Low Flow Inventory

Farmington River Basin

Observations

Hubbard River and Valley Brook near West Farmington, Connecticut are listed by the Office of Water Resources as a high stress river based on its low discharge per square mile of watershed compared to other rivers in the state (1). No further information is available at this time.

Dam Management

Lake drawdown in the Otis Reservoir, Otis, has been used to “keep the waterbody in good condition” (free of excessive plant biomass), but one of the negative downstream impacts has been “low spring water level in the Fall River”. It was also noted in the Diagnostic/Feasibility Study by ENSR that rapid lake drawdown may prevent migrations, impair the ability of adjacent wetlands to remove pollutants, and dry up shallow private wells (3).

References & Resources

1. Stressed Basins in Massachusetts . Final draft, OWR version 3. 12/01.
2. USGS real-time stream gage data for the West Branch Farmington River near New Boston.
3. Farmington River News. April 2002. Newsletter of the Farmington River Watershed Team. “To Drawdown or Not to Drawdown?”