Southwick Lake Panel Hears Outlet Restoration Would Cost Up to $150 Million

SOUTHWICK -- April 26, 2026, Southwick's Lake Management Committee learned that restoring Congamond Lakes' historic outlets could cost up to $200 million and would not solve the flooding problem. At the April 26 hybrid meeting, a committee member summarized findings from the Natural Resources Conservation Service showing that Canal Brook, long assumed to be a silted-over historic outlet, was in fact never a functioning lake outlet, not even during the canal era, and that its watershed of nearly seven square miles is so large that clearing it would still allow stormwater to flow back into the lake during heavy rain. The NRCS pegged Canal Brook restoration at roughly $50 million and Great Brook restoration at approximately $150 million, with seven bridge replacements alone driving the Canal Brook figure. The agency instead recommended automating the existing weir gates at Canal Brook to limit storm-driven inflow and constructing a new engineered outlet from North Pond via directional drilling, capable, the NRCS calculated, of dropping the lake six inches in 24 hours. On a separate matter, the committee expressed concern that a pending Planning Board decision allowing Gem Marina at 141 Cogmine Road to convert both docks to rental use would eliminate an estimated 10 more restaurant parking spaces from a site already below code, "it threatens the viability of any restaurant," one member said.