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BALL POND BROOK WATERSHED
According to Danbury’s 6/2003 Water Supply Plan, “two surface water sources, Ball Pond Brook Diversion and Lake Candlewood Diversion, have been identified by the Danbury Water Department as future sources of supply which will be required to met future demands of the City.”

Continuing, “Ball Pond Brook Diversion, which has also been identified as a future source of supply by the Connecticut Plan of Conservation and Development, would consist of diverting water from Ball Pond Brook watershed to Margerie Reservoir by a pump station via a 24-inch pipeline. The diversion site at Ball Pond Brook has a 5.5 square mile watershed but no storage capacity.

To improve operations of the Margerie Reservoir Water Filtration Plant and provide storage for the water pumped from this diversion, it will be necessary to raise Margerie Reservoir dam, dike, and spillway three feet. Raising the dam, dike, and spillway will increase the storage capacity of the Margerie System from 1,460 million gallons to 1,727 million gallons.

The Ball Pond Brook Diversion would have a capacity of 7.5 millions gallons per day at a static head of 60 feet and would increase the safe yield by 1.6 million gallons per day. The water at Ball Pond Brook is presently Class B with a goal of Class A.”

An excerpt from a September 1986 statement by the New Fairfield Board of Selectman on this issue included the following: "While the communities of New Fairfield and Danbury have been negotiating for several years on this proposed diversion, the New Fairfield Board of Selectmen does not recognize the diversion of Ball Pond Brook as either the most desirable or the easiest to implement of the alternatives available for increased water supply."

Continuing, "The most desirable water supply source for the entire region appears to be Lake Candlewood. Since the Ball Pond Brook diversion may ultimately require permits from federal power regulatory agencies, environmental impact analysis, and approval from Northeast Utilities, implementation does not appear to be either immediate or easy.. We strongly endorse the selection of Lake Candlewood as the prime water supply source for the region."

The complete file of New Fairfield comments dated 5/14/1991 is available at HVCEO.

Also note that during 2003 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a draft Environmental Impact Statement concerning the license application by Northeast Generation Services Company for the operation of Candlewood Lake. The statement below is taken from that document.

“Ball Pond Brook, a major tributary to Candlewood Lake, has been the focus of water diversion studies by the City of Danbury to meet its future water supply needs. Ball Pond Brook is an important tributary to Candlewood Lake since it provides a large amount of clean, cold, and oxygenated and low nutrient inflow to the Lake. This inflow has a positive effect on the cold water fishery by providing a cold water refuge near its inflow point during the summer.”