The Hodgson Brook Restoration Project in Portmsouth has been chosen as one of three volunteer water quality monitoring programs in New Hampshire to receive a long-term loan of monitoring equipment from the Environmental Protection Agency’s New England regional office, according to a press release from the group.

The Hodgson Brook Restoration Project is focused on improving the water quality and habitats of the brook, a seven-mile long freshwater stream that flows through the heart of Portsmouth. The project is a collaborative effort between the neighborhood-based Advocates of North Mill Pond, the N.H. Department of Environmental Services Volunteer River Assessment Program, the City of Portsmouth, and other local agencies. The Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, a Portsmouth-based non-profit organization, acts as the fiscal agent.

The EPA-loaned equipment will be used by Hodgson Brook volunteers to collect data on the amount of water entering the Hodgson Brook system and North Mill Pond from the Hodgson Brook watershed, which includes over 2,135 acres, or 20 percent of the total area of Portsmouth.

“The support provided by EPA to the Hodgson Brook restoration effort with the long-term loan of a flow meter will allow our volunteers to collect important information about discharge patterns in the brook and its tributaries,” said Candace Dolan, the project’s coordinator, in the press release. “To be successful, the restoration project depends upon many partners. We are excited to now include New England EPA among them.”

Blue mussels collected from the North Mill Pond and sediment samples taken from the pond near the mouth of Hodgson Brook in earlier studies contained high levels of metals and petroleum-related chemical contamination. There were also high levels of fecal coliform, nitrogen, phosphorous and suspended sediments. Documenting how much stormwater enters the Brook and travels to the North Mill Pond will help calculate the pollutant load being added to the pond and provide a way to track progress toward meeting the restoration project’s goals.  

For more information about the Hodgson Brook Restoration Project or to volunteer contact  Candace Dolan, Watershed Coordinator at 603-559-1529 or visit the project Web site at http://www.des.state.nh.us/hodgsonbrook/.