The water isn't over the dam; Manchaug breach opposed.Byline: Ruth Vecchione SUTTON - The company that wants to breach the dam on Manchaug Pond appears to have a long regulatory road ahead of it. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has submitted its comments to the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act Office on the environmental impact of breaching the Manchaug Pond Dam by Manchaug Reservoir Corp. The dam was built in 1836 to provide storage and flow regulation for water used by mills downstream. With the closing of the InterfaceFABRIC Mill in Douglas, there are no longer any mills using the water. The company wants to divest itself of responsibility and liability for ownership and operation of the dam. "Since acquiring the dam in 1961, MRC See Maximum return criterion. has controlled the water level in Manchaug Pond according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a regime referred to as the `Rule Curve,'" said the DEP DEP Deposit DEP Deputy DEP Department of Environmental Protection DEP Dependent DEP Departure DEP Depot DEP Deposition DEP deployed (US DoD) DEP Data Execution Prevention (computer security) letter signed by Deputy DEP Regional Director Paul Anderson. According to the letter, since the spring of 2008, MRC has repeatedly failed to replace flashboards that increase the height of the water to at least the "Rule Curve." This past spring, when MRC again failed to replace the flashboards, DEP observed alteration of areas subject to protection under the Wetlands Protection Act because of the decline in the water level, the letter said. After a series of Sutton Conservation Commission Orders of Conditions, DEP Superceding Orders of Conditions, and appeals and complaints filed by MRC since 2008, the issue is in litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. . "MassDEP's position during all of this litigation has been that the status quo [Latin, The existing state of things at any given date.] Status quo ante bellum means the state of things before the war. The status quo to be preserved by a preliminary injunction is the last actual, peaceable, uncontested status which preceded the pending controversy. should be preserved; that is, until these issues are resolved, MRC should continue to operate the dam as it has for decades," the letter said. Included in DEP's letter are comments from the Wetlands Program. They said that MRC is describing the proposed breaching as a "restoration" project in order to avail itself of the provisions of the wetlands regulations that exempt certain projects from meeting performance standards. "In order for the issuing authority to approve the project under this section, the proponent would have to establish that removal of the dam would improve the capacity of the affected resource areas to protect the interests listed in the Wetlands Protections Act." Those interests include private and public water supplies, groundwater supply, flood control, storm damage prevention, prevention of pollution, and wildlife habitat and fisheries fisheries. From earliest times and in practically all countries, fisheries have been of industrial and commercial importance. In the large N Atlantic fishing grounds off Newfoundland and Labrador, for example, European and North American fishing fleets have long . In addition to a complete assessment of the impacts to upstream and downstream water bodies, DEP requested in the letter an inventory of all public and private water supply wells within a half mile radius of Manchaug Pond. "If any water supplies could be adversely affected, the proponent should propose mitigation for those losses," DEP said. "There is no municipal water service in this area; therefore the mitigation proposal should include the potential for the proponent to construct replacement wells through MassDEP's Public Water System permitting program or to extend municipal water service to the area." DEP requested a full evaluation of alternatives including the impacts and costs of improving the existing dam. They also requested disclosure of what financial considerations resulted in rejecting the alternative of conveying the dam to another party. The Division of Watershed Management National Pollutant pol·lut·ant n. Something that pollutes, especially a waste material that contaminates air, soil, or water. Discharge Elimination Program provided comments on the impact to the base flow from the Mumford River The Mumford River is a river (about 11 miles long) in south-central Massachusetts. It is a tributary of the Blackstone River. The river rises in Douglas, flows east in a meandering path through a series of ponds (Manchaug, Gilboa, Lackey, Whitins, just west of Whitinsville), that the Town of Douglas' municipal wastewater treatment facility relies on several miles downstream from the Manchaug Pond. "The MassDEP requests a complete analysis of the impacts of this new base flow on this discharge and the resulting water quality and quantity." Waterway waterway, natural or artificial navigable inland body of water, or system of interconnected bodies of water, used for transportation, may include a lake, river, canal, or any combination of these. Regulation Program Section Chief Ben Lynch commented the same day. He stated in his letter that Manchaug Pond is classified as a "Great Pond This article is about a pond in Maine. For other uses, see Great Pond (disambiguation). The largest great pond, named Great Pond, is located in Kennebec County, Maine, in the United States. It is part of the Kennebec River watershed. " under state law, and requires WRP's authorization for the proposed breaching. According to the Waterways Regulations he cited, the project should not significantly interfere with public rights of navigation nor significantly interfere with public rights associated with a common landing, public easement public easement n. the right of the general public to use certain streets, highways, paths or airspace. In most cases the easement came about through reservation of the right when land was deeded to individuals or by dedication of the land to the government. or other historic legal form of public access from the land to the water. In addition, the project should not significantly disrupt any water-dependent use at an off-site location within proximity of the project site, according to Waterways Regulations. Mr. Lynch requested that the Environmental Impact Report include a survey of all private or publicly owned Publicly owned can refer to:
"In the event that the proponent cannot meet the `significant disruption' standard, in the Environmental Impact Report they should propose mitigation and/or compensation measures to offset the attenuation Loss of signal power in a transmission. Attenuation The reduction in level of a transmitted quantity as a function of a parameter, usually distance. It is applied mainly to acoustic or electromagnetic waves and is expressed as the ratio of power densities. in function of these facilities," his letter stated. He noted a waterways license application has not been submitted. The Environmental Impact report is due July 24. ART: PHOTO CUTLINE: The old dam sits in the middle of Manchaug Pond. PHOTOG pho·tog n. Informal A person who takes photographs, especially as a profession; a photographer. : T&G FILE PHOTO |
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