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DTIC ADA442900: Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Israel River Ice Control Structure, Lancaster, NH PDF

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1 - 6 0 - R T L E R R C / C D R Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Israel E River Ice Control Structure, Lancaster, NH Carrie M. Vuyovich and Kathleen D. White January 2006 y r o t a h r c o r b a a e L s e g R n i s r n e o e n i g i g e R n E d d l o n C a Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Cover: Ice cover retained upstream of the ICS during the 24 March 2003 ice event. ERDC/CRREL TR-06-1 January 2006 Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Israel River Ice Control Structure, Lancaster, NH Carrie M. Vuyovich and Kathleen D. White Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center 72 Lyme Road Hanover, New Hampshire 03755-1290 Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Prepared for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New England District With support from USACE Wetlands Regulatory Assistance Program ABSTRACT The Israel River in Lancaster, NH, has experienced numerous significant ice jams. In 1981 the New England Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed an ice control structure (ICS) located about 0.5 miles upstream from the center of town. The 9-ft-high concrete-capped gabion weir was designed to retain both frazil ice during freezeup and broken ice after ice cover breakup. In recent years, the ICS has fallen into disrepair. The structure’s current condition, combined with operation and maintenance safety issues and concerns about fish passage, have prompted the town to pursue the option of its removal. New England District Corps of Engineers, through the Corps’ Wetlands Regulatory Assistance Program (WRAP), requested CRREL’s assistance in determining whether the ICS has been effective in reducing the impacts of ice jams since its construction 24 years ago. Study results show that while the frequency of ice jam events in Lancaster has not decreased, the severity of ice jam flooding has, even though winter conditions at the time of the events have not lessened. The results of this preliminary analysis indicate that the Israel River ICS does provide some flood damage reduction benefit to the Town of Lancaster. DISCLAIMER: The contents of this report are not to be used for advertising, publication, or promotional purposes. Citation of trade names does not constitute an official endorsement or approval of the use of such commercial products. All product names and trademarks cited are the property of their respective owners. The findings of this report are not to be construed as an official Department of the Army position unless so designated by other authorized documents. Effectiveness of the Israel River Ice Control Structure iii CONTENTS CONVERSION FACTORS, NON-SI TO SI UNITS OF MEASUREMENT.....v PREFACE.............................................................................................................vi 1 INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................1 2 ICE FORMATION..........................................................................................2 3 BACKGROUND.............................................................................................4 4 ICE CONTROL STRUCTURE......................................................................6 5 ANALYSIS METHOD.................................................................................11 6 HYDROLOGICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL DATA COLLECTION..12 Estimation of Ice Thickness..........................................................................13 Historical Ice Events on the Israel River at Lancaster...................................14 7 ICE JAM CRITERIA....................................................................................19 8 IMPLICATIONS OF REBUILT MAIN STREET BRIDGE........................23 9 CONCLUSIONS...........................................................................................28 10 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY....................................29 REFERENCES....................................................................................................30 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Israel River profile .................................................................................2 Figure 2. Site map .................................................................................................7 Figure 3. Ice retention upstream from the ICS during ice jams ............................8 Figure 4. Example of ice-affected stage–discharge curve ....................................9 Figure 5. Ice-affected stage–discharge curve for the Allagash River near Allagash, Maine, 2004 ......................................................................9 Figure 6. Aerial photos of the 24 March 2003 ice event ....................................10 Figure 7. Average winter-season temperatures in Lancaster, NH .......................13 Figure 8. Estimated ice thickness for each recorded ice event in Lancaster, NH .............................................................................14 Figure 9. Recorded or estimated stages for Lancaster, NH, ice events ...............18 Figure 10. Ice retention upstream from the ICS during