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In 2013, American Rivers, CTDEEP Fisheries, and Natural Resources Conservation Service began collaborating on an effort to remove up to five dams as part of a long-term project to restore connectivity to the Moosup River, prized trout-fishing stream in the Town of Plainfield. Princeton Hydro was contracted with RiverLogic Solutions to provide design-build and permitting services.

As part of this larger effort, the most downstream barrier, Hale Factory Dam, was removed in 2014. The remnants of the toppled Griswold Rubber Dam (approximately 2 miles upstream) were removed in 2015. The removal of Brunswick Mill Dam #1 (approximately 0.75 miles upstream) was completed in 2017.

Princeton Hydro developed a design-build approach for the project in collaboration with RiverLogic Solutions, a contractor highly specialized in the removal of dams. Princeton Hydro prepared design plans and project permitting, as well as supervised construction for the three dams. RiverLogic Solutions provided design and constructability input, and the construction services to remove each dam.

Princeton Hydro proposed a low-cost, low-impact approach to the removal of the Hale Factory Dam that involved the full removal of the structure, the re-use of boulders from the dam for random in-channel placement to enhance aquatic habitat, and the passive recovery of the channel. Griswold Rubber Factory Dam Removal involved the demolition and removal of concrete slabs and the creation of a natural gravel/cobble riffle coupled to the existing pools upstream and downstream of the former spillway to provide enhanced fish habitat. In addition to restoring aquatic organism passage, the Brunswick Mill Dam #1 removal, also provided for removal of a large floodplain constriction and a public safety hazard, and stabilization of an eroding bank.

While dam removal is becoming a more common mode of restoring rivers, efforts like this – to remove multiple barriers on a single river – are rare. When clustered on a single river, the ecological benefits to restoring aquatic organism passage and enhancing aquatic habitat are substantially magnified.

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Princeton Hydro has partnered with Wildlands Conservancy for over a decade on multiple dam removals in the Lehigh River Valley. Our firm designed and permitted the removal of eight consecutive barriers on Jordan Creek, including three consecutive low-head dams. We also designed and permitted two low-head dams on Little Lehigh Creek. Collectively, these dam removal projects reconnected miles of river, enhanced aquatic habitat, and improved adjacent parkland and recreational fishing in the economically-stressed, urban communities of Allentown, PA.

Building upon the successes of the barrier removals on Jordan and Little Lehigh Creeks, Princeton Hydro partnered with the Wildlands Conservancy again in 2018 to remove a combination of four privately and publicly owned dams on Bushkill Creek in Easton, PA. The dam removal projects served as a model for landowners and municipalities regarding the need for future dam removals throughout the Delaware and Lehigh Valley Watersheds.

Having been restored to its natural, free-flowing state in Fall 2024, the barrier removals were part a larger, watershed-wide effort to improve aquatic connectivity, fisheries, and benthic macro-invertebrate and wildlife habitats. The projects restored fish passage, reduced nonpoint source pollution, improved water quality, and restored capacity for groundwater recharge, as well as stabilized and restored the stream’s channels and banks.

As part of the barrier removal projects, Princeton Hydro:

  • Conducted site investigations and produced a technical summary memorandum
  • Oversaw structural, topographic, and bathymetric field surveys and base mapping
  • Performed sediment analysis to predict changes in bathymetry and river hydraulics
  • Performed H&H analysis
  • Evaluated issues unique to each barrier
  • Coordinated with regulatory agencies and entities
  • Participated in community informational meetings
  • Developed preliminary design plans
  • Drafted engineering plan documents for the selected restoration methods
  • Compiled materials to complete permit applications
  • Developed construction cost estimates for implementing the removal of the dams and streambank stabilization
  • Performed construction oversight during implementation
[post_title] => Bushkill Creek Dam Removals [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => bushkill-creek-dam-removals [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2025-11-05 14:51:26 [post_modified_gmt] => 2025-11-05 14:51:26 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://princetonhydro.com/?post_type=project&p=18593 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => project [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 18823 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2025-09-08 21:39:16 [post_date_gmt] => 2025-09-08 21:39:16 [post_content] =>

The Ousatonic Fish and Game Protective Association, Inc., in partnership with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection’s Inland Fisheries Division, sought to remove the Papermill Pond Dam on the East Aspetuck River to restore fish habitat formerly exceptional in quality for trout, facilitate fish passage through the site, and improve accessibility and functionality for people to engage in outdoor activities at the site in order to foster deeper stewardship ethic for the watershed.

