Location
UMass Amherst
Event Website
http://fishpassage.ecs.umass.edu/Conference2012/
Start Date
6-6-2012 4:25 PM
End Date
6-6-2012 6:00 PM
Description
For decades, a dam was located on the Souhegan River, roughly 1,800 feet upstream of its confluence with the Merrimack River. The dam, known locally as the Merrimack Village Dam (MVD), was located in a highly visible location in Merrimack, NH. The former owner of MVD, Pennichuck Water Works (Pennichuck), is a water supply company who purchased the dam in the 1960s as a potential water supply source, but it was never developed. In the mid 2000s, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) who regulated dam safety, issued Pennichuck a letter highlighting several deficiencies with the dam requiring extensive costs. NHDES also indicated that as an option to repairing the dam, they offer a program to assist owners with removing dams. After weighing the cost associated with dam repair, on-going liability, on-going operation and maintenance costs and the ecological restoration benefits, Pennichuck opted to conduct a feasibility study to determine if it was practical to remove the structure. Pennichuck applied and received numerous grants to help partially defray the cost of conducting a feasibility study and the eventual removal of a 20-foot high, 180 foot-long concrete and stone masonry dam in 2008.
Removal of the Merrimack Village Dam
UMass Amherst
For decades, a dam was located on the Souhegan River, roughly 1,800 feet upstream of its confluence with the Merrimack River. The dam, known locally as the Merrimack Village Dam (MVD), was located in a highly visible location in Merrimack, NH. The former owner of MVD, Pennichuck Water Works (Pennichuck), is a water supply company who purchased the dam in the 1960s as a potential water supply source, but it was never developed. In the mid 2000s, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES) who regulated dam safety, issued Pennichuck a letter highlighting several deficiencies with the dam requiring extensive costs. NHDES also indicated that as an option to repairing the dam, they offer a program to assist owners with removing dams. After weighing the cost associated with dam repair, on-going liability, on-going operation and maintenance costs and the ecological restoration benefits, Pennichuck opted to conduct a feasibility study to determine if it was practical to remove the structure. Pennichuck applied and received numerous grants to help partially defray the cost of conducting a feasibility study and the eventual removal of a 20-foot high, 180 foot-long concrete and stone masonry dam in 2008.
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/fishpassage_conference/2012/June6/34