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Waterloom Pond Dam

Restoring hydropower in New Ipswich, New Hampshire

August 15, 2023

A New Chapter for Waterloom Pond Dam

Waterloom Pond Dam with the spillway running — the site as we found it.
Waterloom Pond Dam with the spillway running — the site as we found it.

Waterloom Pond Dam in New Ipswich, New Hampshire has been holding back the Souhegan's waters for well over a century. The dam and its small hydroelectric plant — federally licensed as an exempt project since 1985 — powered through decades of quiet service before generation wound down in the late 2010s. This summer, the project changed hands, and we're picking up where history left off.

MadKo Energy has taken over the Waterloom Falls Hydroelectric Project with a simple goal that will turn out to be anything but simple: restore the dam, modernize the plant, and bring clean, locally generated hydropower back to New Ipswich.

Water over the dam face in the years before restoration began.
Water over the dam face in the years before restoration began.
The dam crest and Waterloom Pond from the abutment.
The dam crest and Waterloom Pond from the abutment.
The channel below the dam.
The channel below the dam.
Stonework and spillway detail.
Stonework and spillway detail.
The penstock winding through the woods toward the powerhouse.
The penstock winding through the woods toward the powerhouse.
Inside the old powerhouse — machinery asleep for years.
Inside the old powerhouse — machinery asleep for years.

The site has everything a small hydro restoration story needs. A granite-and-concrete dam at the outlet of Waterloom Pond. A headgate and penstock that feed water down to a powerhouse built on the bones of an old mill. Original equipment inside — a turbine and a 150 kW generator that date back generations. And around it all, the stone foundations and water channels of the mill site this dam was built to serve.

Some of the photos in this post go back to 2014, when the spillway was still spilling and the plant was last in regular operation. They're a useful "before" for everything that comes next.

What comes next is a lot: inspection, cleanup, dam repairs, new equipment, and a long list of engineering problems we haven't discovered yet. We'll document the whole journey here — the wins, the setbacks, and the occasional fight with the river itself.

Welcome to the project.

Later: Documenting What We Bought: Inside the Old Powerhouse →