River is dropping fast; please reduce water use

June 28th, 2010 | by Kerry

Flow in the Ipswich River is dropping fast, and we need everyone’s help to prevent a scenario like the one pictured here, which occurred all too often in the past.

Today (Monday), flow at the South Middleton streamflow gage is only 5.7 cubic feet per second, down from about 18 cfs 10 days ago.  This means that less than 4 million gallons a day are flowing in the river in Middleton; it is not enough water for the river’s fish.  At the Willowdale gage, flows have dropped to 29 cfs today, from 52 cfs on June 18th.  To see the flows at South Middleton and Willowdale in real-time, click here.

With the 4th of July weekend approaching — usually a time when water use soars — we ask folks throughout the region to reduce your own water use.  Please don’t water your lawn; it will survive by going dormant during hot, dry weather, but the fish will not be so lucky if the river dries up.  We thank you for your cooperation and assistance. For more information on saving water, please click here and here.

How much water does your town use?

June 25th, 2010 | by Kerry

In response to a reader request, here is a table showing how much water the towns and cities in this region use year-round and in the May-September “summer” period.  As a point of comparison, the river in Middleton today has about 5 million gallons a day (8 cu.ft./sec.)

For more information on how to save water, please click here and here.

2004-2008 WATER USE (in million gallons per day)
Town/City	Average	Maximum	May-Sept
	annual use	daily use	average use
Danvers-Middleton	3.19	5.43	3.78
Hamilton	0.65	1.04	0.73
Ipswich*	1.06	2.01	1.23
Lynn*	10.11	12.74	10.80
Lynnfield Center WD*	0.71	1.38	0.92
North Reading*	1.43	2.3	1.70
Peabody*	5.86	8.73	6.59
Reading**	1.84	2.73	2.02
Salem-Beverly WSB	10.25	13.72	10.98
Beverly (part of SBWSB total)	4.0	6.1	4.48
Salem (part of SBWSB total)	5.66	7.33	5.84
Topsfield	0.41	0.9	0.49
Wenham	0.33	0.74	0.39
Wilmington*	2.07	3.07	2.29
*Ipswich, Lynn, Lynnfield, North Reading, Peabody and Wilmington
draw water from both the Ipswich and another river basin.
**Reading stopped using its Ipswich River wells in 2006.

The Water Closet: June 23, 2010

June 24th, 2010 | by Middleton Stream Team

WINDOW ON WETLANDS

The finishing touches are now being done on a little known woodland park with nature trail, which at times is within the floodplain of the Ipswich River.  Under the sponsorship of the Middleton Stream Team, David Florance, Scout Troop 19, cleared the trail as an Eagle Scout project two years ago.  The town land west of the river’s channel is about 25-rods north of ancient Logbridge Road, as early drovers might have described its location, where there was a cart path connecting colonial Salem and Andover.  Now this pleasant wood across the floodplain from Danvers’ conservation land is dominated by mature red oaks; some very large and impressive towering above witch hazel bushes with lovely ferns between.  In March of this year and during the great floods of 2006 and 2001 most of these several acres of woods were covered for a few days with fast flowing water.  Between the floods of the last two decades, beavers, so often mentioned in the Water Closet, have, with a high dam a fourth-mile down river, kept the water high enough to drown the floodplain’s trees. Green ash, black ash, swamp white oak, river birch, and red maple like wet soils but can’t take root inundation year round.  (more…)

The Water Closet: June 23, 2010

June 24th, 2010 | by Middleton Stream Team

WATER RESOURCE AND CONSERVATION INFORMATION
FOR MIDDLETON, BOXFORD AND TOPSFIELD

Precipitation Data* for Month of: Mar Apr May June
30 Year Normal (1971 – 2000) Inches 3.86 4.17 3.63 3.58
2010 Central Watershed Actual 19.19** 2.09 2.74 1.36 to 3 PM 6/22

Ipswich River Flow Rate (S. Middleton USGS Gage) in Cubic Feet per Second (CFS):
For June 22, 2010: Normal . . . 22 CFS Current Rate . . . 9.4 CFS