  • Crews drained the lake at Sharon Woods and are moving 10 olympic sized swimming pools worth of sediment 

  • The sediment will be pushed to either side of the lake and create wetlands 

  • Park leaders say after the work is done, crews will refill it with clean water
  • It's expected to be finished by the fall 

At Sharon Woods in Cincinnati, the harbor is filled with mud and construction. Park leaders say it's all going underwater and it'll be turned back into a lake to bring back some wildlife and a family tradition.

“I’m here with my two oldest daughters, and we came here with the plan to take the boat out on the lake," said Rick Recker, who was visiting the park. 

It’s a tradition Recker said he’s been doing with his family for the last 15 years, but this time it’s different.

“We came to the lake, or what once was a lake, is now a big hole, and I had to explain to my girls this is just as much fun, we can learn about this," said Recker. 

Their boating trip turned into an educational one about where the water went. It's water park leaders say used to be filled with dirt and weeds.

“You’d put your paddle in and there’d be duck weed on it," said Great Parks Chief of Planning Janet Broughton Murray. "It was not swampy, but maybe you could call it soupy."

She said years of built up sediment was causing the old lake water to cloud and thicken, but they’re using more than $15M in donations, grants and tax money to change that.

“What we've done is drained the lake and reposition some of the sediments in this recreational area where we would like the lake to be deep, clear water, perfect for boating, and move them to either end of the lake where the creeks come in to create wetlands," Murray said.

She said crews are moving 10 olympic sized swimming pools worth of sediment and adding in pipeline to remove sediment in the future.

Once that’s done, the plan is to refill the 35-acre lake and open it back with more amenities for those family boating trips.

“We'll totally be back and, you know, reignite the family tradition," said Recker.

Park leaders say they expect everything to be finished and open to the public by this fall, but this project is just one of several they have in the works to revitalize the area.