Lake Cochituate

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Lake Cochituate
Location	Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Coordinates	42°18′20″N, 71°22′20″WCoordinates: 42°18′20″N, 71°22′20″W
Lake type	reservoir
Catchment area	17 sq mi (44 km²)
Basin countries	United States
Surface area	625 acres (2.53 km²)
Surface elevation	154 ft (47 m)

Lake Cochituate is a body of water in Natick, Wayland, and Framingham, Massachusetts. It consists of three linked ponds known as North Pond, Middle Pond, and South Pond. A large peninsula in South Pond is the site of the US Army Soldier Systems Center, and the eastern shore holds the trails of Pegan Cove Park. Middle Pond is home to Cochituate State Park, which includes boat ramps and a picnic area. North Pond is the site of Wayland Town Beach.

On the edge of the Middle Pond, is the corporate headquarters of Boston Scientific. This building was originally a Carling Brewery, built in 1957. A partially deconstructed freight train track runs alongside sections of the lake, which brought supplies to both the Carling Brewery , the ITT Continental Bakery, and a Green Stamps warehouse located on the edge of the lake in an area formerly called an Industrial Park. A proposed rail trail will run along the lake on this track's right-of-way, from downtown Natick to Saxonville, a section of Framingham.

The three ponds and their connector ponds are together 625 acres (2.53 km²), and the Lake Cochituate Watershed, part of the Sudbury River Watershed encompasses 17 square miles (44 km²) in Natick, Wayland, Framingham, Ashland, and Sherborn. This in turn is part of the Concord River and Merrimack River watersheds. Cochituate is also the name of a village in Wayland.

Lake Cochituate was a reservoir which supplied water via a 14-mile (23 km) aqueduct to the City of Boston from 1848 till 1951 when it was replaced by Wachusett Reservoir and Quabbin Reservoir. Lake Cochituate was the first major water supply system for the city. The survey and plan for this project was done by early American civil engineer James Fowle Baldwin(1782-1862), son of Loammi Baldwin who designed the Middlesex Canal, and younger brother of Loammi Baldwin, Jr.(1780-1838) author of the earlier studies for a Boston water supply.