Current status: construction has not begun. The 2026 H2Ohio award funds design and technical evaluation.
$2.45 million starts the work
The City of Hamilton and Miami Conservancy District received $2.45 million through Ohio’s H2Ohio Rivers Program for the Hamilton Low Dam project, the first phase of the Lower Great Miami River Restoration Initiative. The current estimated project cost is about $7.66 million.
Why anglers should care
The dam blocks aquatic connectivity between the lower Great Miami and the Ohio River. Improved fish passage is an explicit project goal. MetroParks of Butler County says the modification could open about 33.7 miles of unobstructed access from the Ohio River while improving oxygenation, water temperature and fishing opportunities.
Safety is a major driver
Low-head dams can create dangerous recirculating currents that pull people and boats back toward the face of the dam. In 2026, Miami Conservancy District officials told WCPO that Hamilton’s low dam had been connected to three deaths, three injuries and many rescues since it was built.
The deaths behind the “drowning machine” warning
One of the clearest documented tragedies came on June 20, 2003. Kevin Lodder, 24, and Danny Brodnick, 49, were testing a 26-foot cabin cruiser when the engine stalled above the Neilan Boulevard low dam. The boat drifted into the hydraulic, flipped, and both men died. American Whitewater’s accident record notes that neither man was wearing a life jacket.
Another fatal incident occurred during the July 4 weekend in 2025, when a 38-year-old Mt. Healthy woman was caught in a low-dam hydraulic during a kayak accident. Hamilton firefighters pulled her from the river and restored a pulse, but she later died.
The miracle survivor: firefighter Chris Gabbard
On April 17, 2007, Hamilton firefighter Chris Gabbard was taking part in annual river-rescue recertification training below the low-level dam when the rescue boat was pulled into the dam’s hydraulic and overturned. Gabbard lost his helmet and life vest and was trapped underwater for roughly 20 to 26 minutes, according to contemporary reports and the accident record.
He was eventually recovered, resuscitated and hospitalized in critical condition. Within weeks he was walking, talking and joking with his family, and later returned to work. A Dayton Daily News report on the department’s investigation described his survival as a “miracle.”
A helicopter rescue that Hamilton still remembers
The danger had been demonstrated years earlier. In 1989, two 20-year-old rafters went over Hamilton’s then-new low-level dam and were caught in the turbulence. One, Rodney Jones, was thrown from the raft, pulled underwater and dragged about 50 yards downstream. A WCPO Newshawk helicopter crew became part of the dramatic rescue, and both men survived.
Removal or modification?
Some headlines call this dam removal. The Miami Conservancy District is more precise: the current work evaluates modification, with design balancing safety, water quality, recreation and the upstream rowing pool.
When?
Local reporting in July 2026 put possible physical work around 2027–2028, assuming design, permitting and funding continue.
Bigger than Hamilton
Troy, Piqua and other communities are also pursuing Great Miami watershed connectivity projects. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service describes a broader effort to remove hazardous barriers and reconnect habitat.