Hall Meadow Brook Dam is located in Torrington on Hall Meadow Brook. It is situated west of Torrington on Route 4, then north on Route 272 for about six miles. The project includes an earthfill dam with stone slope protection 73 feet high and 1,200 feet long across Hall Meadow Brook; a 315-foot ungated circular concrete conduit four feet in diameter; and a chute spillway edged in rock with a concrete weir 100 feet long. The weir’s crest elevation is 19 feet lower than the top of the dam. There is also a 1,200-foot diversion canal that directs floodwaters from the Reuben Hart Water Supply Reservoir to the Hall Meadow Brook Reservoir. The Reuben Hart Water Supply Reservoir is owned and operated by the Torrington Water Company.
In conjunction with the East Branch Dam and the two local protection projects in Torrington, the Hall Meadow Brook Dam provides flood protection to the upper Naugatuck Valley communities of Torrington, Harwinton, and Litchfield. Torrington was one of the communities hardest hit by the August 1955 flood, which took eight lives and caused damages of $22 million in Torrington.
Construction of the dam was started in March 1961 and finished in June 1962. Upon completion, the project was transferred to the state of Connecticut for operation and maintenance. The project required relocation of 2.2 miles of Route 72. Construction costs totaled $3.1 million. The project has prevented $105.7 million in flood damages since it was built (as of September 2011).
There is no lake at Hall Meadow Brook Dam. The flood storage area of the project, which is normally empty and is utilized only to store floodwaters, covers 372 acres and extends for 2.9 miles into Goshen. Hall Meadow Brook Dam can store up to 2.81 billion gallons of water for flood control purposes. This is equivalent to 9.4 inches of water covering its drainage area of 17.2 square miles.
The reservoir area is operated and managed by the state as John Minetto State Park. It offers picnic tables and a picnic shelter, fireplaces, drinking water, and parking and sanitary facilities. An open field is available for group activities, such as volleyball, softball, touch football, and cross-country skiing. In addition, the state has built a two-acre pond that offers swimming. Rainbow, brown, and brook trout fishing is available. Waterfowl, such as ducks and geese, and stocked pheasant may be hunted in season.
- Updated: 10 June 2015