The following series of photo's were taken August 2002 during low flows at the confluence of the Town and Matfield Rivers where the Taunton River begins. They provide a good visual example of how much of the flow of the Upper Taunton comes from the Matfield.

This is a photo looking upstream at the confluence of the Town and Matfield Rivers. The Town River enters to the left, the Matfield to the right. Here both rivers are impounded by the remains of the Jenkins Dam which is situated a couple hundred yards down stream from here, just below Rt. 104 in Bridgewater.

The following series of photo's were taken after paddling a short distance up the Town and then the Matfield. When we reached the area of each respective river which was unimpounded (the first point upstream where we detected a strong flow) we took the following photographs.

This shows the size and flow of the Town River just above its confluence with the Matfield.

My kayak and paddle stuck in the river bottom provide some scale as to how low the flow is here. There was not enough water above here to float myself and my nine foot long kayak.

This photo is of the Matfield just above the limits of its impoundment. Just above here are the riffles below High St. in Bridgewater. All the above photo's were taken on the same day in mid August 2002 when the Taunton was running at about 40 cubic feet per second at Titicut St.

Although the Brockton Treatment Plant is situated several miles upstream of here on the Salisbury Plain River. There is very little dilution by contributing streams in the summertime and during other periods of low flows. We discuss this in some detail in our public comments to the DEP, which can be found on the opening page of the Taunton Great River Page.