Fate of 2 dams leaves uncertain times along the Piscataquog River
Jun. 24—GOFFSTOWN
Don Smith's two kids grew up kayaking on the Piscataquog River in front of their 1880s Victorian-style house, a pastime the 71-year-old still enjoys with his wife.
Now, he fears that the likely dismantling of a century-old dam nearby will lower the river's water levels and hurt his property value.
"We bought the place because we liked the water," Smith said, looking out at the river on an afternoon worthy of swimming.
"Turning it into a trickle creek is going to be infested with black flies for the neighbors," Smith said.
A federal push for the Hadley Falls Dam to resume generating power or surrender its license to generate electricity has endangered the dam's future. The state-owned dam has deteriorated too far to repair, and the state doesn't want to spend the estimated $5 million to $10 million it would cost to replace it.
Among other implications, the dam's removal could force the relocation of Goffstown's annual Pumpkin Regatta, which draws thousands of spectators and delights village shopkeepers each October.
And Hadley Falls may not be the only dam on the Piscataquog that could be removed in the coming years.
The Kelley's Falls Dam in Manchester could be next. Federal agencies are pushing for a way for fish to swim upstream past the state-owned dam. The company running the hydropower operation at the dam has told the feds it will surrender its license next year rather than pay to accommodate the fish.
That may ultimately lead to the dam's demise.
"With Kelley's Falls, certainly removal is the least desirable alternative from everybody's standpoint because there are so many homes around that impoundment," said Corey Clark, chief engineer of the dam bureau at the state Department of Environmental Services.
About 180 waterfront homes surround Namaske Lake, the impoundment of more than 100 acres created by the Kelley's Falls Dam.
Residents living along Namaske Lake are "alarmed" and in "either shock or denial," said Michael Allard, president of the Namaske Lake Association, about the prospect of losing the dam.
Statewide, New Hampshire would need to spend an estimated $414 million to repair 275 state-owned dams.
Since 2001, an average of about two dams a year have been removed in New Hampshire, including a total of seven state-owned ones.
Hadley Falls Dam
A six-and-a-half-mile stretch of the Piscataquog flows over three dams, starting with the Hadley Falls Dam in Gofstown village, followed by the Gregg's Falls Dam on the east side of Glen Lake and then farther east to the Kelley's Falls Dam in Manchester.
Hadley Falls Dam created a 20-acre body of water that Clark estimated is 10 to 15 feet deep, close to Smith's estimate of 12 feet at the river's deepest point.
"The river will still be there in Goffstown, what is unknown is how the river will look and act with the dam removed," Clark said by email. "We'll be able to get closer to those answers as we get more information through a removal feasibility study."
Hadley Falls won't be dismantled for years.
"By the time you get everything designed and finished and go into construction, it can take anywhere from five to 10 years," Clark said in an interview.
Built more than a century ago out of concrete atop rock, the 20-foot tall Hadley Falls Dam last produced power in 2007.
Residents living upstream of the dam, located just east of the bridge that carries Goffstown's Main Street, cast a wary eye on what might happen when the water level is lowered.
Four-season enjoyment
Doris and John Orzechowski consider the river an extension of their backyard.
"I'd bring the snowblower and snow-blow the river," said John, who has lived there 45 years.
"We would ice skate when it's cold," said Doris, who has called the Dow Street property home for the past 35 years.
The Orzechowskis still host Fourth of July parties that attract upward of 150 family members and friends. A paddle boat and kayaks are part of the festivities.
"We won't be able to use the river" if the dam is removed, he said.
John also worries about what will happen to three large snapping turtles and beavers that live nearby.
At least the birds — a bald eagle and two herons that visit the river for food — "can fish on Glen Lake," he said.
The Exeter example
Goffstown residents living above the Hadley Falls Dam may get a glimpse of their future by looking 40 miles east to Exeter, where the Exeter River had been dammed since the 1640s.
"Great Dam in Exeter is probably the best comparable example because there was some opposition from residents for removal, but ultimately the town of Exeter voted to provide money needed for the removal project," the DES's Clark said.
The downtown dam was removed in 2016 at a cost of $1.8 million, about $800,000 of which came from state and federal funds.
"The bird life is thriving in Exeter in the absence of the dam," said Mike Dionne, the environmental review coordinator for Fish and Game.
Water that was around 10 feet deep behind the town-owned dam now measures a couple of feet. "You can see the bottom," Dionne said.
The Exeter dam's fish ladder "was never very efficient," passing 20,000 fish in its best year, said Dionne, who managed the ladder.
The 2022 estimate had 273,228 river herring — a mix of alewives and blueback herring — passing through Exeter, said Dionne, who was an adviser on the dam's removal.
In a few places in New Hampshire, fish are trapped below a dam and physically trucked farther upstream, including on the Lamprey River in Newmarket, he said.
Removing dams also allows nutrients to flow more freely.
"It makes for a healthier ecosystem," said Dionne, a former marine biologist.
