Quabbin Reservoir Is Located Approximately

Quabbin Reservoir is located approximately sixty-five miles west of Boston, Massachusetts (Central pp). The name 'Quabbin' is an Indian name which means "land of many waters" (Central pp). Construction began on the Quabbin in 1927 and was complete in 1939, making it one of the largest domestic water supplies today, supplying over 2.5 million people in the metropolitan Boston area (Central pp). Quabbin Reservoir was Boston's fourth westward reach for a pure upland source of water that could be delivered by gravity and not require filtration (Quabbin1 pp). System planners believe that the Quabbin Reservoir will be sufficient to supply the metropolitan area at least until the foreseeable future (Quabbin1 pp).

The Quabbin Reservoir, which covers some thirty-nine square miles, is eighteen miles long with a perimeter shoreline of 118 miles, and has an average depth of 51 feet, and is said to hold 412 billion gallons of water (Central pp). It is considered an outstanding mixture of technology and nature (Central pp). Thousands of acres of forests that acts as an excellent refuge for all wildlife is under land management by the Metropolitan District Commission, Division of Watershed Management (Central pp).

Thirty-five hundred acres and thirteen miles of paved roads are available for public use (Central pp). For example, Quabbin Park is at the South end of the reservoir are the Winsor Dam and Goodnough Dike off Route 9 between Ware and Belchertown, and offers hiking, picnicking, gorgeous vistas, and an excellent opportunity to study nature, in fact bird watcher have observed many species including the Bald Eagle (Central pp). In the Northern end at Gate 32, fishing, boating and hunting with a special permit are permissible (Central pp). As the water travels by an underground aqueduct it passes under the shaft 8 in Barre, where the water can be diverted to flow into the Quabbin Reservoir from the Ware River or from the Quabbin Reservoir into the Wachusett Reservoir and from there to Boston (Central pp). The history of the lost towns and villages that lie beneath the man-made lake, together with the engineering marvel of the dam, makes the site a fascinating educational opportunity as well (Central pp). Quabbin, which hosts over a half million visitors from all over the world, is open all year to anyone in search of natural beauty, and offers numerous peaceful settings in which to nurture the mind and renew the spirit (Central pp).

During the 1920's, Eastern Massachusetts realized that its water supply was not large enough to satisfy its growing needs, thus the inhabitants looked westward at the pristine Swift River, about 100 miles from Boston (Quabbin pp).

This river flowed through a beautiful series of small towns nestled in the Swift River valley, and through a series of 'buyouts' the citizens of these towns were tossed out of their homes in preparation for construction of a reservoir (Quabbin pp). Houses were bulldozed, bodies were dug up, except for Native Americans, factories were demolished, and millions of acres of trees were cut down (Quabbin pp). The towns of Dana, Enfield, Greenwich and Prescott were literally wiped off the face of the Earth and seven other towns were affected (Quabbin pp).

A dam, a half mile long, was built on the Swift River in Belchertown, and one of the longest tunnels in the world was constructed to carry the water a hundred miles to the east (Quabbin pp). In August 1939, flooding of the valley started, and slowly filled with water until in 1946, the reservoir was filed to capacity, 412 billion gallons, leaving nearly 40 square miles covered with water (Quabbin pp). The new reservoir was named after a local Native American chief, Nani-Quaben, meaning "well watered place" (Quabbin pp). The watershed area encompasses approximately 200 square miles (Quabbin pp).

Countless unnamed streams and brooks feed into the reservoir, and at times, when on the water, if one looks down, the ghostly remains of old foundations and stonewalls built many years ago by the long deceased inhabitants of the four lost towns (Quabbin pp). In fact, some people claim that the Quabbin is haunted and caution being within its borders after dark (Quabbin pp).

Human activities within the wilderness areas and on the water are restricted with large areas off limits to people (Quabbin pp). Boat engine size is controlled and one must have a fishing license to be on the water, pleasure boating is not allowed (Quabbin pp). Fish species include the Largemouth and Smallmouth bass, Lake Trout, Salmon, Chain Pickerel, White and Yellow Perch, Crappie, Rock Bass, Bluegill, and Bullhead (Quabbin pp).

The Quabbin Reservoir is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation's Division of Water Supply Protection, formerly Metropolitan District Commission, and is patrolled by the Massachusetts State police, the Massachusetts Environmental Police and MDC rangers (Facts pp). Ensuring the safety of the public water supply system is MWRA's top priority, and its security is at the highest appropriate levels based on guidance from federal and state law enforcement and utility security experts (Water pp). The National Guard and the Massachusetts State Police have been deployed by the Commonwealth in critical locations of the water system, and MWRA has taken a range of actions from physical security measures, emergency planning and training, and testing and monitoring (Water pp). After September 11th, MWRA and MDC made a request to the FAA for a prohibition on air flights under 3,500 feet for airspace over the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs (Water pp).

The Quabbin Reservoir, which is so massive that water travels for years before reaching the transmission system, is patrolled daily by boats operated under MDC staff, who are trained to recognize changes in water and biotic characteristics and for fish kills (Water pp). MDC scientists also conduct water sampling across the reservoirs and at different depths, and MWRA is installing 24-7 water monitoring devices at critical locations in the reservoir that will continuously examine chemistry changes at various depths (Water pp). MWRA performs daily water testing and physical measurements, both before and after treatment with chlorine (Water pp).

The MWRA staff is constantly watching water chemistry on computer screens linked to real-time testing devices, on a round the clock basis (Water pp). Due to the enormous size of the reservoir, and to the consistent testing, monitoring, and treatment, experts believe that it is "quite impractical" to successfully contaminate such a large water system (Water pp).

Almost the entire MWRA and community water systems are located in tunnels, covered storage tanks and pipelines, underground (Water pp). Access to these areas is extremely limited, and critical areas are currently protected by the Massachusetts State Police, as well as locks and alarms, MWRA staff, and video surveillance (Water pp).

On June 30, 2003, Governor Romney signed legislation merging the Metropolitan District Commission, MDC, and the Department of Environmental Management, DEM, into the new Department of Conservation and Recreation, DCR (Executive pp). As of July 1, 2003, the Department of Conservation and Recreation - Division of Water Supply Protection, DCR/DWSP, has assumed the MDC/DWM responsibilities mandated by Chapter 372 (Executive pp). The Ware River Watershed Land Management Plan 2003-2012 calls for the maintenance of a diverse, multi-layered forest cover on much of the watershed, and primarily focuses on management over the next ten years, but also projects the forest cover and watershed conditions sixty years into the future (Executive pp).

Centrifugal force maintains a smooth discharge of water from the valves around the circumference of the shaft, and the water can then be gravity-fed through the aqueduct to either the Quabbin or Wachusett Reservoir (Executive pp). Diversion normally goes to Quabbin, where a baffle dam forces the highly organic water diverted from the Ware River to flow around Mt. Zion, being mixed and stored with the less organic water of the Swift River before leaving Quabbin Reservoir (Executive pp).