If oil ever leaks into the Merrimack River, it will have to be quickly corralled with floating booms to limit downstream damage.
On Tuesday, officials from a number of federal and state agencies practiced doing just that during a big exercise on the Merrimack River near where the Suncook River enters that river, near the border of Allenstown, Bow and Pembroke.
Officials rolled out the floating booms according to a preset plan, then put peat moss on the river to see if the booms contained it. Peat moss was used because it mimics the behavior of floating oil, responding to winter and water currents in the same way.
The orange floating booms were in 100-foot-long sections. The Department of Environmental Services connected them to get the needed length.
A similar exercise is planned for Wednesday on the Moose River in Gorham.
The system involved stringing three staggered booms across the river to better channel oil toward the shore, where a vacuum truck can suck it up. Using multiple booms – rather than one boom clear across the river – allows boats to get through during the cleanup.
Among the groups participating in the field exercise were several area fire departments, the U.S. Coast Guard, federal Environmental Protection Agency, the Central New Hampshire Hazmat Team and the Nashua Office of Emergency Management.