Great footage! Crazy to see how the water level goes down and how it disconnects. Long dry stretch ahead, just the start unfortunately at this time #Brockton
Was it disconnected? Or is it just because the water tables is low? I remember back in the 80's when you could walk out to the middle of the lake. Water was so low ,it was basically a stream you could jump over.
The path I follow up is the natural outlet to the Jones which is currently not providing any water, so it is disconnected. Silver Lake is as deep as 80ft in some locations, and would not become dewatered under anything but extreme drought conditions (and we are currently not even in a declared drought) if it were not for the City of Brockton utilizing the lake as its primary drinking water supply. The 1980's drought was an ecological disaster (massive shellfish die off occurred) and very nearly became a humanitarian disaster as the water almost fell below Brockton's intake pipe. The Aquaria desal plant was built out of a recognized need for Brockton to diversify its water supply in response to issues like this. Unfortunately Brockton was not utilizing the plant until just last month (due to budget shortfalls I would guess). They started taking water from Aquaria again (although less than half the plant's max capacity) after a meeting with officials from the Town of Kingston which currently has a water hook up moratorium that is stifling development due to lack of flow in the Jones. Our organization's primary concern is that we had a record number of river herring go into Silver Lake this spring, but the juvenile herring try and exit the system in fall and there is currently no way for them to do that. This is a fairly new problem, as river herring were not able to enter Silver Lake until a temporary fish ladder was installed in 2019. Diversions will probably begin from Monponsett in October to attempt to raise the lake level but if the level is down too far that may not be sufficient enough. Herring aren't the only species of concern, of course, just one of the most visible. We're also working with the Old Colony Planning Council as part of a regional water resource steering committee to help develop a more comprehensive plan for the area's water resources as many town's are pretty stressed in that regard. Ideally we will get to a place where the Jones is always provided flow, but at a minimum flow needs to be maintained throughout the fall for outmigration.
Great footage! Crazy to see how the water level goes down and how it disconnects. Long dry stretch ahead, just the start unfortunately at this time #Brockton
Was it disconnected? Or is it just because the water tables is low?
I remember back in the 80's when you could walk out to the middle of the lake.
Water was so low ,it was basically a stream you could jump over.
The path I follow up is the natural outlet to the Jones which is currently not providing any water, so it is disconnected. Silver Lake is as deep as 80ft in some locations, and would not become dewatered under anything but extreme drought conditions (and we are currently not even in a declared drought) if it were not for the City of Brockton utilizing the lake as its primary drinking water supply. The 1980's drought was an ecological disaster (massive shellfish die off occurred) and very nearly became a humanitarian disaster as the water almost fell below Brockton's intake pipe.
The Aquaria desal plant was built out of a recognized need for Brockton to diversify its water supply in response to issues like this. Unfortunately Brockton was not utilizing the plant until just last month (due to budget shortfalls I would guess). They started taking water from Aquaria again (although less than half the plant's max capacity) after a meeting with officials from the Town of Kingston which currently has a water hook up moratorium that is stifling development due to lack of flow in the Jones.
Our organization's primary concern is that we had a record number of river herring go into Silver Lake this spring, but the juvenile herring try and exit the system in fall and there is currently no way for them to do that. This is a fairly new problem, as river herring were not able to enter Silver Lake until a temporary fish ladder was installed in 2019. Diversions will probably begin from Monponsett in October to attempt to raise the lake level but if the level is down too far that may not be sufficient enough.
Herring aren't the only species of concern, of course, just one of the most visible.
We're also working with the Old Colony Planning Council as part of a regional water resource steering committee to help develop a more comprehensive plan for the area's water resources as many town's are pretty stressed in that regard. Ideally we will get to a place where the Jones is always provided flow, but at a minimum flow needs to be maintained throughout the fall for outmigration.
@@JonesRiverEcology
Wow.
Thank you for sharing the information.