CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — At 60 feet high and 400 feet wide, the Gorge Dam is a site to see. It's situated on the Cuyahoga River in Gorge Metro Park in Cuyahoga Falls.

Constructed in 1913, the dam powered a hydroelectric power plant and provided cooling water for a coal power plant.

"When you put a dam on a river you essentially turn a fast, free-flowing river into a segmented, slow water, almost like a lake environment, it's no longer a river," said Dr. John Peck, professor of geosciences, University of Akron.

Peck says the Gorge Dam degrades the water quality and provides a horrible habitat for river species. It is now known as the single greatest unresolved water quality problem on the river.

"What we found upstream is that once these dams were removed they were a tremendous benefit to the communities, that not only did we improve water quality within a year after the dams had come down, they created wonderful places for people to be and wonderful access to the river where there been none," said Elaine Marsh, watershed specialist, Summit Metro Parks.

A regional effort from Summit Metro Parks, the EPA, First Energy and other agencies have been pushing for the dam's removal. Removing the dam will speed up the flow of the water, providing recreation for experienced kayakers.

"Once the 60-foot dam comes out,  we're going to have access to the entire river, so right now there's a mile and a half of dam lake and when that is removed, somewhere in there is going to be ledges and rapids," said Donald Howdyshell, an expereinced kayaker.

Howdyshell has been white water kayaking for five years.

The dam currently sits right in the middle of two and a half miles of white water.

"I think everybody, from kayakers to hikers, are waiting for that dam to come down, everybody wants to know what's hidden underneath that water because nobody has seen it, nobody alive today knows what it looks like," said Howdyshell.

Before the deconstruction of the dam, sediment will need to be removed first.

"Behind the Gorge, there's a phenomenal amount of sediment, 900,000 cubic yards and if they didn't, all that material would erode downstream, and it's slightly polluted, it would fertilize the lower Cuyahoga River and we don't want that to happen," said Peck.

Once the sediment is removed, the concrete dam will be hammered away and hauled off-site, bringing the Cuyahoga River back to its natural state.

"To have white water is really an unusual thing and on a major river like the Cuyahoga, it's really a big deal, so we will be an attraction to paddlers states away," said Marsh.

The earliest the deconstruction of the dam could start is 2023.