The Town of Salem has put mandatory water use restrictions in place, effective June 25, 2020. This applies to all who use water from the Town’s water system. It restricts lawn watering by manual or automatic sprinklers. Until further notice, watering is only permitted on odd-numbered days from the hours of 12 AM (midnight) to 10AM. There are penalties for violations. For details see: https://www.townofsalemnh.org/sites/salemnh/files/uploads/salem_nh_water_restrictions_-_june_25_2020.pdf

In the summer Salem draws water from Canobie Lake. Heavy lawn watering causes the lake level to drop rapidly. To be a good neighbor, the CLPA encourages those who draw water directly from Canobie Lake to follow the
same restrictions as Salem.

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Salem’s water future…should be secure…with a new source of water to supplement Arlington Pond and Canobie Lake.

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Due to the drought conditions, the Salem Selectmen have adopted the following water restrictions for all customers of the Town’s water system:

• No outside use of water of any kind between the hours of 7:00 AM and midnight by any residences or businesses. The only exceptions to this restriction are commercial car washes, cash crops, farms, flower shops or garden centers.

• Use of outside water is permitted between the hours of midnight and 7:00 AM for irrigation or watering of lawns/gardens only on ODD numbered days.

For more details see: townofsalemnh.org/home/news/mandatory-water-restrictions

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Whatever happened to acid rain?  Remember how we used to talk about how our lakes were getting more acid, and fish couldn't reproduce, etc. ?  There's good news to share. Acid rain is diminishing, and our lakes in New England are cleaning up from it. Quote from a recent research study:

“This is really good news for New England. Lakes are accelerating in their recovery from the past effects of acid rain. Our data clearly demonstrate that cleaning up air pollution continues to have the desired effect of improving water quality for our region’s lakes,” said NHAES researcher William McDowell, professor of environmental science and director of the NH Water Resources Research Center.

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On Thursday, July 18, a large amount of water was released from the I-93 construction project.  It flowed through a cross pipe under I-93, and then followed a stream channel down hill to a culvert under South Shore Road, adjacent to #46 South Shore Road.  When it emerged from that culvert, it went straight into Canobie Lake. Eyewitnesses reported that the water was dirty and very smelly - it smelled like sewage.  The flow was so great that the culvert couldn't handle it.  The water rose behind the culvert, and flowed over the top of South Shore Road.  Dave Blake, one of our CLPA directors, observed the incident and recorded videos. The incident occurred about noon.  It was not raining at the time. The high flow condition continued for twenty or thirty minutes.

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