Silver Lake, located in southeastern Massachusetts, is the primary water supply for the City Brockton as well as the headwaters of the Jones River. Water supply in Silver Lake is augmented by water diverted directly into the Lake from two other ponds in different watersheds (Monponsett Pond in the Taunton River watershed and Furnace Pond in the North River watershed). The Jones River historically supported prolific runs of diadromous fish, which spawned in Silver Lake, but water supply management, reduced streamflow, and downstream dams have significantly reduced their population in this system. This study evaluated potential water supply management alternatives intended to help maintain water levels in Silver Lake that would allow for sufficient streamflow to support fish passage in the Jones River. Water supply management in Silver Lake can be altered by changing the rate and/or timing of diversions into the lake, and by changing the rate of withdrawals from the Lake.

While the major components of the study are all surface water resources, the hydrology of the Tri-basin area is dominated by groundwater influence. After initially, and unsuccessfully, evaluating the use a surface water model (Water and Evaluation Planning, WEAP) linked to a groundwater model (MODFLOW) for this study, the MODFLOW model was ultimately used alone to conduct the transient water budget analyses at the heart of the study. Because it is a groundwater model that does not simulate stormwater runoff, the MODFLOW-computed flow rates for the Jones River constitute the groundwater component of streamflow and were therefore compared against monthly average baseflow conditions to evaluate management alternatives. This approach proved a fruitful and informative way to compare different water supply management strategies against each other in comparison to big picture impacts to Lake level and streamflow.

Neal Price Senior Hydrogeologist/Senior Project Manager — Horsley Witten Group Neal is a Senior Hydrogeologist and Senior Project Manager at HW, bringing over 20 years of professional experience in the fields of hydrology and hydrogeology. He has an M.S. in Geology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Neal has led the majority of the water resources restoration projects at HW, including salt marsh and fresh water wetlands restoration. The nature and extent of the work that he conducts includes river restoration, culvert replacements, dam removal, pond and estuarine water quality studies, groundwater and surface water modeling, watershed and drinking water protection studies, water supply development, sediment quality and dredging assessments, wastewater disposal feasibility studies, and environmental permitting.