How clean is the Merrimack River?
But, thanks to the Clean Water Act of 1972, the Merrimack has been cleaned up considerably over the last 50 years. Remarkably, more than 80 percent of the Merrimack watershed is still undeveloped and largely forested.
What is the Merrimack River watershed?
The Merrimack River watershed is the fourth largest watershed in New England, encompassing 5,010 square miles. It includes all or parts of approximately 200 communities, with almost 2.6 million people.
How is the Merrimack River used for power?
The Merrimack still supplies power via six hydroelectric dams on the river and almost 100 small power projects. Hydropower is generated in Lowell by a plant on the Northern Canal and by turbines in former mills. The Merrimack is also the second largest surface drinking water source in New England.
Can infiltration wells increase Merrimack River drinking water supply?
Manchester, N.H. and Haverhill, Mass. are planning to add infiltration wells along the Merrimack River, increasing the number of people drinking source water from the Merrimack, to more than 700,000. In the 1800’s, the Merrimack River supplied energy to the textile industry's mill complexes.
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Is Merrimack River clean?
Nearly 50 years after the Clean Water Act, the Merrimack has become one of the most polluted waterways in New England, one of dozens of rivers in the region that are repeatedly inundated with raw sewage from treatment plants overwhelmed by heavy rains.
Is the Merrimack River used for drinking water?
The river provides drinking water for about 500,000 people in five Massachusetts communities; Lowell, Methuen, Andover, Tewksbury and Lawrence. The Merrimack River also provides water to many communities in the greater Nashua, N.H. area, which are served by Pennichuck Water.
What is contributing to the pollution in the Merrimack River?
The primary source of bacteria pollution to the Merrimack River is untreated sewage.
Why is the Merrimack River Brown?
The torrential rain that fell to the north and west didn't only increase water levels and the flow in the river, it also stirred up enormous quantities of silt and mud in the bottom and side of the Merrimack and its tributary rivers. Many people say they've never seen the Merrimack River this brown color.
How deep is the Merrimack River?
A channel seven feet deep and 150 feet wide extending from the U.S. Route 1 Bridge at Newburyport to the railroad bridge at Haverhill, a distance of 16.5 miles.
Why is the Merrimack considered one of the most endangered rivers in the US?
The Threat The U.S. Forest Service ranks the Merrimack River watershed as the most threatened in the country due to the development of forest lands, fourth for associated threats to water quality, and seventh for loss of habitat for species at risk.
Is the Merrimack River safe to swim in 2021?
A new study released by the Merrimack River Watershed Council shows water conditions in the Merrimack river are safe most of the time, but at some times, swimmers and boaters may encounter unsafe levels of bacteria. The council released the results of their 2021 water quality monitoring project this month.
Where does the Merrimack River begin and end?
Merrimack River, stream in the northeastern United States, rising in the White Mountains of central New Hampshire at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers and flowing southward into Massachusetts, then northeastward to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean.
Is the Merrimack River a water source?
Pemigewa... RiverWinnipesa... RiverMerrimack River/Sources
Where does Merrimack NH get their water?
Incorporated in 1746, the Town of Merrimack has a long history of its realationship of industry and its water supply. Both the Souhegan River and the Merrimack River make their way through portions of the town of Merrimack.
What feeds the Merrimack River?
It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Gulf of Maine at Newburyport.
What lives in the Merrimack River?
Species that were seasonally present in great numbers included:American shad, river herring (alewife and blueback herring)Sturgeon (Atlantic and shortnose)American eel.Striped bass.Atlantic salmon.Sea lamprey.
What is the NH drinking water project?
This project was jointly managed by the U.S. Forest Service, White Mountain National Forest and USDA (NH Natural Resources Conservation Service). EPA and NHDES also assisted on this project, to target the funds towards protecting drinking water sources. It was the only project in New England selected as part of the "USDA Joint Chiefs Initiative," a partnership between the Chiefs of NRCS and Forest Service. The initial focus of this project was to improve drinking water quality for Grafton County communities within the Pemigewasset River Watershed (headwaters of the Merrimack River). The project has funded best management practices on U.S. Forest Service land, implemented water quality protection projects on private land; and protected land through conservation and easement programs. Get information about the NH Drinking Water Improvement Partnership.
What is the Lawrence Water Strategy?