The Papermill Pond Dam, located in New Milford, is an embankment dam situated on the East Aspetuck River. It is located 2.9 miles upstream of the confluence with the Housatonic River and is the first barrier on the East Aspetuck River. The spillway is concrete capped with masonry core. It has an approximate structural height of 11 feet and length of 75 feet.

The following alternatives were analyzed: 1) no action; 2) fishway bypass channel around dam; 3) technical fishway at dam; 4) dam lowering with fishway at dam; 5) river bypass and off-line pond; and, 6) full removal. Conceptual designs were developed for each alternative. Each alternative was analyzed and rated numerically relative to twelve categories: river morphology, aquatic resources (fisheries, macroinvertebrates, water quality), recreation, historic resources, flooding, relative liability, relative short-term costs, relative long-term costs, availability of funds, and anticipated permitability. Dam removal ranked as the most feasible alternative, but dam repair stood out as the best option for maintaining the existing ease of recreational access. That alternative necessitated dam repair, ongoing maintenance and inspection, both short-term and long-term sediment dredging, and construction of a fish bypass channel. The Association considered the alternatives and decided to pursue full dam removal.

Based on negotiations with CTDEEP that considered impacts to downstream habitats and other applicable regulations, the resulting recommendation was to remove a portion of the impounded sediment prior to passive release of the remaining impounded sediment, regardless of potential contamination. This minimized transitory sediment deposition in downstream habitats, thereby reducing the short-term impacts of the project. Thus, sediment proximal to the dam is proposed to be excavated and permanently deposited in upland areas onsite.

The dam was successfully removed in 2019 under supervision of CTDEEP Fisheries Division and Princeton Hydro.

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The Martin Dam was constructed on an active farm in 1961 as part of USDA’s sustainable farms pond construction initiative. Martin Dam’s robust 4,000 cubic yards of placed dam material resulted in the impoundment of only 3.5 acres of surface water. Several years ago, during the removal of a beaver dam that was obstructing the dam outlet, the riser structure was inadvertently destroyed, and a large part of the earthen dam collapsed. Due to the damage, the dam was put under an enforcement action from the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) Dam Safety Program. Site investigations showed an outlet culvert in total disrepair and severe erosion of the dam and downstream areas.

Fearing the risk to property and life from a catastrophic dam failure, GreenTrust Alliance, in partnership with Princeton Hydro, were enlisted to design, develop, and enact an emergency dam breach. The earthen dam was approximately 20 feet in height and 490 feet in length, with an impoundment of approximately 3.48 acres. The contributing drainage area was approximately 0.25 square miles (160 acres) of low density residential land use and the primary inflowing channel, Overshot Branch, was intermittent or ephemeral. The assessment and design involved probing within the impoundment, which revealed water depths averaging 4.7 feet, with a maximum of 7.5 feet, and impounded sediment depths averaging 1.0 foot, with a maximum of 3.0 feet.

Princeton Hydro prepared a 35% design plan for the earthen dam removal, and this plan was subsequently approved by MDE Dam Safety with an emergency permit, forgoing the typical months-long design and review process. The dam breach was implemented in late 2018.

After the dam breach, Princeton Hydro completed a hydrologic and hydraulic assessment. Pre- and post-breach conditions were modeled to determine the potential increase in flood elevations to downstream properties. In addition, a dam failure was also modeled to assess the potential risks should the dam have failed. In comparing the pre-and post-breach scenarios, 100-year flood elevations increased between 0.01 and 0.29 feet for approximately 1 mile downstream of the pond. The floodplain valley for this stream was relatively narrow which means any increases in discharge translated to larger increases on peak flood elevations compared to the total width of the floodplain. However, the narrow floodplain also acted a barrier, ensuring that flooding was mostly contained to the area around the stream itself. No additional structures were inundated as a result of the breach.

Princeton Hydro, along with GreenVest and Green Trust Alliance, developed a design that enhanced in-stream habitat of the downstream reach, and allowed for passive wetland conversion and restoration of the former impoundment.

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Princeton Hydro was contracted to investigate, analyze, and design the removal of obstructions and restore natural stream function on Darby Creek. With funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Pennsylvania Growing Greener program, the objective of the project was to remove remnant bridge piers in Colwyn and Sharon Hill Boroughs, a failed dam in Darby Borough, a mill dam in Landsdowne and Clifton Heights Boroughs, and a dam in Upper Darby Township and Clifton Heights Borough.

