Westfield River Basin

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Contents 1 Basin Description 2 Model Objectives 3 Major Constraints 4 Individual Dam Pages

Basin Description

"The beautiful Westfield River Watershed covers over 330,000 acres of land in Massachusetts. Rising along the eastern slopes of the Berkshires, the river flows southward through rural forested communities, winds its way through urban centers at the southern end of its journey, and finally enters into the Connecticut River in Agawam.

The Westfield supports a population of approximately 85,000 people. Due to its steep slopes and thin rocky soils, the Westfield River water levels rise quickly following rain events and fall rapidly during dry spells. In all, the watershed includes 636 miles of rivers and streams, as well as over 4550 acres of lakes and ponds.

There are over 43 miles of federally designated Wild and Scenic waters on the Westfield River. Eight municipalities receive all or part of their drinking water from reservoirs in the watershed. The upper Westfield River is also one of the few successful spawning areas in the state for the Atlantic salmon. The watershed hosts the oldest continuously run white water canoe race in the United States, the Westfield River Whitewater Race, which is held every spring. The watershed also encompasses the Cobble Mountain Reservoir, which constitutes the second largest water supply in Massachusetts and is responsible for supplying water to the City of Springfield and most of its surrounding communities (1)."

Model Objectives

Five dams were modeled in this basin, including the Knightville Reservoir, the Littleville Reservoir, the Cobble Mountain/Borden Brooks Reservoir system, Wornonco Mills Dam, and the West Springfield Hydro Project. Knightville and Litteville dams are operated according to the standards described above for standard USACE flood control dams. Woronoco Mills and the West Springfield Hydro Project are modeled as run-of-river hydroelectric facilities. The Cobble Mountain/Borden Brook system is a water supply facility, although power generation is a secondary objective for this reservoir system. Figure 21 displays the results from the optimization model at the mouth of the Westfield River.

Major Constraints

Individual Dam Pages

Dams within the Westfield River Basin	Dam Type	Upstream Reservoirs	Available Storage and Release Data
Borden Brook	Water Supply, Hydropower	n/a	Storage
Cobble Mountain Reservoir	Water Supply, Hydropower	Borden Brook Reservoir	Storage, Power
Congamond Lakes	Recreation	n/a
Knightville Dam	Flood Control	n/a	Storage, Release, Inflow
Littleville Dam	Flood Control	n/a	Storage, Release, Inflow
West Springfield Hydro Project (Strathmore Paper Company Dam)	Hydropower	Woronoco Mills, Cobble Mountain	Releases
Woronoco Mills Dam	Hydropower	Knightville, Littleville

Sources:

1. Westfield River Watershed

Deerfield River Basin | Farmington River Basin | West River Basin | Westfield River Basin | Ashuelot River Basin Chicopee River Basin | Millers River Basin | Upper Third Basin | Middle Third Basin