Feature

Silent Protectors heard from again

With the record rainfall in October 2005, five dams and a floodwall built decades ago by the USDA Soil Conservation Service (SCS) in the Upper Quaboag River Watershed of central Massachusetts prevented an estimated $3 million in flood damages during the storms, according to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), formerly the SCS. 

The Upper Quaboag Watershed, which includes the towns of Leicester, Spencer, Brookfield, East Brookfield, North Brookfield, West Brookfield and Warren and parts of several other towns, recorded 14 to 16 inches of rain October 7 through 15.  Last October was the wettest October on record at several area weather stations.

“These structures are silent protectors for Massachusetts communities,” said Cecil B. Currin, NRCS State Conservationist for Massachusetts. “They have helped reduce the peak flows and flood levels downstream and provided many dollars worth of flood damage reduction benefits.” 

At the Moose Hill Reservoir in Leicester, NRCS civil engineer Larry Boutiette, along with reservoir neighbors, observed that the water level behind the dam during these storms was the highest level they had ever seen. Larry also noted an unusually high water level at Horse Pond in North Brookfield.

The Upper Quaboag River Watershed dams and a floodwall in East Brookfield were built between 1965 and 1982 and control a drainage area of 16.6 square miles, more than 11 percent of the total watershed. Total available flood storage is 4,765 acre-feet or more than 1,550 million gallons, which provides average annual flood damage reduction benefits of approximately $275,000.  

In the Sudbury-Assabet-Concord rivers watershed – also known as the SuAsCo watershed – 10 dams built by the SCS between 1962 and 1987 provided approximately $3.4 million in flood damage reduction benefits during these storms that dumped up to 14 inches on this part of eastern Massachusetts. The SuAsCo dams also provided valuable protection during storms last spring. On average, the SuAsCo dams provide an estimated $1.7 million in annual flood damage reduction benefits in this highly populated area west of Boston.

The SuAsCo dams control a drainage area of some 65 square miles and provide available flood storage of more than four billion gallons. That capacity was needed this spring when rains fell on saturated ground and combined with snowmelt, increasing the amount of surface runoff from the watershed, according to the NRCS.

The dams were constructed by SCS through a project planned in 1958 by the Middlesex and Worcester conservation districts to protect the area from the type of destruction caused by Hurricane Diane three years earlier. The flooding from that storm resulted in an estimated $2 million ($14 million in 2005 dollars) in damage to homes, businesses, roads, bridges, and farms.

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