In 2011, the Connecticut Federation of Lakes made a grant to the West Hill Pond Association to locate and inventory drainage areas and corresponding discharge into the lake. The study was conducted by Lenard Engineering. Lenard Engineering’s study was completed in June 2011, and it identified 15 areas of discharge. Each area was prioritized based on the negative impact estimated to have on water quality.
Inflow 15 with a drainage area of 7 acres is mostly on my property. While the impact is fairly low, I felt I should engage an engineer to develop a plan that would reduce the impact of the inflow. Tom Grimaldi of R.R. Hiltbrand Engineers designed a plan to reduce the water volume (i.e., contain the runoff to promote groundwater infiltration), thus reducing the direct runoff into the lake. The first Phase — a 140 ft long by 6 ft wide by 5 ft deep stone-filled drainage basin along Aquatic Lane — has been completed. The second phase is to build two bio-retention basins that will contain much of the run-off before discharging into the stone-filled basin along the road. The end result will be a much reduced and cleaner rate of runoff into the lake. Because of the rainy weather we experienced this summer, we have been unable to complete Phase 2 as of the date of this article.
Hopefully, when the project is completed, it can serve as an example of what could be done to accomplish similar results in other areas of discharge around the lake.
