Reflections on Water - Chapter 8, Reflections on Water & Drought

Chris Nicodemus & Katrina Meserve

The series Reflections on Water follows water as the unifying theme to enhance appreciation of our natural world here in New Hampshire’s northern reaches. Since the pattern of drought in late summer and early fall in the region is repeating itself again –now for the third year in a row, observations about our current drought can inform us about the lessons explored in previous chapters and enhance awareness. 

Extreme drought is not universal throughout the North Country in the summer of 2025 as there have been spotty storms and showers that have kept some areas moister but for much of the area, nature has been provided minimal to no fresh water since July.  Depending on where one is located, the impact may be minimal to substantial.  The Franconia and Ammonoosuc Valleys’s have seen minimal rain and are in “extreme drought” but regions just to the south across the high mountain ridges have seen more water. There are several unnamed “perennial” streams that flow off the slopes surrounding the Franconia valley that have had periods of complete loss of flow and almost complete dryness. A status not in the past 40 years of the author’s direct local observation. The conversion of a “perennial” stream into an “ephemeral” stream dramatically alters the character of the streams biology with loss of aquatic species both flora and fauna unable to find safe harbor as conditions dry.  If this summer’s episodic dryness does not repeat, the streams will recover as species repopulate upstream again from the closest persistent pools. Natural selection will favor the more drought resistant examples of each species in each recovering stream.   

Our local streams cross glacial till that can be highly porous. They dry rapidly in drought but also recharge the aquifers below and ground waters as the streams descend toward the valley floor.  Shallow wells for domestic water are likely the first to experience failure, however 19th century residents of the region typically built cisterns on the hills slopes to assure a persistent water supply to their residences in the protected valley’s below even in times of dryness. For those in the region served by modern deep wells drilled into the bedrock aquifers below the glacial layers, any disruption to water supply occurs if the local bedrock aquifer level below the wells “bottom hole”. Modern well drilling seeks to go deep enough to avoid such an occurrence. Some private wells are more vulnerable than others based on location. Factors such as flow in the local water table of the well and its engineering influence the risk and may be difficult to predict. 

The positions of the continents, the location of ocean currents relative to land masses, and characteristics of the atmosphere have been changing continuously since the beginning of time. Humanity cannot prevent that process and as the arrangements of the factors influencing the weather are always unique the merging weather is always new and different. The net release of sequestered carbon from millions of years of biological carbon sequestration is contributing to global warming, but when carbon levels were previously this high the position of continents, the extent of forests, the area of deserts and the pattern of ocean currents differed and are unknown to our computer models used to predict upcoming weather. Over exposure to solar heat but also the frigidness of outer space are incompatible with biological life as we know it, however the balance of water, ice and sunbaked heat islands, darkness and light persisting for billions of years on planet earth haves provided an environment that sustains the full array of life existing here. Water and its chemical transition from solid to liquid and liquid to gas buffers the temperatures on earth to support life as we know it. Prior chapters explored this in some detail.

Fragile wetlands that enjoy a canopy of trees on surrounding slopes are more likely to remain moist and support aquatic residents through dry spells.  Major slope sides that are clear cut will hold less water, dry out to the detriment of residual plants and be prone to rapid run-off, paradoxically resulting in heightened severity of both drought and flood. Meanwhile wildfire has been occurring at increased frequencies in neighboring regions to which the uncharacteristically smokey skies of recent summers attest.  Wildfire has not been a major problem in northern New Hampshire for many decades. Much of the region was clear cut, in the 19th century and the recovering open landscape was prone to more to wildfires in that period.  If the recent pattern of expanding late summer dryness persists, the potential for wildfire to once again become a major threat to life safety in our region.

We as communities are the stewards of the land on which we live and work. When clearing forest, maintain some canopy of trees to provide residual shade and to foster the growth of new trees. Leave shrubbery along the banks of streams and ponds to reduce evaporation and overheating of water. When altering terrain, pay attention to the flow and drainage of surface and ground waters and how one’s actions might impact neighbors downhill or downstream. When disturbing land pay attention to the underlying geology, possible contaminants and mitigate adverse consequences by following best management practices.

Each of us should recognize that individual actions can impact our neighbors and we should be sensitive to the possibility.  The small decisions each of us must make daily whether we are a tenant or a landlord, a government official, a farmer or a teacher, a conservationist or a developer, a forester or a construction worker all add up. It is the net sum of our communities’ decisions and actions that determines the fate of the local environment and how the future unfolds. 

How weather patterns change is never fully predictable, but one can anticipate extreme weather in the future. Taking actions that seek to preserve our natural buffers while allowing progress is the practical path to a sustainable future.  

Banner photo by EP Chow.

Photos by Chris Nicodemus