Plan would reclassify region’s rivers

State officials are asking residents around Windsor County to weigh in on a plan that would reclassify many waters within the Black and Ottauquechee rivers, and drive funding for watershed projects over the next five years.


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Plan Would Reclassify Region’s Rivers By Matt Hongoltz-Hetling Valley News Staff Writer Friday, January 19, 2018 Print Woodstock VT West Windsor Vt Matt Hongoltz-Hetling Agency of Natural Resources West Windsor — State officials are asking residents around Windsor County to weigh in on a plan that would reclassify many waters within the Black and Ottauquechee rivers, and drive funding for watershed projects over the next five years. “I would love to hear from people on what their priorities are, and what their concerns are for clean water in the region,” said Marie Levesque Caduto, a watershed coordinator who’s been with the Agency of Natural Resources for the past 10 years. “Folks know significantly more about their local streams than I can, and I would love to hear from folks about what they’re seeing.” There will be three upcoming public comment sessions on the 163-page proposed “Basin 10 Plan,” referring to 425 square miles of land between Killington Peak and Springfield, Vt., that drain water into the Ottauquechee and Black rivers. Basin 10, one of 17 designated basins in the state, also includes the Connecticut River from Hartford to Bellows Falls, and its Vermont tributaries. The “Basin 9 Plan,” which includes the White River, is scheduled to be reviewed in a year or two. Everyone knows that some rivers and brooks have better water quality than others, but it’s harder to determine where the water quality is so high that it merits special protection, and where it’s so bad that it should be prioritized at the top of the list for remediation grant projects. Caduto said there are 440 water protection or remediation projects under contemplation “and more to come” within Basin 10, which can make for a dizzying number of options when funds are available. That’s where the plan comes in, by changing the classification of some waterways to avail them of different levels of protection, as outlined in the current draft of the plan, which is available on the Department of Environmental Conservation’s watershed management website. Two Upper Valley spots would be studied for classification as “outstanding resource waters,” a designation given to a waterway that has some exceptional value to the community — such as recreational opportunities, or nice optics for tourists. One is the north branch of the Ottauquechee River off Route 4 in Bridgewater, which Caduto said has been a topic of discussion for years. “Because it’s high elevation, it’s very remote,” Caduto said. “But everyone who knows the area says that’s the place to go to fish.” The other possible outstanding resource water is Comtu Falls, right in downtown Springfield. Under Vermont statute, proposed developments would have to take an ORW-designated spot’s value into consideration. But Kevin Geiger, a planner with the Two Rivers-Ottauquechee Regional Commission, said the Basin 10 Plan doesn’t block development — rather, it gives developers advance warning of the value of a community resource that would be protected in any case. “It has no effect on regulation at all,” Geiger said. “The agency will tell you that protection is already there. You just wouldn’t know it until you went through the permitting process.” A handful of water bodies that have been abandoned as public water supplies are still categorized as A(2), the designation given to public water sources. The plan seeks to remove this designation from a 0.3-mile tributary to the Ottauquechee in North Hartland; the Carlton Hill Reservoir in Woodstock Village; and the 10 acres of Wright, Upper Hurricane and Lower Hurricane reservoirs in Hartford. On the Black River, it seeks to remove designation from 1.8 miles of Springfield Reservoir Brook, the 9.8-acre Springfield Reservoir and a 1.7-mile tributary to Mill Brook in Weathersfield. The reclassification will give those bodies of water additional protections, Caduto said, because the water will be managed for the best health of the environment, rather than potential human consumers. If a lake contains drinking water, Caduto said, “you need to be able to draw that water down if there is a drought and people need it. You need to be able to treat the water, if there’s a contaminant. You are not allowed to do that in a natural lake.” The plan also recommends increasing wetland protections for Beaver Pond in Weathersfield and Eshqua Bog in Hartland, a natural area with a boardwalk co-owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy of Vermont and The New England Wildflower Society. It also would recommend reclassifying a series of waters from “B,” the default classification, to “A(1),” water that is excellent for at least one of a variety of uses — boating, fishing, swimming or supporting aquatic habitat. The proposed waters include a Black River tributary in Springfield, a Kilburn Brook tributary in Hartford and a Barnard Brook tributary in Pomfret. Geiger said that, while he applauded the plan, in some areas “we would like the agency to go a little further” in designating waterways as deserving of the highest levels of protection. “We’re of the mind that you should say, from the top of the river to the bottom of the river, people walk and swim and fish in waters,” he said. “The whole goal of the Clean Water Act of the 1970s was that all waters should be fishable and swimmable by 1983. And so we think you should be able to swim and fish in all of them.” The first public comment session is scheduled for Tuesday at the West Windsor Town Office, followed by one on Jan. 29 in the Woodstock Town Office on The Green, with the final session scheduled for Jan. 30 at the Cavendish Town Office. All three are slotted for 6:30 to 8 p.m. Matt Hongoltz-Hetling can be reached at mhonghet@vnews.com or 603-727-3211.