#riverrestoration — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2026-07-12 · 21:20 UTC

#WaterburyCT receives $339K DEEP grant for #RisdonDam removal project

By Dalton Zbierski, 7/4/2026

"A vision in Waterbury is en route to becoming reality, as the city received a grant from the state this week to help kickstart the Risdon #DamRemoval Project on South Main Street.

"The $339,000 Long Island Sound Ecosystems Grant from the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will fund an important early stage of the project to remove the aging Risdon Dam.

"The grant will cover the environmental investigation, engineering design and permitting required for the removal of the dam, which is located behind the former factory at 2100 South Main St.

"A release this week from the city announced the award from DEEP and explained the purpose of the project.

"Removing the dam will restore the natural flow of #HopevillePondBrook, a tributary of the #NaugatuckRiver within the #LongIslandSound #watershed.

"The project aims to improve #AquaticHabitat, reconnect #StreamCorridors, reduce #FloodRisk and eliminate a deteriorating structure that poses safety risks for nearby properties and infrastructure, according to city officials.

"It will take approximately one year to complete the planning, design and permitting phase. Then, the construction will move on to bidding.

"On Wednesday, Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski, Jr. said the grant represents another significant investment in the city’s infrastructure and #EnvironmentalStewardship.

" 'Removing the Risdon Dam will improve the health of Hopeville Pond Brook, reduce flood risks and help restore a more resilient #ecosystem for #FutureGenerations,' Pernerewski said.

"The mayor also thanked #DEEP for its support and collaboration in helping the project move forward.

"DEEP Commissioner #KatieDykes, who will be leaving her position this month, said the project marks the state’s commitment to protecting and ensuring the health and perseverance of its waterways and the Long Island Sound Watershed.

" 'Supporting the planning, engineering and design needed to move this project toward construction will help advance future improvements to #StreamConnectivity, aquatic habitat and #FloodResilience,' Dykes said.

"The funding was made available to DEEP through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Long Island Sound Partnership National Estuary Program."

Source:
https://www.fox61.com/article/news/local/new-haven-county/waterbury/waterbury-receives-339k-deep-grant-risdon-dam-removal-project/520-f87d4833-16c8-4bc5-bd95-c8224803622d

#SolarPunkSunday #RestoreFloodplains #BuildingForResiliency #FloodplainReclamation #Connecticut #DamRemoval #Floodplain #Watersheds #RiverRestoration

#waterburyct #risdondam #damremoval #hopevillepondbrook #naugatuckriver #longislandsound

DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2026-03-28 · 23:30 UTC

3 #African Cities Restore #Nature to Revitalize Their #Rivers

By Eden Takele, Marc Manyifika, Japheth Habinshuti, Adane Kebede, Alemakef Tassew, Amanda Gcanga, Mulalo Mbedzi and Nikara Mahadeo, March 12, 2025

"Africa’s cities, from large metropolises to smaller towns, are increasingly characterized by growing #UrbanSprawl. #Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo, is expanding by about 2,000 people and 5 hectares (10 football fields) every day, according to a World Bank estimate. #Kumasi, an intermediary city in #Ghana, is growing more than 5% every year — at least twice as fast as the capital city, Accra.

As cities and surrounding farmlands expand further into their hinterlands, they encroach upon watersheds essential to water supply and climate resilience.

Watersheds are the natural area of land that drain into a common body of water. The consequences of their degradation are threefold. Without tree cover and healthy soils to absorb rainfall, cities may lose a critical source for groundwater recharge, leading to water shortages. Not only does the quantity of water suffer, so does its quality. Without strong roots to protect and anchor the soil, sediment and the chemicals within it are washed into nearby water bodies, often the primary source for a city’s drinking water. That same runoff can turn into floodwater.

How Natural Infrastructure Supports #WaterSecurity.

Many cities that once depended on their watersheds for water now face both increasing scarcity and heightened vulnerability to #extremeWeather. There are, however, #NatureBasedSolutions to help alleviate these problems.

Through a combination of upland foresting and urban greening, watershed restoration efforts are starting to deliver positive results in three African cities..."

#SolarPunkSunday #DireDawa #Ethiopia #Kigali #Rwanda #NyabarangoRiver #Africa #MoreTrees #RiverRestoration #WaterIsLife #ClimateChange

#african #nature #rivers #urbansprawl #kinshasa #kumasi

DoomsdaysCW @[email protected] · 2025-09-24 · 20:41 UTC

One of the folks I had the opportunity to talk to at a #MaineRivers conference some years ago was #PenobscotNation member #JohnBanks. So glad to see him being honored... He has been a tireless advocate for the #PenobscotRiver!

"Banks was the Penobscot Nation’s representative on the Maine-Indian State Tribal Commission from 1987 to 2021, making him its longest-serving member. He also served on many local, regional and national organization boards, including the National Tribal Environmental Council, Native American Fish and Wildlife Society, National Indian Policy Center, and the Tribal Operations Committee with the federal EPA.

"But arguably Banks’ most noteworthy accomplishment involves bringing a Wabanaki voice and leadership to the historic #PenobscotRiverRestorationProject (1999-2016) in which two dams nearest to the sea were removed and a stream-like bypass channel was completed around a third dam at Howland.

"Completed in 2016, the $63 million restoration project opened almost 2,000 miles of habitat for 11 species of sea-run fish that had been choked off from their spawning grounds for almost two centuries by dams across the river.

"Since then, the river has come back alive with millions of river herring joined by Atlantic salmon, shad, sturgeon and other species in numbers that hadn’t been seen on the Penobscot River for nearly two centuries. Laura Rose Day credits Banks with a key intervention in 2002, when it looked like negotiations that had been going on for three years between #EnvironmentalGroups and the #hydro company owner were about to collapse.

" '[John] asked for a few minutes,' she wrote in a 2014 Christian Science Monitor commentary recalling the moment. 'Removing an eagle feather from a cloth wrap, he circled the table, laying the feather on each shoulder. He reminded us that, no matter whom we served, we were also responsible for being the voice for all the creatures of the river – the birds, the fish, and all of the people as well. The common goal had to be the health of the river.' "

#WaterIsLife #WabanakiAlliance #Wabanaki #Nihkaniyane #MaineRivers #DamRemoval #RiverRestoration #SolarPunkSunday