The Lawrence water strategy was developed as part of EPA's effort "Making a Visible Difference in Communities." It focuses on: 1) understanding more about the quality of Merrimack River water and mapping locations of potentially vulnerable sites and conditions; 2) ensuring that the facilities and infrastructure that provide safe drinking water are safe and secure; and 3) communicating the importance and value that the Merrimack River brings to Lawrence as both its source for drinking water and for recreation. EPA deployed two water quality monitors on the River to provide information on water quality every 15 minutes.
Why is protecting water important?
Protecting drinking water sources is key to sustaining safe drinking water supplies. Protecting source water also reduces risks to public health from exposures to contaminated water and can reduce treatment costs. EPA and many partners work on protecting the water in the Merrimack watershed.
What is the Society for the Protection of NH Forests?
The Society for the Protection of NH Forests' coordinates a bi-state effort to develop a comprehensive land conservation plan. The plan incorporates valuable water supply data, as well as wildlife and habitat information. The result of the bi-state collaborative approach is a plan that identifies priority parcels in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The project issued its first round of grants in the 2016 and continues to issue grant funding on a regular cycle. The grants are being used for land conservation based on the recommendations from the Merrimack Conservation plan. Details about the Merrimack Conservation Plan can be found here.
What is a New England water permit?
New England Water Permits (NPDES) The Clean Water Act prohibits anybody from discharging "pollutants" through a "point source" into a "water of the United States" unless they have a National Pollution Discharge Elimination Systems permit, often referred to as a NPDES permit.
How many people live in the Merrimack River watershed?
It includes all or parts of approximately 200 communities, with almost 2.6 million people.
What is CSO in EPA?
EPA's enforcement tools are explained here. Below are the current enforcement documents for each Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) community in the Merrimack River watershed. Please note that when EPA believes Clean Water Act ("CWA") violations have occurred and/or are continuing to occur, EPA may use one or more enforcement options.
Where does the Merrimack River provide water?
The Merrimack River also provides water to many communities in the greater Nashua, N.H. area , which are served by Pennichuck Water. Manchester, N.H. and Haverhill, Mass. are planning to add infiltration wells along the Merrimack River, increasing the number of people drinking source water from the Merrimack, to more than 700,000.
How many gallons of sewage was in the Merrimack River in 1920?
Meanwhile, city sewage systems dumped wastes directly into the Merrimack. In the 1920s, 12 million gallons of Lowell sewage entered the river each day. Sometimes diseases traveled downstream from one river city to another.
How did dams help the Merrimack River?
Large dams on the river itself were another part of the system. Dams helped mill owners obtain a steady water supply by holding back water overnight. Lowell’s dam, built just above the falls, turned the river into an 18-mile-long mill pond. Other dams were built in Lawrence, Manchester, and elsewhere along the Merrimack.
What were the major changes in the Merrimack River?
One of the most noted changes was the disappearance of fish. Salmon, shad and Alewives were formerly abundant here...until the dam,...and the factories at Lowell, put an end to their migrations hitherward....
How does the Merrimack River get its power?
The Merrimack still supplies power via six hydroelectric dams on the river and almost 100 small power projects. Hydropower is generated in Lowell by a plant on the Northern Canal and by turbines in former mills. The Merrimack is also the second largest surface drinking water source in New England.
What did Henry David Thoreau do to the Concord and Merrimack rivers?
Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the. Concord and Merrimack Rivers, 1849. In addition to building dams, textile makers dumped wastes into the river. The canals of Lowell were especially loaded with trash and dyes, making the water unfit for drinking. Population growth also contributed to the pollution of the water supply.
What was the most important water source in New England?
Rivers powered New England’s early industrial cities. The Merrimack was one of the most important waterpower sources. It gave rise to Lowell's great textile mills. Yet for many along the Merrimack, the river provided more than just waterpower.
What was the purpose of the Pawtucket Canal?
Merchants from Newburyport built the Pawtucket Canal (1796) to bring timber products around the Pawtucket Falls. Boston traders built the Middlesex Canal (1803) to ship goods to and from Boston. In 1814, a group of Boston merchants financed the country's first "integrated," water-powered textile mill. Located on the Charles River in Waltham, this ...
Where is the Merrimack River?
The Merrimack River in Pembroke, New Hampshire. The Merrimack as it flows from Haverhill to its mouth in Newburyport, Massachusetts. The etymology of the name of the Merrimack River - from which all subsequent uses derive, such as the name of the Civil War ironclad - remains uncertain.
