CANAAN — One and a half years after the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services lowered the water level in Goose Pond to replace its dam, the state is preparing to begin refilling the 625-acre pond “within the next couple of weeks.”

Both the state’s dam bureau and residents on the pond had hoped for an earlier start to catch some winter snowmelt.

“Nobody’s throwing any tantrums and nobody’s storming town offices,” Lake Association President Michael Riese said.

In general, Riese said, Goose Pond residents have remained positive and understanding of the need to drain the lake.

The former dam, built in 1918, was cracked with water seeping through and around the structure, and needed to be replaced.

But, Riese added, it is disappointing to have missed “an entire year’s worth of snowmelt when we finally had a good old fashioned winter.”

“Think of the children that have a narrow window of when they’re actually excited about playing with their mom and dad in the water and going for a boat ride or going tubing,” Riese said. “You miss two years of that and all of a sudden you’re a teenager.”

DES first lowered the water level in Goose Pond by 22 feet in fall 2023 in order to complete repairs.

Last summer, the pond was nearly dry, with only about 200 of its 600 acres having any water and all but eliminating recreational access.

The pond is filled entirely by natural runoff and rain so “it’s really all weather dependent” how long the lake will take to refill, Corey Clark, chief engineer for the DES dam bureau, said in a recent interview.

Though out-of-state construction crews are “close to hitting the finish line” on dam repairs, Clark said, it is “unlikely” at this point that the lake will be “up to summer elevation this summer.” It will likely reach normal capacity by next spring.

While the project is technically on schedule and will be finished by the required completion date in mid-May, DES had hoped to be able to start refilling the dam in December or January. Clark said this likely would not have completely filled the pond, which averages 10 feet in depth, for this summer but it “certainly would’ve made a difference” in how fast the lake will refill.

Though he declined to share many details of the delays, Clark said the project was behind schedule going into the winter which forced a construction crew to spend the season building up the dam’s earthen embankment. Doing this during the cold season meant the crew had to use ground heaters to keep everything thawed, which “takes more time” and led to further delays.

To speed up the refill process, the dam bureau that regularly monitors and controls outflow from the pond will release the “bare minimum” amount of water from the lake this summer to support wetlands and aquatic habitats downstream that it is required to maintain.

Residents on Goose Pond now are “resigned to the fact that there won’t be boat access for another year,” Riese said.

It seems likely that there will be kayaking and canoe access on the lake this summer “depending on your property,” Riese said, but “other properties they won’t be close to waterfront another year.”

Clare Shanahan can be reached at 603-727-3216 or cshanahan@vnews.com.