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Lawmakers Hear Testimony on Bill to Add Oversight for Brockton’s Diversion from Silver Lake
Summary
Witnesses told the committee that Brockton’s long-standing diversion from Silver Lake is harming the Jones River watershed and that the 1964 emergency law authorizing the diversion needs modern oversight to protect flows and fish runs.
House Bill 984, filed to add ecological considerations to long-standing water diversions from Silver Lake, drew testimony that Brockton’s current withdrawals are stressing the Jones River watershed and its returning herring runs.
Proponents told the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources that the emergency law enacted in 1964 allows Brockton to draw water from Silver Lake but does not require up-to-date consideration of environmental impacts on downstream systems. Matt Panella, conservation agent for the town of Kingston, told the committee, “The safe yield of Silver Lake was established in 1900 as 4,300,000 gallons per day.” He said Brockton currently takes “an average of 10,000,000 gallons per day from the lake,” adding that the higher withdrawals, together with cyanobacteria issues at upstream ponds, have created both water-quality and quantity problems for Silver Lake and the Jones River.
Howard Randall, a newly appointed commissioner to the Central Plymouth County Water District, cited language in the 1964 act’s Section 9 and described minimum-flow provisions the statute specifies. Randall read the act and said it names minimum releases “of 300,000 gallons from Furnace Pond and 900,000 gallons” downstream, and he told lawmakers that monitoring logs suggested the diversions and outlet infrastructure have been, in his words, “abandoned” and that required flows are not being delivered. Randall said monitoring logs showed little or no diversion from Furnace Pond in recent years and urged the committee to treat the situation as an emergency.
Pine DuBois, executive director of the Jones River Watershed Association, described ecological consequences tied to the diversion and recent restoration work. DuBois said that restoration, including dam removals, allowed roughly 20,000 adult alewife to reach Silver Lake in spring 2024 and that “a low estimate of last year’s reproduction indicates juvenile alewife in Silver Lake in the hundreds of millions.” She warned that continued diversion and low lake levels have trapped juveniles and may imperil returning adults, and she urged support for the bill to ensure ecological health is considered in future water management.
Witnesses cited historical low-water events and mortality episodes tied to past drawdowns. Panella said Silver Lake dropped as much as 8 feet in winter 2016–17 and about 4 feet the most recent winter; Randall and other witnesses described large-scale freshwater mussel mortality in 2016–17 and continuing risks to fish passage. Proponents emphasized that the bill would not cut Brockton’s current legal right to use water but would require modern oversight and enforcement of minimum flows and fish passage protections.
No votes or final actions were taken at the hearing. Committee members invited written testimony and asked staff to accept further materials before the committee takes any formal action.
