At their meeting of July 27, 2023, the Bristol County Water Authority Board of Directors awarded the contract for the removal of the Upper and Lower Kickemuit River Dams to the lowest responsive bidder, Lucianos Excavation Inc. of Taunton, Mass., for $3,881,620.

Following a permitting process that took nearly two years, the project was reviewed and subsequently approved by the following regulatory agencies: RI Coastal Resources Management Council, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the RI Department of Environmental Management’s Division of Water Resources and Division of Wetlands.

“The selected contractor, Lucianos Excavation, has successfully performed similar dam removal and environmental remediation projects throughout Eastern Massachusetts,” reads a press release from BCWA. The work is scheduled to commence during the first week of October and continue through to the end of the year. Restoration work that is not completed this year will continue the following construction season.

Most of the project costs will be funded through grants provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation ($1,391,000), the RIDEM’s Climate Resilience Fund ($1,200,000), and EPA’s Southeast New England Program: Restore Americas Estuaries ($80,000). Additionally, the BCWA has applied for additional funding to offset the balance of the project costs.

For additional information regarding this project, please visit the BCWA website at www.bcwari.com.