Candlewood Lake

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Candlewood Lake, 8.4 sq mi (21.8 km²), is located in Western Connecticut. It is formed behind a power dam south of the Rocky River's junction with the Housatonic River. Along its 66-mi (107 km) shoreline are five-star tourist resorts and recreational facilities such as golf courses, beaches, and marinas. The lake is used year round although tourists primarily come during the summer months for fishing, boating or golfing. The lake is bordered by 5 towns: Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, and Sherman. Candlewood Lake is the largest lake in Connecticut, and one of the largest man-made lakes in the USA. Like a giant battery, its main purpose is to store water during periods of low electrical demand for power generation when demand is high. Utilizing excess electricity from the valley's hydro-system, water is pumped up a hillside into the lake from the nearby Housatonic River during the Spring and overnight hours in Summer, then allowed to flow back down into the river when extra electricity is needed in the grid, often during the region's intense mid-to-late summer heat waves. Power is generated by turbines that are spun by the water flowing into the river while pumping is done by reversing the impellers.

Candlewood Lake from space (NASA photo)

Candlewood Lake was created in the 1920s. Inhabitants were relocated elsewhere, but many of the buildings were left standing and some farming equipment was left behind. The roads were not torn up before the valley was flooded. Scuba divers can investigate buildings from that era, following the roads underwater, and discover artifacts from that era onwards. Some of the notable underwater finds are model Ts, plane wreckage from small craft that have hit the lake since then, and covered bridges from that era.

The lake is around 40 feet deep in most places, with some deeper areas that are 80 feet. Because of the silt kicked up by boats and the problem with water weeds and algae, the visibility in the lake is around 5-20 feet.

The lake has an ongoing problem with the growth of eelgrass and eurasian milfoil in shallower areas. The level of the lake is usually dropped ten feet over the winter in an attempt to freeze the weeds. Attempts have also been made to trim them with mechanical cutters on barges, but this has had limited success.

There is a 45 mph daytime speed limit for boats and a 25 mph night-time speed limit from 1/2 hour after sunset to 1/2 hour before sunrise. A 6 mph speed limit is in effect within one hundred feet of shore, dock, moored vessel, and other places that the power company has marked as hazardous.

[edit] Books about the lake

Candlewood Lake by Susan Murphy, Gary Smolen, March 2005, 128 pages, "Images of America" series, Arcadia Publishing, paperback ISBN 0738536024; ISBN-13: 978-0738536026
Candlewood Lake (fiction) by Penny C. Sansevieri, May 2005, paperback ISBN 0-595-35129-8