PART IX. COMPARISON WITH COASTAL WATERSHED, 

 THE LAMPREY RIVER BASIN 



For purposes of extending the analysis, the Lamprey River basin, in south- 

 eastern New Hampshire, was analyzed and the results compared with the 

 Ashuelot River basin. The Lamprey drainage area in many ways is similar to the 

 Ashuelot. 



9.1 Description of the Lamprey River Basin 



In the headwaters of the river and its tributaries, streams and both natural 

 and artificial lakes are currently used primarily for recreational purposes. The 

 Lamprey River basin contains a sizeable state park, Pawtuckaway State Park. 

 Two small manufacturing and residential communities are located on the Lamprey 

 about halfway from the headwaters to the confluence with Great Bay. One 

 small leather processing plant was located near these two communities. The major 

 residential areas are now located in the eastern portion of the river. The town of 

 Durham, the location of the University of New Hampshire, has installed water- 

 transfer facilities out of the basin to augment the water supplies now drawn from 

 the Oyster River. At the fall line of the Lamprey, the town of Newmarket 

 remains as a viable residential and manufacturing community. The Lamprey 

 River basin is roughly two-thirds the size of the Ashuelot in terms of area 



Artificial lakes were created more than 100 years ago for flow regulation of 

 the Lamprey River. Manufacturing and hydroelectric power generation required 

 a steady water supply throughout the year, particularly during periods of low, 

 natural river flow. Since 1952, unregulated flow became evident as manufacturing 

 and hydroelectric power was abandoned. Stream-flow levels reflect natural flow 

 or unregulated flow only since 1952. Due to drought years in the mid-l960's, 

 the median flow for the month of August was 705 million gallons. During the 

 pre- 195 2 years with regulated flow, the monthly flow was consistently three to 

 four times this amount. The maintenance of the lake level for recreation pur- 

 poses came at the expense of river-flow regulation. The historic trade-off was 

 recreational uses for manufacturing and power uses of impounded water. The 

 trade-off, with the rapid growth in population in the eastern basin area, may 

 turn out to be potable water suppUes versus recreational uses. 



9.2 Resource-Use Pattern and Implied Prices 



The pattern of resource use and resource evaluation obtained in analysis was 

 similar for both the Ashuelot and Lamprey River basins for median-flow condition. 

 Strong conclusions should not be drawn from these likenesses. Both the Ashuelot 

 and the Lamprey have stretches of rather slow moving, pond-like areas and other 

 stretches which are rapidly flowing. This fact would have a major impact on 

 recreation use of waters and waste-water assimilative capacity. Distribution of 

 economic activity along the river would cause differences between river basins. 

 Because the same basic model prices and coefficients were used for both rivers, 

 similarity is to be expected. Of particular note, some untreated waste-water dis- 

 charge from residences directly into the river was optimal for both rivers under 



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