Story Archives of 'Merrimack River'

The air transportation industry and environmental agencies face a difficult challenge over deicing. From late fall to early spring, the only way to make planes safe to fly is to spray them with chemicals to remove frost and ice. The problem is, those chemicals can suck the oxygen out of the rivers and streams they run into.

At Manchester Boston Regional Airport, deicing agents run into the Merrimack River. According to the latest test results, the chemical load can be more than thirty times what it ought to be.

New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg has more.

River Minutes Number 4

This week, New Hampshire Public Radio is looking at water in the Granite State. NHPR's Jon Greenberg has been focusing on the Merrimack River. Yesterday, we met three people who, in different ways, are building on the success of the 1972 Clean Water Act.

The Merrimack faces new challenges today, driven mainly by the state’s growing population. In our final installment, we look at how the natural limits of the river are beginning to shape how the state grows.

This week, New Hampshire Public Radio is focusing on water and today we have the first of three reports about the Merrimack River. In simple numbers, the Merrimack is pretty impressive. It runs a hundred and eighty miles from the headwaters of the Pemigewasset River in the White Mountains to Newburyport, Massachusetts where it flows into the Atlantic. Over 5,000 square miles of land empty into the river’s watershed.

It is used by kayakers, fishers, power boaters and swimmers. It powered the launch of America’s industrial revolution and still generates electricity today. New Hampshire Public Radio’s Jon Greenberg looks at the legacy of the river and how it shaped the state in ways both obvious and obscure.

The first in a series of Merrimack River Minutes.