Power generation could return to the Middlebury falls

Middlebury officials have given a Beverly, Mass., company permission to explore the feasibility of re-establishing “a low-impact hydroelectric power facility” at the Otter Creek Falls.

Otter Creek wetlands seen as shielding Middlebury

Since last week’s heavy rainfall and disastrous flooding across the state, the bridges above the Otter Creek Falls have been occupied by walkers pausing to peer over the edge and snap a few photos of the raucous rapids. 

VTrans: Vergennes on the hook to fix Otter Creek bridge

The Agency of Transportation informed Vergennes that the city-owned bridge over Otter Creek needs work, and it’s the city’s responsibility to arrange and pay for it.

Where has the water gone at Middlebury falls?

“It is the lowest water flow that I have seen in all my time here,” said Fred Dunnington, who was Middlebury town planner from 1981 to 2013.

USDA to award Vergennes $17.5M for sewer project

The feds will cover more of the $25.5 million city sewer upgrade than perviously expected.

Creek unsettles the dead in Weybridge

The old Stow Cemetery has been giving up its dead to the at-times ferocious and unforgiving Otter Creek.

Public feedback sought on Otter Creek plan

BRANDON — The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is taking public comment on its 2019 Draft Otter Creek Tactical Basin Plan. The agency seeks public feedback on the plan at an informational meeting in Brandon next week and will take written or electronic … (read more)

Editorial: Finding balance between farm practices and water quality

In the third of a three-part series examining the historic and current role of the Otter Creek in Addison County, and its current status as the heaviest conveyor of phosphorus pollution into Lake Champlain, we turn a sympathetic ear to the burden placed o … (read more)

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 … (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)

The Otter Creek’s legacy is commerce — and pollution

This is Part I in a three-part series. 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)

Editorial: The legacy of Otter Creek

Thirty years ago, the Addison Independent reported and published a multi-part series on Lake Champlain water quality and how it was being negatively impacted by phosphorous run-off from agricultural and non-farm pollution. The story, which was written by … (read more)