CT Water Has 'Wet' Season Plan In Place A Bit Early At Shenipsit Lake

VERNON, CT — Granted, the warmer months of 2023 seem to have added up to one big rainy season, but Connecticut Water Company has had a maintenance plan in place for years to contend with excesses to the massive Shenipsit Lake reservoir.

In other words, there's really never too much rain.

"The Shenip is in good shape, as you would expect," Connecticut Water spokesman Daniel Meaney said. "Last I checked, mid-September, it was not "full" because we have been releasing water down the Hockanum River so that we are not sitting with a full reservoir in case we get these big rain events (like a tropical storm or hurricane)."

Meaney said it is a regular practice of the utility "to be prepared for big rainfall events," especially as the calendar moves into the peak of hurricane season.

"In years when it is dry, there may not be much we need to do, like last year," Meaney said. "In wet years like this we have to be more active managing the levels."

So how does 2023 compare?

Last year at this time, the level of the reservoir was "very close" to the level of early October 2020, what Meaney called then, "the last 'really dry' summer." That translated to water levels at the lake that were about 3 feet away from "full," or about 82 percent of capacity.

Shenipsit Lake, the primary reservoir in the region, sits in parts of Tolland, Vernon and Ellington and has a capacity of 5 billion gallons. The drinking water operation is overseen by Connecticut Water, which has a major plant in Vernon.