The Kent Park Dam was a placed rock structure that spanned Darby Creek within Kent Park within Delaware County. Princeton Hydro prepared hydrologic and hydraulic analyses; assessed fluvial geomorphic characteristics; determined infrastructure impacts; inventoried natural resources, including wetland delineations and invasive species; and assessed impounded sediment. Design plan sets were prepared, public presentations completed, and permit applications submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the Delaware County Soil Conservation District.

This project included the reconstruction of the stream bank using bioengineered soil lifts; the innovative construction of a riffle over a sanitary sewer line, which protruded above the stream bed; and the creation of a wetland complex within a small spring tributary to Darby Creek, which reduced sediment contributions to the stream.

Princeton Hydro provided construction observation and administration to ensure the implementation met the stakeholders’ expectations and design intent. This project was funded by the PADEP Growing Greener Grant program, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and a NOAA settlement fund from the 2004 Athos I oil spill on the Delaware River.

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The Long Pond Dam currently serves as a barrier to migratory fish along Whitford Brook, a tributary to the Mystic River. Whitford Brook has seen significant declines in fish populations, in part due to dams along the river corridor that prevent fish from accessing upstream spawning habitat. Diadromous fish, including Alewife, Blueback Herring, American Shad, American Eel, and Sea Lamprey rely on access to upstream spawning habitat to complete their life cycle. For Long Pond specifically, CT DEEP Fisheries estimated that fish passage restoration could provide an annual run of more than 250,000 alewives. In conjunction with other recent improvements along Whitford Brook, facilitating fish passage at this location would create a 6.6-mile stretch of connected river corridor from the confluence of Whitford Brook with the Mystic River upstream to the top of Lantern Hill Pond.

A nature-like fishway was identified as the targeted means of providing fish passage by Save the Sound as the configuration of the outlet structure and embankment were well suited to that approach (relative to a technical fishway) and because dam removal was not considered a viable option due to the recreational and habitat (spawning) value of the impoundment.

Princeton Hydro’s scope included: evaluation of existing data including past H&H studies and engineering evaluations/inspections of the dam; site investigations including geomorphic assessment and wetland delineation; topographic, utility, and boundary surveys; development of a concept design; H&H analysis; geotechnical investigations; fish passage design; development of an engineering package (plans, technical specifications, construction cost estimate) and applications for regulatory approvals; and finalization of design documents based on regulatory feedback.

The primary challenge presented by this project was that the dam in its existing configuration was not in compliance with CT DEEP dam safety standards and that improvements/modifications to the dam to bring it into compliance were being handled by others. Further, site constraints dictated that installation of a nature-like fishway would require replacement of the dam’s outlet structure, which would increase the scope and complexity of the project beyond that originally envisioned.

While Princeton Hydro’s design of the nature-like fishway is largely complete, construction can not move forward until finalized plans for bringing the dam into compliance are completed by others and integrated with the proposed fish passage design. Princeton Hydro continues to coordinate with Save the Sound and other project partners to assure that future site improvements will work seamlessly with the proposed fish passage improvements.

[post_title] => Designing a Nature-like Fishway at Long Pond Dam [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => design-of-nature-like-fishway-at-long-pond-dam [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-07-24 09:54:10 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-07-24 09:54:10 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://princetonhydro.com/?post_type=project&p=15402 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => project [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [6] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 14832 [post_author] => 1 [post_date] => 2024-04-18 15:06:24 [post_date_gmt] => 2024-04-18 15:06:24 [post_content] =>

Princeton Hydro was contracted by American Rivers to design, apply for permits, and provide construction administration services for the removal of the Kehm Run Dam, an earthen embankment, 270-feet long by 22 feet high, with a cast-in-place ogee spillway, about six (6) feet in height. The former impoundment was five (5) acres in size and contained an estimated 40,000 cubic yards of accumulated sediment. Princeton Hydro conducted a bathymetric survey, developed engineering plans, performed hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, applied to PADEP Dam Safety for a Restoration Waiver, and also to the York County Soil Conservation District plan approval. As part of the regulatory activities, Princeton Hydro subcontracted for a bog turtle (Glyptemys muhlenbergii) Phase I assessment, PA Historic and Museum Commission (PHMC) notices, and filed for a PA Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) water lowering authorization. The dam was breached in 2019, and the project was completed the following year, with follow up site visits in 2021.

