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Dam Removals

Removal of dams on the Lower Ridley is improving water quality and opportunities for fish passage. Ridley Creek was recently made a free-flowing stream and opened to migratory fish with the removal of two dams in Chester City and Nether Providence, thanks foremost to the efforts of Delco Anglers and Conservationsts.  The Irving Mill Dam was removed in 2004 and the Sharpless Dam in 2005.

Removal of these dams has many benefits:

• Enables historic upstream fish migration by American shad, striped bass, and other species, not possible since 1767 when the first Ridley dam was constructed

• Removes a barrier for non-migratory fish passage

• Improves aquatic habitat by lowering daytime summer water temperatures, increasing dissolved oxygen, and eliminating unhealthy crowding of fish behind the dams

• Reduces upstream and downstream flooding by reinstating functional floodplains

• Removes a public nuisance/liability

Major funding for these dam removal efforts was provided by the Pennsylvania Fish and Game Commission, American Rivers, DEP (Growing Greener), the William Penn Foundation, the Southeast RC & D Council, and the American Sportsfishing Association.  

Restoring former dam sites is not without its challenges. With funding from American Rivers and TreeVitalize, CRC has been working to stabilize, replant, and maintain the streambanks impacted by the removal of these two dams.