Low Flow Inventory

Ten Mile River Basin

Observations

During fall of 2001, both DEP staff and members of the Wheaton Stream Team discovered that Scott’s Brook in North Attleboro and Plainville was dry (1,2). Possible causes may be upstream golf course water withdrawals, or a number of small ponds upstream (1).

Suspected Causes

Water Withdrawals Water withdrawals in the headwater of Coles Brook in Rehoboth and Seekonk may contribute to low flow events, such as those observed by DEP staff in summer of 1997 (1) and Riverways staff in August of 2002 (2). The Town is currently considering re-opening two wells nearby, which could further exacerbate the problem (2).

Consequences

Aquatic Flora and Fauna

The Ten Mile River in Plainville and North Attleborough was assessed by DEP staff as having good to excellent fish habitat, but only four fish were collected during routine sampling in 1997. The suspected cause of the “marginal” fish community is flow management activities just upstream at Falls Pond (1).

The Sevenmile River in North Attleborough also had low numbers of fish and a lack of true stream species although excellent habitat existed. Stream flow management at the Hoppin Hill Reservoir is the suspected cause of these problems (1).

The benthic macroinvertebrate community in Fourmile Brook in Attleboro could not be quantitatively sampled in 1997 due to low streamflow. This section received the lowest habitat assessment of all of DEP’s biomonitoring stations in this study due to riparian zone removal, road and lawn runoff, and extremely low base flow. Possible causes of low streamflow were flow releases from the dam at the Manchester Pond Reservoir upstream or naturally occurring low flow (1).

References & Resources

1. Kennedy, Laurie E., Maietta, and John F. Fiorentino. March 2000. Ten Mile River Basin 1997 Water Quality Assessment Report, Report Number 52-AC-1, DWM Control Number 18.0. MA DEP, Bureau of Resource Protection, Division of Watershed Management.
2. Rachel Calabro, MA Riverways Programs’ Adopt-A-Stream Coordinator. Personal communication with Margaret Kearns, 2002.