Dam Breach Planned

By Monica Deady / CNC Staff Writer
Friday, December 5, 2003

Fish trying to swim up the Charles River to spawn may be able to make the trip a little more easily as a result of a grant from the Massachusetts Environmental Trust for the Charles River Watershed Association.

The $22,002 grant will go toward the eventual breaching of the Bleachery Dam in Waltham.

By breaching the dam, or creating an opening that allows fish to more easily pass over it, more habitat will be available for fish, said Kathy Baskin, the director of projects at the CRWA.

Baskin said there would be "hopefully a benefit to the fisheries in Watertown in that they would be able to migrate more easily upstream for spawning."

Currently, the dam has one breach that Brad Chase, a marine fisheries biologist at the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, said is just a few feet wide, He explained that a breach gives more velocity to the water at a certain point, drawing the fish to it.

"It would be much better to have no dam at all," he added.

Although the effect on Watertown may be minimal, Baskin said concerns over things that may affect the area include where the extra water that would be allowed to pass would go and what will happen to the debris if there is any when a piece of the dam is removed.

She said the state would have to look carefully at whether the dam would lose its ability to hold back water and the speed that the water would travel over the dam with the additional breach. However, she said in initial inspections the dam does not appear to be holding back much water.

Chase said he thought the impact downstream where the river flows through Watertown would be minimal.

"There should be a very similar, if not identical amount of water coming over," Chase said. He said he imagined the depth could be lower upstream because the breach might allow the elevation to dip just a small amount.

"It will really expand the habitat for these fish," Baskin said. The project is still in its initial planning stages, she said. To complete the project, they would need equipment, insurance and engineering work, which could cost hundred of thousands of dollars, she said.

The fish that live in the river include river herring, perch, sunfish and carp, Baskin said. Chase said a breach would target the herring who swim upstream to spawn.

Baskin said the project would probably be added to a list of projects that need funding from the state government and would have to wait for more money before they could begin construction. However, she said having the grant money would help move their project up the list.

Watertown's Conservation Agent Bruce Roberts said he had not heard of the grant, but did not think it would be a problem for the river that flows past Watertown.

"Breaching this dam to allow fish to spawn could be nothing but positive as far as I'm concerned," Roberts said.

The dam was originally built by Christopher Gore in 1794. At the same time he built the dam, he erected a paper mill.

Monica Deady can be reached at mdeady@cnc.com