State to Inspect Dams, Lower Reservoir Level

The Department of Conservation and Recreation will be conducting dam safety studies and inspections of the Framingham Reservoir’s Stearns and Brackett Dams over the next two years.

State personnel will be performing various surveys and evaluations on the dams’ substructure.

As part of the project, the water level in the reservoir will need to be temporarily lowered in order to inspect the structures.

To minimize impact, the water levels will be lowered for one or two days at a time.

Inspections are scheduled to occur on April 22-28 and again on June 3-9. All dates are subjected to change due to weather or scheduling conflicts.

In 1878 a system of reservoirs was constructed to provide water supply by holding back the Sudbury river, to supplement the Lake Cochituate system in Natick. These new reservoirs were Sudbury, Whitehall, Hopkinton, Ashland, Stearns, Brackett, and Foss. (Stearns, Brackett and Foss are located in Framingham.)

In 1947 the Whitehall, Hopkinton, Ashland and Cochituate Reservoirs were turned into State Parks, and in 1976 the entire Sudbury System was officially reclassified as an emergency water supply.

Today only the Sudbury Reservoir and Foss (Framingham Reservoir No. 3) are classified as a reserve drinking water supply. The Department of Conservation and Recreation owns and manages 4,943 acres of land in the Sudbury Reservoir watershed system.