After years of planning and advocacy, the Kickemuit River is on its way to being restored
by Wenley Ferguson, Director of Habitat Restoration
Over a century ago, the Kickemuit River flowed freely through Warren, Rhode Island and sediment samples suggest that the tidal river once supported a healthy salt marsh habitat. But the ecosystem along the river changed dramatically in 1883 when the first of two dams was constructed to create a public water supply for the Bristol County Water Authority, a water supplier for Barrington, Warren and Bristol. Today, the dams do more harm to the river and the surrounding community than they do to benefit them.
The first dam, the Lower Kickemuit Dam, was constructed to create a drinking water reservoir. Then, the BCWA constructed the second dam, the Upper Kickemuit Dam, in 1961, in an attempt to keep salt water out of the water supply during coastal storms. Unfortunately, the infrastructure never worked particularly well. The supply was polluted and frequently tainted by brackish water, and the reservoir’s water treatment plant struggled to meet federal water quality regulations. In 1998, the BCWA secured a new primary water source from Providence Water’s Scituate Reservoir via the East Bay Pipeline and, 13 years later, the Kickemuit Reservoir was designated for “emergency backup use only.
In 2013, the Rhode Island Department of Health’s SafeWater RI report found the Kickemuit Reservoir to be critically vulnerable to three hazards related to climate change: sea level rise, coastal flooding and hurricanes. Following the publication of the report and an inspection of the upper dam, the BCWA began exploring the idea of removing the dams—rather than maintaining them—since they no longer served their original purpose and negatively impacted the habitat and water quality of the river.
Today, the two dams create stagnant bodies of water that have limited flow. As a result, the upper and lower reservoirs suffer from low oxygen and algal blooms in the summer, creating conditions that stress fish and aquatic life. The lower dam experiences regular tidal inundation during higher tides and storm events, and the lower reservoir is already converting to brackish water, as evidenced by the dead freshwater wetland shrubs that line its banks. Even the 2007 installation of a fish ladder at the lower dam failed to shepherd in a return of migratory herring, due likely in part to the reservoir’s brackish and poor-quality waters.
With a goal of restoring the health of the Kickemuit River, Save The Bay began advocating for the removal of both dams in 2015. Now, in a broad collaborative effort, the BCWA, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation, the Town of Warren, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Restoration Center, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, the State of Rhode Island’s Chief Resilience Officer, and Save The Bay have joined forces to make the restoration of the “Kickie” a reality.
The project gained traction in 2019, when RIDOT agreed to support the effort by increasing the size of the culverts and elevating sections of Schoolhouse Road, an area downstream of the upper dam that floods during heavy rainfall. Meanwhile, Save The Bay helped the BCWA secure funds for engineering the dam removal projects and submit permit applications to state and federal agencies. Following the road elevation project, and final permit approval, the BCWA hired a contractor to begin the two dam removals in the fall of 2023. Work is underway and the project will be finalized by the late summer of 2024.
When the connectivity of the river is restored, tidal waters in the estuary will once again flow in at high tide and drain at low tide, creating a tidal creek with improved water quality and salt marshes along its banks. The restored estuarine habitat will support a greater diversity of fish and, with it, opportunities for recreational fishing. Egrets and other wading birds will return to the estuary, and the river will become accessible to kayakers, bird watchers and the fishing community. And, as so many habitat restoration projects do, the effort will leave the Warren community more resilient to climate change, with an estuary that provides increased flood storage capacity.