Exploring Conservation and Efficiency Tools in the Hunt River Watershed

The Hunt River at Potowomut Pond. The summer of 2005 was not a drought year, but upstream withdrawals and the naturally low summer flows left the river with no flow over the dam (above). The photo below, from the spring of 2008, shows the dam when the river is flowing.

The Water Resources Board is leading a pilot study of water management in the Hunt-Annaquatucket-Pettaquamscutt watershed (WRB Strategic Priorities). The Coalition for Water Security is participating and would like to see the pilot become a model for statewide application.

• The Friends of the Hunt River Watershed photographed the Hunt River at the Forge Road dam for a full year starting on September 11, 2007. They have posted a photo gallery of the year, showing flow at the dam with the flow measured at the USGS gage.
• Presentation on the Hunt River Watershed by RI Water Resources Board and USGS
• USGS Real Time Data, Hunt River near East Greenwich

Technical reports on the Hunt-Annaquatucket-Pettaquamscutt watershed:

• Simulation of Hydrologic-System Responses to Ground-Water Withdrawals in the Hunt-Annaquatucket-Pettaquamscutt Stream-Aquifer System, Rhode Island. USGS Open file report 2006.
• Estimated Water Use and Availability in the West Narragansett Bay Area, Coastal Rhode Island 1995 – 99. U.S. Geological Survey, Scientific Investigations Report 2005-5256.
• Numerical-Simulation and Conjunctive-Management Models of the Hunt-Annaquatucket-Pettaquamscutt Stream-Aquifer System, Rhode Island USGS Professional Paper 1636
• Running Water: Balancing Water Supply and Flow in the Hunt River, Allison Sobel, Master’s Thesis, Environmental Studies, Brown University (Abstract (Word Document)) (PowerPoint Presentation)