[gallery link="none" size="medium" columns="2" ids="14830,14831"]

The project was challenging due to the quantity of sediment encountered and its fine-grained nature as a colloidal (very small clay particles), with a relatively small stream immediately downstream. As a result of PADEP Dam Safety inspecting the site, expressing their concerns about the quantity of sediment, Princeton Hydro prepared a revised breach design that provided containment of the sediment, while deregulating the dam. As a result, the former lakebed created an opportunity for its use to as a nature-based BMP to address nutrient loading to the Susquehanna River and Chesapeake Bay. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission saw this opportunity and funded a next phase to further enhance the wetlands created to improve sediment capture from the watershed.

This was a challenging project and has been documented by American Rivers in their blog as “Taking the Lemons and Making some Dam Lemonade”. As a project that provided significant lessons in adaptive management and making the most out of a challenging project.

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Connecticut Fund for the Environment (FE) and Save the Sound (STS), in partnership with USFWS and CTDEEP Inland Fisheries Division, secured federal funding to remove the Hyde Pond Dam, restoring Whitford Brook, the primary in-flowing stream to the Mystic River estuary, to a natural free-flowing condition. This created unobstructed fish passage from Mystic River up through the project site, and removed a threat to public safety. The existing dam was an earthen embankment with a concrete capped masonry spillway 4.8 feet high that created a 12-acre impoundment. A fishway installed at the dam by CT DEEP to support a regionally-important river herring run and sea-run brook trout fishery was known to be ineffective due to its outlet location, beaver interference, and frequent low flows due to leakage through the dam. The dam removal restored fish passage to 4.1 miles of stream and provide access for alewife, blueback herring, American eel, American shad, and sea-run brook trout.

[gallery link="none" size="medium" ids="14819,14821,14820"]

Princeton Hydro confirmed through impoundment probing and bathymetric survey that the impoundment contained significant quantities of impounded sediments that had become densely vegetated as scrub-shrub vegetation. Sediment management and wetland impacts became driving factors in the project design and regulatory process. Princeton Hydro coordinated with CT DEEP Planning and Standards Division to develop and approve a sediment sampling plan that included multiple samples throughout the site as well as downstream and upstream.

Results indicated some elevated contaminant levels in some areas. Princeton Hydro developed a sediment management plan and construction sequence, informed by the sediment analysis that balanced active sediment management and passive river restoration. The design entailed excavation of a portion of the sediment prone to mobilization that was then replaced, stabilized, and vegetated on-site.

Princeton Hydro coordinated closely with CFE/STS to negotiate with US Army Corps of Engineers and CT DEEP regulatory divisions to minimize impacts to wetland resources as much as practicable, protect downstream water quality, restore river and riparian functions to the site, and stay within grant cost limits. RiverLogic Solutions provided construction services, and Princeton Hydro provided construction supervision to remove the dam within budget and on schedule in 2015. Since removal, the site has undergone a gradual transition in vegetation but remains a vibrant stream-floodplain wetland complex.

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Princeton Hydro was hired by the Town of Scituate and MA Division of Ecological Restoration to provide engineering feasibility, design, permitting, and construction oversight services for the dam removal in Scituate, MA. The project was a MA DER priority project due to its high potential for restoration of diadromous fish. The dam was a head of tide dam with rainbow smelt spawning habitat just below the dam. The site had significant historic value, including an old mill building once owned by the great, great, great grandfather of Abraham Lincoln. The site was also bifurcated by the historic “Boundary Line,” a border established in 1640 which denoted the boundary between the colonies of Massachusetts and New Plymouth. Significant Section 106 historic and archeological consultation was therefore incorporated into this dam removal project. The project also included significant outreach to the local community, primarily made up of abutting property owners concerned about the loss of the impoundment behind the dam.

[gallery link="none" columns="2" ids="14588,14590"]

The project was initiated due to the need to pave Mordechai Lincoln Road, but paving was not possible without first repairing the dam’s overflow pipe which extended under the historic mill building. A project partnership was then developed with numerous state agencies and environmental organizations, led by MA DER and the Town of Scituate, to find funding for the removal of the dam and the restoration of Bound Brook.

