Head-of-Tide Dams:

Informational Meeting On the Future of the Taylor River Dam Held

A public informational meeting was held on November 10, 2009 at the Hampton Falls town hall. The topic of discussion was the review and public comment on the feasibility study recently completed regarding the future options for the Taylor River Dam located on the Route 95 corridor. The dam and Route 95 bridge complex, completed in 1950, form the Taylor River Pond impoundment, and are currently in need of significant repair, as is the retrofitted fish ladder built about a decade later. The feasibility study looked at the options of:

1. Taking no action (always an option required by law).
2. Rebuilding the bridge, dam and fish ladder, thus maintaining the impoundment.
3. Rebuilding the bridge without the dam allowing that section of river to again run free, but thus sacrificing the freshwater impoundment.

The issues raised by the study are complex and far reaching, involving everything from the obvious biological issues of poor water quality in the impoundment, pesticide accumulation in the impoundment sediments, poorly functioning fish ladder design combined with plummeting river herring returns, to the practical and necessary issues of availability of water for fighting fires, potential impacts on area wells, effects on abutter homeowner property values, and impact on recreation in the area. The feasibility study and the minutes of previous meetings are available for review and download at http://www.nh.gov/dot/projects/hampton13408b/index.htm.

Public comment will be accepted for one month (see the link for Robert Landry at the link above), after which a public meeting will be held, most likely in 2 or 3 months, for public discussion and comment on the option chosen by NH DOT.