Mill Dams on the Merrin

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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Viewpoints ID: #63209 Medium Mill Dams on the Merrin

Read the following article from a website.

The county of Tavish has fourteen low dams on the Merrin and its creeks, most built in the 1800s to power grist mills. Several are now cracking, and the provincial government has offered to pay for taking down as many as five of them so that trout can swim upstream. Council must choose by the end of June which dams, if any, to put forward. The offer has divided the small towns that grew up beside the old mills.

Maren Pellerin, a river scientist with the watershed authority, wants as many dams removed as the money allows. “The water in the ponds above the dams is four degrees warmer than the river below them,” she said. “Trout need cold water, so for them every pond is a barrier.” Pellerin also wants money set aside for the silt piled up behind each dam before a single stone is moved. “If that silt washes downstream all at once, it will bury the gravel beds where fish lay their eggs,” she warned.

Gideon Ostrander, who chairs the county heritage society, disagrees. “These walls are the reason our towns exist at all,” he said. “Every spring, school groups come to watch the mill wheel turn in Harlow, and it turns only because the dam holds back the water.” He would rather see a channel lined with rock built around each dam, so fish can pass while the stone stays. “A fish can swim around a wall,” Ostrander added. “A town cannot build its history a second time.”

Henrietta Paquin, the county engineer, says the cost of insuring the cracked dams has doubled in five years. “Some of these structures are failing inspection, and the county cannot keep paying to protect a risk,” she said. Paquin supports removing any dam that fails, but adds that “a trail detour and water testing have to be in the budget from day one.” Femi Oyelaran, who runs a small hydro plant on one dam, wants council to slow down. “On the hottest days of summer, my turbine keeps the lights on for twelve farms nearby,” Oyelaran said. “Rank every dam by the power it makes and the harm it does to fish. Then take out the worst ones first, not simply the easiest.”

Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.

This article is about 1.

a fight over fishing licences on the riverwhether to take down old dams on a local rivera plan to turn the old mills into museumsa new rule for building near the riverbank

.

Paragraph three mainly presents 2.

the reasons council must decide by Junethe rising cost of insuring weak damsa count of the trout that use the riverthe case for keeping the old walls

.

This article would most likely be published in 3.

a newspaper for readers in the countya guide for people who fish for trouta national journal of engineering researcha magazine about building power plants

.

Maren Pellerin warns that letting the trapped silt wash downstream at once would result in 4.

the ponds above the dams drying outfarms nearby losing their electric powerfish losing the places where they breedthe town’s drinking water turning cloudy

.

Femi Oyelaran’s position would most likely be supported by 5.

a study showing some dams do far more damage to fish than othersa finding that trout come back quickly once the dams come downa history showing the towns grew up around the millsa report that insurance on the cracked dams has doubled

The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.

My family has fished below the old dam in Harlow for three generations, and my grandfather taught me to cast a line there when I was seven years old. I had no idea the county still has 6.

fivetwelvefourteenforty

of these low dams, or that several of them are cracking. The river scientist says the water in the ponds above them is 7.

three degreesfour degreessix degreeseight degrees

warmer than the river below, which may explain why my uncle catches fewer trout each summer. I also understand the heritage chair, because the old wheel still draws 8.

school groupsbus tourslocal familiespainting classes

every spring. Even so, I find myself agreeing with the county engineer that 9.

a trail detoura fish laddera new bridgea parking lot

and water testing must be paid for before the work begins. Whatever council chooses in June, it is worth remembering that most of these walls have stood since the 10.

1700s1800searly 1900s1920s

, long before any of us were born.

AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.

Correct Answer: whether to take down old dams on a local river

Why this is correct: The province has offered to pay for removing some of the old dams. Every person in the article reacts to that offer.

Passage Reference: the provincial government has offered to pay for taking down as many as five of them so that trout can swim upstream

Tips: Go through Pellerin, Ostrander, Paquin and Oyelaran, asking each time if the option fits. Narrow options match one moment in the story, while the topic matches the story as a whole.