Property value fears
John Orzechowski said he expects his property tax assessment would drop $100,000 "easily" if he loses his current water view.
Derek Horne, Goffstown's town administrator, said he believes a changed river would affect property values.
"Waterfront is definitely a factor in the assessment of properties," Horne said. "We have no way to quantify how much it would impact it."
If some waterfront property owners have their assessments lowered, others in town might have to make up the difference in the town and school budgets, Horne said.
In Manchester, Allard said he doesn't know how much removing the century-old Kelley's Falls Dam might hurt property values on Namaske Lake.
"It's not going to increase them, that's for sure," Allard said. "It's going to come to what's there. If the dam gets removed, what does it look like? Is it a stream? Is there some form of a lake?"
No one knows how much the lake level will drop without the dam in place.
The lake now is about 3 to 4 feet deep near shore and an estimated 28 feet at its deepest, Allard said.
The longtime resident offered two observations that might prove insightful.
When flash boards on the dam broke away during heavy rains, lake levels dropped three feet, making it difficult for many boats to sail, Allard said.
And Allard, who has lived along the lake's waterfront for 53 years, recalls a time about 40 years ago when the lake was drained "down to a stream for an entire summer" and bulldozers helped clean the lake's bottom.
"I remembered it was messy, mucky, smelly," and even revealed submerged cars, Allard said.
Whither the pumpkins?
Each fall, Goffstown's Giant Pumpkin Regatta attracts 5,000 or more people to the village, with a race featuring boats made from giant pumpkins in the area of the river that is dammed up.
Horne, the town administrator, said "the regatta might have to be relocated to some other location" depending on how much the water level drops.
DES spokesman Jim Martin said he couldn't predict the drop, but said, "There'll probably be an impact to the pumpkin regatta."
Besides fearing how it will affect his property, Orzechowski worries about the regatta's future.
"The pumpkin regatta helps all the local business people," he said. "They're going to lose tens of thousands of dollars."
Horne said the dam helps shape the village.
"It's an old mill village, so it's, especially with the regatta, definitely part of the character of the village," Horne said.
Mud in their eyes
Horne said some residents are worried about what the river will look like after the dam is gone.
"We have heard some concerns it would change the river in the village and (become) a little more muddy," he said.
State engineer Clark doesn't know how much the river will change.
"The water level is going to be the natural footprint of what the stream channel is," he said. "There may be mud flats."
The state "would gladly transfer ownership to the town of Goffstown for a dollar," Clark said.
But the town hasn't accepted the offer, knowing an investment of millions of dollars would be needed to keep the dam.
If and when the dam goes, the state would do an analysis of how much sediment is left and whether some should be removed, Clark said.
"As part of the removal process, the contractor and designer are likely to go in there and basically carve out that river channel or where you want that to go," Clark said. "That will help bring the river back to a more natural setting."
From his house, planning board member David Pierce has a bird's eye view of the river just below the Hadley Falls Dam, across from where he said a mill once produced spindles for Manchester's giant textile mills.
"A mill town always had a mill pond. We'd lose that historic feature," Pierce said.
Upstream, "Mother Nature will make a smaller river," said Pierce, a former licensed professional engineer.
He doesn't expect the river flowing past his house to change much. But many people "would be disappointed if the dam were to be removed," Pierce said.
Kelley's Falls Dam
Vermont-based Green Mountain Power sent a letter to federal regulators in March saying it was filing an application to surrender its license to generate power at Kelley's Falls Dam at the end of the license's term next March.
"GMP determined that the project will not be financially viable following issuance of a subsequent license due to the anticipated capital-intensive protection, mitigation, and enhancement measures related to upstream and downstream fish passage," the company wrote.
Green Mountain reportedly would have needed to spend $4 million or more to satisfy fish requirements, Clark said.
Spokeswoman Kristin Carlson said surrendering its license with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is "the best decision for our customers."
The process of winding down hydropower operations "could take about 12-18 months, and during that time we will continue to operate the plant as we always have, in compliance with the current FERC license," she said. "The state of New Hampshire owns the dam, and they will continue to own it."
A big question is whether the dam could remain without a fish passage if the dam doesn't produce hydropower and doesn't have an active FERC license.
Clark said the dam would fall under state jurisdiction, where there's no requirement that such dams must comply with other government agency directives unless there is some agreement in place, such as federal funding for rehabilitation or a state wetlands permit to perform work at the dam.
"So in theory there could come a time after the FERC license is surrendered in which fish passage is not required at Kelley's Falls," Clark said.
If the state sought federal funding to fix or remove the Hadley Falls Dam, it might be required to provide fish passage to Kelley's Falls, said Clark, who is in talks with federal agencies.
FERC spokeswoman Celeste Miller said each case is different.
"I cannot speculate on your questions about future actions by the commission, however, I can tell you that there is opportunity for all interested parties to provide comments as part of our processes," Miller said in an email.
Back in Goffstown, Doris Orzechowski isn't happy with the federal government.
"I guess we'll have to move to Canada," she joked.
