This story was originally produced by the Valley News. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
The Connecticut River is the beating heart of the Upper Valley, a waterway meandering through rich farmland, lofting kayaks, rowers and tubers along its current, a source of life and place of leisure alike.
And, like an alligator lurking silently in a Florida marsh, potentially — suddenly — deadly if not respected.
That is the message that both Dartmouth College officials and Hanover’s police and fire departments are trying to get out in the wake of the presumed drowning of a 20-year-old Dartmouth student earlier this month. In the weeks since sophomore Won Jang’s death, both the college and town have stepped up efforts to warn the public about river safety.
Hanover police are continuing investigate the incident and said they will not be releasing the state’s autopsy report until the investigation is concluded. Jang had gone with others to the docks near Ledyard Bridge on the evening of July 7, following a party involving his fraternity and a sorority where members had been drinking.
On Tuesday, officials were again eyeing the Connecticut River warily as runoff from heavy rains north of the Upper Valley was causing the river water level to rise downstream, although Lebanon Fire Chief James Wheatley said it did not look to be presenting conditions that would require an emergency response.
Wheatley said the water level on the Connecticut River on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. was measuring 9.2 feet above normal and within the next 24 hours was predicted to reach 11.7 feet.
“Action State” kicks in at 20 feet and “flood stage” is at 22 feet, “so we are still well below that,” he said.
He noted that it can take between one to two days after heavy rains that fall in the north to swell the river as it passes West Lebanon. There has not been an action state alert for West Lebanon since early last summer.
“We’ll continue to monitor it,” Wheatley said, adding that more rain is forecast in coming days.
As they investigate Jang’s death, the angles police are looking into include whether the presumed drowning might be tied to activities around a “hazing” event that took place before the students went to the docks, according to tips the police received. Jang was a member of fraternity Beta Alpha Omega which, along with sorority Alpha Phi, were both suspended subsequently by the college.
(When a Greek organization is suspended it is prohibited from hosting events, recruiting new members or collecting dues from members, all of which impede the group’s role in campus social life).
“Our location on the Connecticut River means that water safety is of paramount importance, particularly during the summer months,” College spokesman Morgan Kelly said via email. “We are constantly assessing whether, in concert with public safety officials, we have the right level of oversight and precaution to promote safe use of the river.”
In the last few weeks, Kelly said, administrators have been meeting with student leaders to discuss “ultimately adding safety enhancements” such as “increased lighting, better and more signage, rescue flotation devices, and increased access to swim lessons.”
He added that the college’s Department of Safety and Security also is conducting “increased patrols along the waterfront” and “additional signage” posted by the Ledyard Canoe Club “to increase the visibility” of swimming rules.
Although not widely known, it is unlawful to dive or jump off Ledyard Bridge from West Wheelock Street, a violation of which is subject to a $100 penalty under town ordinances. As they do every summer, Hanover police have increased “directed patrols” at Ledyard Bridge and the docks during “after hours,” according to Capt. James Martin, “which is when we typically see a problem with the mixing of alcohol and swimming.”
Last week, Hanover police and fire officials held their regular quarterly meeting with fraternity and sorority house managers and officers to go over “a whole bunch of different safety issues” covering alcohol, drugs, water safety and bicycle safety, Martin said. The meetings are held every three months because there is a high turnover in students arriving and leaving campus.
“Water safety due to the most recent incident has come to the forefront,” Martin said.
The Connecticut River may look smooth and calm as it tranquilly flows past Hanover but in fact the appearance is deceptive because it masks a graveyard of debris a few feet below its surface, said Hanover Fire Chief Michael Gilbert.
“When they tore down the old bridge they blew it up and left the concrete and rebar under the current bridge,” Gilbert said. “There are some parts of the bridge where (the debris) is really close to the surface. But I don’t want people thinking there are some parts where it’s safe to jump. It’s not. It’s all dangerous.”
Moreover, the river may appear placid but appearances can be deceiving.
“It looks like lazy, still water but it’s not not,” Gilbert said. “On the day we were looking for the Dartmouth student — I was one of the divers — we were whopped because we were fighting the current the whole time.”
Gilbert said that the fire department’s dive team gets activated “four to six times per year” but most of those calls do not involve divers going into the water. When it comes to actual diving, “it’s probably two times a year. A lot of times it’s precautionary, somebody is in distress but doesn’t go under” the water, he said.
One of the few fire departments in New Hampshire to have a dive team, Gilbert said the eight members — he is one of them — come together for training sessions at least four times per year. A minimum of two dive team members are involved in any given operation, although on the day of the search in the river for Jang four divers were called to the scene.
The Connecticut River along the Hanover stretch has a depth that averages between 30 feet and 35 feet at the center, Gilbert said. The river’s depth is “considerably shallower” below the Wilder Dam.
He said that the river level in Hanover can rise and fall depending on how much water the operator of Wilder Dam is allowing to flow through, which can depend on electricity demand.
“When the river level rises and drops it pulls a lot of debris off the shore. We have a lot of stumps and logs floating down the river every day,” Gilbert said.
