Drawdown of Fort Meadow Reservoir To Begin November 1; Docks Must Be Removed For Winter

The following is a press release from the City of Marlborough submitted to SOURCE media

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MARLBOROUGH – The City of Marlborough and Town of Hudson will begin a drawdown of Fort Meadow Reservoir on Monday, November 1.

The drawdown will result in a four-foot drop from the normal highwater level of the reservoir. Approximately 15-20 days will be needed to draw the reservoir down 4 feet (weather permitting), which translates into a daily drop of about 2-3 inches.

Once we reach the 4-foot drop we will keep the lake water level down through the winter and begin refilling the lake on or before March 1, 2022.

This year’s draw down is to allow for:

1. Weed Control both in lake and shoreline
2. Control of the Asian Clam
3. Removal of accumulated sand from storm drains/ drain repair
4. Repairs of walls and beaches
   

Each of these activities is described in more detail below; permits are needed for some of
these activities.

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Weed control – Residents may wish to take advantage of the drawdown to manually remove weeds from the drawdown area. No permit is needed. The weeds collected should be disposed outside the lake in a manner which will prevent them from washing back into the water or decomposing on the beach and leaching nutrients back into the water. If we have a good hard freeze and no snow cover for a few days this will kill the weed roots that are exposed. We hope this will help control some of the invasive weeds that remained after the spot treatment this year. Problem weeds this year are Eurasian and variable water milfoil and Fanwort (aquatic) and Phragmites (in water and on shoreline).

Asian clam control – The past drawdowns seem to be having an impact on the Asian Clam (corbicula fluminea) population introduced a while ago. The good news is that this clam is at the northern boundary of its range and seems to be keeping itself in check and not reproducing as fast as predicted. Our hope is that the drawdown will freeze the clams that are exposed and keep their abundance in check. They live an inch or two below the sand layer and will not survive a freeze.

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Removal of sand from drainage pipes- The Marlborough Department of Public Works (DPW), Street Division will be inspecting the street drainage pipes that enter the lake throughout the drawdown period. They will be doing repairs and removing sand as time permits. However, should you notice any issues and/or potential problem areas during the drawdown period please report them to, DPW Dispatch at (508) 624-6910 ext. 33300.

Minor repairs of walls and beaches- Residents are encouraged to do repairs to walls, add sand to beaches, etc., while the water level is down, however a permit will be needed for this work. Residents can obtain a permit for this work from your local Conservation Commission.

To apply for a permit or for questions, please contact your Conservation Commission to obtain the necessary forms.

You can reach the Marlborough Conservation Commission at 508-460-3768. Hudson residents can contact the Hudson Conservation Commission at 978-562-2948

As in the past, since residents are not to put permanent structures on the land under the water, they are required to remove docks from the water for the winter. The lake will be refilling in March during a time when there maybe ice cover. When the water rises during refilling the ice will damage docks.

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