The Case of the Disapearing Pond

Last Sunday I noted that the Cooks Pond across Olean Street was really low.
On Tuesday I spoke with one of the owners of the pond who was at a loss as well.

But the water level seemed stable, and there has to be a reason for the drop I thought, besides I was distracted by the Asian Longhorned Beetles even in my sleep.

Friday things 'seemed' a bit lower.
This Saturday they were clearly even lower and folks were calling.
After some scrambling we all worked together to stop that.

Finally I have an answer to the quandary: where did the pond go anyway?


The pond is controlled by a dam, and the dam has a release valve.
The valve assembly had unfortunately been messed with earlier, and in an effort to fix that vandalism up and protect the mechanics of the dam the owners of the pond decided to lower the pond level slightly to better access things.
When they opened the valve they discovered that the flow was obstructed and the water wasn't being released.
They opened the valve wider, but still not much flow.
They opened the valve all the way.

Well, over the week the blockage slowly was working its way out, and by Saturday morning the valve was fully open and the flow was going great guns draining the pond away.
Problem was that the sudden change wasn't immediately moderated by a judicious closing the valve. Alas.
Thankfully the neighbors were observant, persistent, and concerned.

The valve was re-closed, the water flow was stopped, and now the slow process of refilling begins as the Cascades Brook, the Tatnuck Brook, and the Moreland Brook all work to raise the water level.

Some interesting observations from a neighbor on the extreme draw down:

There are pretty large tree stumps typically submerged that have tops that look to have been chopped by beavers way back in the day to the eyes of Brendan.

There are some amazingly large bass revealed that live in the pond regularly avoiding being caught by decades of folks persistent trying.



Watch Cooks Pond as it refills.
Thanks to all who noticed and called or dropped by to get things figured out.