What cities were built on the Merrimack River?
On the Merrimack River's banks are a number of cities built to take advantage of water power in the 19th century, when textile mills dominated the New England economy: Concord, Manchester, and Nashua in New Hampshire, and Lowell, Lawrence, and Haverhill in Massachusetts.
When was Merrimack spelled Merrimack?
It is referred to as "Merrimac" into the early 19th century: in the 1810 decennial census, it was spelled "Merrimac", but in the 1820 census and afterwards, "Merrimack". In 1914, US Congressman John Jacob Rogers (MA) petitioned that the official spelling be "Merrimack".
What does "merremack" mean?
Walker, relying on Chandler Eastman Potter's The History of Manchester (1856), Merremack contains the elements merruh ("strong") and auke ("place"—a recognizable locative ending), and means "the place of strong current, - a term not inappropriate, when we consider ... the river's rapids ....".
What are the causes of mercury pollution?
Studies by the USGS, MADEP, and NHDES have pointed to atmospheric deposition as the primary cause of mercury pollution. Additional factors threatening fish populations in the Merrimack River watershed include hydromodification and flow regulation, thermal pollution, and insufficient in- stream flow requirements.
How big is the Merrimack River?
The Merrimack River watershed covers an area of approximately 5010 square miles in the south-central portion of New Hampshire (76-percent of the drainage area) and the northeastern portion of Massachusetts (24-percent of the drainage area), making it the fourth largest watershed in New England. Executive Summary .
What river is monitored in New Hampshire?
In 1989, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Serv ices (NHDES) implemented a rotating watershed monitoring program based on the following division of state water resources: (1) the Connecticut River, (2) the Merrimack River, and (3) the combined Androscoggin, Saco, Piscaraqua, and coastal river basins.
When was the Merrimack River sample collected?
Five samples were collected at eight monitoring stations in the Merrimack River estuary and Massachusetts Bay between April 1992 and May 1993. Water and sediment samples were analyzed for polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH’s), pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s). A final report was published in 1995.
What are the causes of non support of designated uses in the basin?
The 1997 MRI study indicates that the four largest causes of non-support of designated uses in the basin are pollution from (1) urban runoff, (2) natural sources, (3) municipal point sources, and (4) CSO discharges.
What cities are working on a CSO plan?
The cities of Manchester and Nashua, New Hampshire, Lowell and Haverhill, Massachusetts, and the Greater Lawrence Sanitary District (GLSD), Massachusetts are currently working separately to develop and implement long-term Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) control plans in compliance with the Federal Clean Water Act.
What are the agencies that collect water quality data?
The primary water quality data collection agencies in the watershed have been state and federal agencies, including the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services (NHDES), the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MADEP), and the USGS.
What were the problems with drinking water in the 1960s?
By the late 1960s it became apparent that the aesthetic problems, pathogens, and chemicals identified by the Public Health Service were not the only drinking water quality concerns. Industrial and agricultural advances and the creation of new man-made chemicals also had negative impacts on the environment and public health. Many of these new chemicals were finding their way into water supplies through factory discharges, street and farm field runoff, and leaking underground storage and disposal tanks. Although treatment techniques such as aeration, flocculation, and granular activated carbon adsorption (for removal of organic contaminants) existed at the time, they were either underutilized by water systems or ineffective at removing some new contaminants. Health concerns spurred the federal government to conduct several studies on the nation's drinking water supply.
Did ancient civilizations drink water?
While the importance of ample water quantity for drinking and other purposes was apparent to our ancestors, an understanding of drinking water quality was not well known or documented. Although historical records have long mentioned aesthetic problems (an unpleasant appearance, taste or smell) with regard to drinking water, it took thousands of years for people to recognize that their senses alone were not accurate judges of water quality.
Why was the Merrimack River polluted?
Like many rivers in America, the Merrimack was heavily polluted as a result of industrial growth.
Who is the producer of the Merrimack River?
Read news coverage about the Merrimack River Watershed and articles related to our film from media outlets across the region, including interviews with Director Jerry Monkman and Producer Jack Savage.
Is the Merrimack River still undeveloped?
Remarkably, more than 80 percent of the Merrimack watershed is still undeveloped and largely forested. However, in 2016, it was named one of the most endangered rivers in the United States by the nonprofit American Rivers.