What do Act 64 regulations mean for Addison County farmers?

This is Part III in a three-part series. Alongside pressures like falling milk prices and increasing production costs, farmers are charged with the financial, physical and emotional task of remediating Otter Creek’s water quality. What does this mean for Addison County farmers, and is their burden a fair one? On Route 17 in New Haven, about a dozen miles upstream from where the Otter Creek empties into Lake Champlain, a small farm sits on a hillside. Cows graze in its grassy fields with a backdrop of the Ad … (read more)

The Giving Stream: A Three-Part Series by Emma Cotton

About this series:   Week 1 (Sept. 5) — The Otter Creek, Vermont’s longest river, runs through the state’s most heavily cultivated land, and thereby contributes more non-point source phosphorus pollution to Lake Champlain than any other source in Vermont, … (read more)

The Clean Water Act sets goals for Otter Creek, but is it enough?

This is Part II in a three-part series. Vermont’s Clean Water Act (2015) has established regulatory and incentive-driven programs to address the web of nuanced water quality issues in the state. Here, we’ll discuss the Clean Water Act as it applies to the … (read more)

When does a river qualify as impaired?

ADDISON COUNTY — At 7:15 a.m. on May 1, a member of the Addison County River Watch Collaborative stretched a long pole with a plastic cylinder into the water of the Lemon Fair River, a tributary to the Otter Creek that runs through Orwell, Shoreham, Cornw … (read more)