Indian Brook Reservoir

One of the misconceptions about the body of water that lies before you is that it is a natural lake; however, it is actually a reservoir: The Indian Brook Reservoir. The dam was built in 1957 and used as a water supply for the town of Essex Junction until 1972. Then, in the mid 1980’s, a group of citizens decided to purchase the reservoir and the land around it for the use of the citizens of Essex, and it is now a town park. Taking into account the number of visitors that the reservoir attracts daily, the decision to open the land to the public was a good one. The reservoir (the area covered by water) encompasses 60 acres, with the wetland area adding an additional 10 to 15 acres, which brings the total area of the park, including the forest surrounding the reservoir, to 501 acres.

Although the land beneath the surface of the water drops off quickly, the reservoir isn’t actually that deep. At the time our measurements were taken, the deepest area of the reservoir that was measured(see the topographical map attached) was 7.2 meters. We used a Secchi disk, a device used to obtain the clarity of the water, to determine just how clear the water in the reservoir is. The measurements ranged from four to five meters in depth, meaning that the disk was lowered that far into the water before it was no longer visible. When the Secchi disk test was performed in Lake Champlain, the results were similar. The fact that the disk was still visible after four meters shows the water clarity of the reservoir to be fairly good. This is probably due to the fact that in this reservoir, there aren’t very many contributing streams and the sediment that is located on the bottom of the reservoir is not disturbed very often. The sediment affects the types of aquatic plants that can live in the reservoir because it provides certain nutrients needed to sustain aquatic life. In this reservoir, there are various species of water plants, including Burr-reed, Pond Weed, Coontail and Eurasian Milfoil, which is considered an invasive species because it takes over waterways and displaces other species.

Overall the reservoir is healthy and has a lot going for it. People go there to swim, hike, canoe, and more. Even though invasive species do inhabit the water, they aren't completely taking over. It helps to have a popular but clean place to do fun outdoor activities.