The dam removal was complicated by the existence of an active water main directly upstream of the dam. As part of the design, our design team had to relocate the water main as well as slip line the decaying pipe under the historic mill building. Passive restoration methods were utilized, allowing Bound Brook to find its own diverse channel pattern within the dewatered impoundment.

The design plans depicted multiple potential paths where the channel might form. At Princeton Hydro we practice a “less is more” design approach to restoration, placing our faith in the natural channel forming processes of a river whenever possible.

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The Collins Company Lower Dam, constructed in 1910 as a hydroelectric dam, is located on the Farmington River, approximately 1 mile downstream (south) of the Collinsville Dam and State Route 179, in Avon, Connecticut, south of the Collinsville Town border and across the Farmington River from the Town of Burlington. In 2011, a pre-feasibility study was completed on the Collinsville Dam and the Collins Company Lower Dam to determine whether these defunct hydroelectric dams could be repowered. The study found that repowering only one of the dams was economically feasible.

[caption id="attachment_13849" align="aligncenter" width="718"] Collins Company Lower Dam prior to removal. Photo by CT Insider.[/caption]  

In 2019, Canton Hydro, LLC began the retrofit of the Collinsville Dam for hydroelectric generation in conjunction with the construction of a fishway in order to allow passage of anadromous fish (i.e., American Shad, Alewife, Blueback Herring, and Sea Lamprey) to the upstream reaches of the Farmington River. Removal of the Collins Company Lower Dam will allow passage to the base of the newly retrofitted Collinsville Dam.

The goals of this project are to eliminate a barrier to migratory fish; eliminate an obsolete dam; remove a public safety risk; re-create a free flowing, ecologically productive, and natural river channel; and create stable and safe public access. Also as noted above, this dam removal is imperative to enable fish passage at the fishway under construction at the Collinsville Dam, approximately one mile upstream.

As part of the dam removal design process, Princeton Hydro developed a Sediment Management Plan, which involved assessing impounded sediment quality and quantity by conducting bathymetric mapping to sense elevation of top and bottom of unconsolidated sediment, and sampling and analyzing sediment for a broad range of contaminants. In addition to using the information gathered through the assessment, a professional survey and geomorphic concepts were used to determine the volume of impounded sediment and the anticipated river profile following dam removal.

Princeton Hydro completed the bathymetric surveys, hydrologic and hydraulic analysis, geotechnical engineering, construction phasing determination, demolition and blasting plans, preparation of 30%, 60%, 90% and 100% designs, and regulatory review applications.

Princeton Hydro is currently working through the engineering designs and permit applications.

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In 2013, American Rivers, CTDEEP Fisheries, and Natural Resources Conservation Service began collaborating on an effort to remove up to five dams as part of a long-term project to restore connectivity to the Moosup River, prized trout-fishing stream in the Town of Plainfield. Princeton Hydro was contracted with RiverLogic Solutions to provide design-build and permitting services.

As part of this larger effort, the most downstream barrier, Hale Factory Dam, was removed in 2014. The remnants of the toppled Griswold Rubber Dam (approximately 2 miles upstream) were removed in 2015. The removal of Brunswick Mill Dam #1 (approximately 0.75 miles upstream) was completed in 2017.

Princeton Hydro developed a design-build approach for the project in collaboration with RiverLogic Solutions, a contractor highly specialized in the removal of dams. Princeton Hydro prepared design plans and project permitting, as well as supervised construction for the three dams. RiverLogic Solutions provided design and constructability input, and the construction services to remove each dam.

Princeton Hydro proposed a low-cost, low-impact approach to the removal of the Hale Factory Dam that involved the full removal of the structure, the re-use of boulders from the dam for random in-channel placement to enhance aquatic habitat, and the passive recovery of the channel. Griswold Rubber Factory Dam Removal involved the demolition and removal of concrete slabs and the creation of a natural gravel/cobble riffle coupled to the existing pools upstream and downstream of the former spillway to provide enhanced fish habitat. In addition to restoring aquatic organism passage, the Brunswick Mill Dam #1 removal, also provided for removal of a large floodplain constriction and a public safety hazard, and stabilization of an eroding bank.

While dam removal is becoming a more common mode of restoring rivers, efforts like this – to remove multiple barriers on a single river – are rare. When clustered on a single river, the ecological benefits to restoring aquatic organism passage and enhancing aquatic habitat are substantially magnified.

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Services: Dam & Barrier Removal

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