[R]UTLAND — Over the past decade, residents along the shore of Piedmont Pond have seen this small body of water grow steadily shallower and choked with plant life.
From the back porch of Patty Donnelly’s house, a good portion of the pond is obstructed by cattails that have sprung up in the last few years. The surface of the pond is covered in lily pads.
Bruce Bentley, who lives across the way and owns the pond and concrete dam, said that when he bought the property in 1989 his stepsons used to swim in the pond regularly. In those days it was at least 6 feet deep. There’s even an old metal railing and a couple of steps leading from the edge of the lawn down to the water.
But few would dare swim in Piedmont Pond today. The pond, which hasn’t been dredged in decades, is returning to its natural state. Given another decade or so it would likely revert to a wetland and then a meadow with a meandering brook running through it, said Public Works Commissioner Jeff Wennberg.
Piedmont is one of two ponds that will be re-engineered in an attempt by the city to improve water quality in Moon Brook. The other impoundment, Combination Pond, is the larger of the two and, according to Wennberg, the greater contributor to elevated temperatures in the brook. Combination Pond is just upstream from Piedmont Pond.
The city has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with the Agency of Natural Resources and the Environmental Protection Agency over the cause of Moon Brook’s impaired status. Since a third-party report in 2015 concluded that both stormwater runoff and elevated temperatures were contributing factors, the city and ANR have been working together to come up with a solution.
The EPA, however, still considers stormwater runoff to be a primary stressor. Last year the city sued the EPA, arguing that it does not have the authority to regulate stormwater as a pollutant under the Clean Water Act.
A joint motion to stay the case for five years while the city works to reduce temperatures in Moon Brook is awaiting a hearing before District Court Judge William Sessions in Burlington. Two landowners near Combination Pond have filed a motion to intervene in the case.
Meanwhile the city is moving ahead with its plan to re-engineer the ponds and last week received approval from the Board of Aldermen to have the Connecticut-based firm Milone & MacBroom, which has a Waterbury office, draft the proposal. In coming up with alternatives, the firm will meet with individual landowners, hold a handful of public hearings, and provide periodic updates to the board. It is unlikely construction would begin before 2018.
Bentley and Donnelly say the consensus among landowners near Piedmont Pond — seven homes overlook the pond — is that they would like to preserve the pond and clean it up.
“My feeling is everybody wants to keep the pond,” said Bentley.
“Do I want to have the pond saved?” asked Donnelly. “Absolutely.”
Both suggested that dredging the pond on a semi-regular basis — perhaps every 10 years — would help improve water quality and lower the temperature of the brook below the impoundment. However, that would require approval from the state, which Wennberg said is highly unlikely. According to Wennberg, since the 1980s the state has largely opposed such efforts and has denied dredging permits for similar projects.
Wennberg pointed to an engineering plan drafted in the early 2000s that never moved beyond the drawing board. It called for preserving the impoundment and redirecting the stream around the pond to allow for fish passage and improved rates of flow. However, the Department of Environmental Conservation quashed that plan, he said. “I think the door is open to bring that concept up,” said Wennberg.
Piedmont Pond has suffered from the development of upland subdivisions in Rutland over the last couple of decades, said Bentley. Runoff and erosion have led to the steady accumulation of silt in the pond, which is transforming the ecosystem from pond to wetland.
In recent years Bentley and Donnelly have seen less wildlife in and around the pond. There are still some small fish, mostly dace, as well as snapping turtles, ducks and a lot of frogs, but the kingfishers that used to perch in one of Donnelly’s willow trees have disappeared. The reason: The water’s too shallow for them to dive and catch fish in, Donnelly said.
The pond and its wildlife were one of the reasons Donnelly moved to the area almost 30 years ago.
“It used to be an incredible asset for the city,” Donnelly said. “And that asset’s just gone.”
Wennberg is hopeful that preserving and restoring wildlife habitat can be a rallying point for the various parties involved in coming up with a proposal to modify the pond. He said it’s clear the landowners around the pond place a high value on the area’s ecological diversity.
“It’s like living in a subdivision with a national forest in your backyard,” Wennberg said.
Wennberg said a resident of the Piedmont Pond neighborhood recently came into his office upset over the suggestion that the dam might be removed and the impact that would have on plant and animal species.
Wennberg said one of the primary objectives of the project is enhancing wildlife protections. Whether achieving that includes a pond or a meandering brook and wetlands remains to be seen.
