A deluge of foul-smelling water that poured into Bennington’s Whittemore Lake on Saturday night posed little threat to water quality, according to state and local officials. The town beach reopened on Monday after closing “out of an overabundance of caution” on Sunday, Emergency Management Director Keith Nason said.
The stagnant water streamed into the lake after a Mountain Road resident, who was apparently responding to high water levels exacerbated by beaver activity and recent heavy rains, cleared out a state-maintained culvert on State Route 31 sometime on Saturday evening, Nason said. Although the water was brown from mud and silt, and foul-smelling from stagnant conditions, the Department of Environmental Services did not think a water test was necessary after studying the elaborate beaver dam complex where the water originated, Nason said. The sediment-laden water likely diluted quickly in the 41-acre lake, he said.
Residents should notify the town before clearing out any culverts or dams, Nason wrote on the Bennington NH Emergency Management Facebook page. “This particular culvert is a State of NH culvert and should never be touched by anyone not authorized by the State of NH,” he wrote.