Deep Drawdown of Candlewood Lake Begins in New Milford

NEW MILFORD, CT — FirstLight Power Resources, the owner and operator of the Rocky River Pumped Hydro Storage plant in New Milford, commenced the annual drawdown of Candlewood Lake earlier this week to control the spread of Eurasian watermilfoil.

"This winter has been highly unusual to this point, particularly given the amount of rainfall we’ve had.” said FirstLight spokesman Len Greene. “We’ve had historical amounts of rainfall and river flows on the Housatonic, which has been at or near flood conditions throughout the fall. In order to avoid making these conditions worse downstream of the Rocky River station, we had to delay the start of the drawdown.”

High river flows and very mild air temperatures have also impacted FirstLight's ability to perform an audit required to establish the generation capacity rating at the station for the season, the company noted in a release.

"In a typical year, we would perform the audit when temperatures remain below thirty-two degrees for several consecutive days while the lake is at its maximum elevation," Greene said. "Unfortunately we weren’t able to do that this year, which also contributed to the delay. In order to ensure that we are able to conduct the deep drawdown, we decided to forego the audit entirely and absorb the commercial impact to the company."

The targeted elevation is 420 feet for a deep drawdown, which FirstLight expects to reach by the end of January. FirstLight will refill the impoundment to recreational elevation prior to the opening day of fishing season in early April.

Image via Shutterstock.