construction, winter 1980-81 ................................................................................20 Figure 11. Ice jam of 4 March 4 2002 ................................................................22 iv ERDC/CRREL TR-06-1 Figure 12. Double-arch Main St. Bridge circa 1928, replaced in 1989-90 .........23 Figure 13. The Main Street Bridge during the March 1968 ice jam ...................24 Figure 14. Ice building up on the upstream face of the single-span Main Street Bridge in April 2001 ....................................................25 Figure 15. Upstream view of the Main Street Bridge after the ice jam of January 1999 ...............................................................................26 TABLES Table 1. Recorded ice events in Lancaster, NH, before the completion of the ICS ..........................................................................................16 Table 2. Recorded ice events in Lancaster, NH, after the completion of the ICS ..........................................................................................17 Table 3. Significant ice jam events predicted in Lancaster, NH .........................20 Effectiveness of the Israel River Ice Control Structure v CONVERSION FACTORS, NON-SI TO SI UNITS OF MEASUREMENT Non-SI units of measurement used in this report can be converted to SI units as follows: Multiply By To obtain degrees Fahrenheit 5/9 degrees Celsius or kelvins1 feet 0.3048 meters miles (U.S. statute) 1.609347 kilometers square miles 2,589,998 square meters 1 To obtain Celsius (°C) temperature readings from Fahrenheit (°F) readings, use the following formula: °C = (5/9)(°F – 32). vi ERDC/CRREL TR-06-1 PREFACE This report was prepared by Carrie M. Vuyovich, Research Hydraulic Engi- neer, Remote Sensing, GIS, and Water Resources Branch, and Dr. Kathleen D. White, Research Hydraulic Engineer, Environmental Sciences Branch, U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory (CRREL), Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), Hanover, New Hampshire. This work was prepared for the New England District, Army Corps of Engineers and funded under the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Wetlands Regulatory Assistance Program, managed by Robert L. Lazor, with additional support from the Flood and Coastal Storm Damage Reduction Research Program Work Unit Ice-Affected Structures. Technical reviews were provided by Andrew M. Tuthill, Research Hydraulic Engineer, Remote Sensing, GIS, and Water Resources Branch, and by Leonard J. Zabilansky, Civil Engineer, Engineering Resources Branch, CRREL. This report was prepared under the general supervision of Timothy Pangburn, Chief, Remote Sensing, GIS, and Water Resources Branch; Dr. Lance Hansen, Deputy Director; and James L. Wuebben, Acting Director, CRREL. The Commander and Executive Director of the Engineer Research and Development Center is COL James R. Rowan. The Director is Dr. James R. Houston. Assessment of the Effectiveness of the Israel River Ice Control Structure, Lancaster, NH CARRIE M. VUYOVICH AND KATHLEEN D. WHITE 1 INTRODUCTION The town of Lancaster, NH, has a long history of ice jams and ice jam flooding. In 1981 the Corps of Engineers built an ice control structure (ICS) in an attempt to alleviate the problem. Since that time no severe ice jam flooding has occurred. However, no studies have been done to determine to what extent, if any, the ICS is responsible for that success. Structural deterioration of the ICS and a desire to restore fish passage upstream from the ICS have resulted in a rec- ommendation by the town to have the dam removed. The purpose of this study is to determine, within the budget constraints and based on existing data, whether the ICS has had any impact in reducing ice-affected floods in Lancaster. This study will not attempt to determine to what extent the ICS has reduced water sur- face elevations due to ice. For that, a more detailed hydraulic analysis is necessary. 2 ERDC/CRREL TR-06-1 2 ICE FORMATION Ice formation in the Israel River is heavily influenced by the river’s geomor- phology and its location near the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The Israel River is approximately 21 miles long and has a drainage area of about 136 square miles at the confluence with the Connecticut River (White and Moore 2002). Elevations in the watershed range from about 5,715 ft at Mt. Jefferson to about 835 ft downstream of Lancaster. The river is generally shallow and relatively steep with a rough bed, until it reaches the mildly sloping reach that forms because of backwater from the confluence with the Connecticut River. The aver- age channel slope for the basin is 0.03, though the average slope in the reach through Lancaster is about 0.0083 (Provan and Lorber, Inc. 2003). Where the Israel River flows into the Connecticut River, the average slope is about 0.0001. The backwater from the Connecticut extends approximately 7,900 ft up the Israel River to the location of the abandoned railroad abutments approximately 2,800 ft downstream from the Main Street Bridge in Lancaster. Figure 1 shows the profile of the Israel River. 500 450 n (ft) 400 o ati e v c e n El eue 350 nts ucturconfl 300 CT RiverRailroad abutmeMain St. BridgeIce Control StrOtter Creek 250 0 20000 40000 60000 80000 100000 120000 Distance upstream (ft) Figure 1. Israel River profile.

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