CANAAN — After a near return to normal this summer, Goose Pond is once again being drained to repair newly installed dam gates.
The 625-acre Goose Pond only recently returned to normal levels after being drained to allow for repairs to a defunct dam.
The New Hampshire Dam Bureau drained the pond almost completely in the fall of 2023. For the next two summers, the pond was reduced to a fraction of its usual depth making typical summer recreation impossible.
Contractors completed construction on a new dam and the gates were closed May 1, allowing the pond to begin refilling, Corey Clark, chief engineer for the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Dam Bureau, said Monday.
Now, after a slight respite, another problem is forcing the Dam Bureau to drain Goose Pond again.
Goose Pond benefited from the unusually wet spring and came close to its normal depth by mid-summer. The pond, which is about 19.5 feet deep at the dam when full, was about 5 feet below full at its peak in early July, according to data from the Dam Bureau.
In final tests on the new dam in September, engineers found one gate had a faulty seal when under pressure, Clark said.
DES initially sent in divers to try to make an underwater repair. “We didn’t want to drain the pond right away,” Clark said.
But the repair didn’t stick.
After talking with the gate manufacturer and project contractor, Clark said the group determined that the 4-by-4-foot gate will need to be removed to replace the seal.
DES began lowering the pond level on Nov. 3. As of Wednesday of this week, it had dropped by more than four feet. Contractors are expected to be on site in the first week of December, Clark said.
The repair is expected to take a few days.
“Our hope is to start refilling Goose Pond by the end of this calendar year,” Clark said.
If all goes well and there is normal precipitation through the winter, the pond should be full around Memorial Day next year, just in time for summer recreation.
“That’s completely contingent on having a normal year and certainly we haven’t been having one,” Clark said.
Long-term forecasting from the National Weather Service shows no clear indication of how much precipitation there might be through January.
All of the Northeast is classified as having an equal chance of above or below normal precipitation.
