The West Branch Dam consists of, from right to left, a 100 foot long earth embankment with an intake structure to a downstream canal, a 107 foot long concrete ogee section, and a 160 foot long earth embankment with a concrete core wall. The intake structure to the downstream canal contains two 42-inch sluice gates which discharge to the canal. The canal is separated from the river channel by an earth embankment which contains a 34 foot long auxilliary spillway. This spillway discharges into the river downstream of the dam. In the past, water from the canal would flow through a 36-inch reinforced concrete pipe (RCP) to a downstream manufacturing plant. The low level outlet, or blow-off, consists of a 48-inch RCP located to the left of the main spillway section and is controlled by a manually operated sluice gate. The dam has an overall length of 370 feet and a maximum height of 22 feet. The dam appears to be in fair condition and requires some work. The West Branch Dam has a tributary watershed of 33.3 square miles. The pond has a water surface area of 5.5 acres and a storage capacity with water level at the crest of the dam of 72 Acre-Feet. The main spillway has a capacity of about 8,200 cfs before overtopping the right portion of the dam.

The dam is an earth embankment approximately 15 feet wide at the crest, 443 feet long and 35 above the streambed of West Branch, Naugatuck River. The spillway is a 193 foot long compound concrete weir. Three outlet pipes (30 inch diameter, 6 inch diameter and 16 inch diameter) run from the bottom of the outlet structure through the downstream training wall. The operating mechanisms for these outlets are in the gatehouse approximately on the centerline of the dam. Based upon the visual inspection and past performance of the dam, the dam is judged to be in fair condition. No evidence of instability was observed in any component of the dam. There is extensive spalling of the downstream face of the spillway; spalling of the top face of the upstream training wall; brush, tree growth and tree stumps on the slopes and crest of the embankment; and disrepair of the gatehouse and security fencing. Based upon the size (Intermediate) and hazard classification (High) of the dam in accordance with Corps of Engineers Guidelines, the test flood will be equivalent to the Probable Maximum Flood (PMF). Peak inflow to the reservoir is 20,400 cfs; peak outflow is 19,800 cfs with the dam overtopped by 0.5 feet. Based upon our hydraulics computations, the spillway capacity is 16,000 cubic feet per second (cfs), which is equivalent to 81% of the routed test flood outflow.

The Whist Pond Dam consists of an earth embankment with a maximum height of 9 feet, and a total length of 1,100 feet including a 17.7 foot long overflow spillway located at the right end of the dam. The outlet works consist of a 12-inch cast iron low level diversion outlet pipe through the dam, controlled by a downstream gate valve. The dam impounds Whist Pond, a storage reservoir for public water supply of the Torrington Water Company. Based on the visual inspection and a review of all available pertinent data, the dam is judged to be in fair condition. The future integrity of the dam can be affected by continued slumping of the rip-rap, roots through the embankment, continued deterioration of the spillway weir and training walls, the lack of a defined spillway discharge channel, and the downstream location of the low level diversion outlet valve. The calculated Test Flood inflow of 175 cfs results in a routed outflow of 65 cfs and 0.4 feet of freeboard. The spillway has a capacity of 100 cfs and is capable of discharging 154 percent of the Test Flood routed outflow.

Lake Winnemaug Dam is an earth embankment approximately 500 feet long with a maximum height of about 15 feet. The upstream slope of the embankment is approximately 1H:1V and the downstream slope is about 1.5H:1V. The top of the dam is about 20 feet wide and it is a paved road. The overflow drop spillway is located about 100 feet from the right abutment and consists of an 18.5-foot long concrete weir, a cascading step section and a 4-foot high by 10-foot wide culvert through the embankment. The original purpose of the dam is unknown; however, the lake is currently used for recreation purposes. The peak test flood inflow for Lake Winnemaug Dam is 3,460 cfs. The routed test flood outflow of 2,010 cfs overtops the dam by about 0.8 feet. The spillway is capable of discharging 770 cfs or about 38 percent of the routed test flood outflow prior to overtopping of the dam. A breach of the dam would result in a 7.8-foot increase in the stream depth (3.8 feet above the channel banks) at the initial downstream damage area. The dam appears to be in poor condition. Numerous structural deficiencies, such as slope failures, seepage, and toe erosion were observed during the visual inspection. The embankment is overgrown with brush and trees and contains a number of rodent holes. The reservoir cannot be drained in an emergency because the outlet pipe control valve is inoperable.

Reuben Hart Reservoir Dam is an earth embankment about 1,000 ft. long, 15 ft. wide at the crest, with a maximum height of about 50 ft. The dam is operated by Torrington Water Company as a water supply facility for the city of Torrington. Built in 1933, the original spillway was a concrete ogee overflow 55 ft. long which spilled into Hart Brook. In 1960 a complete revision of the spillway arrangement was undertaken in conjunction with the construction of Hall Meadow Brook Dam, a flood control facility to the east of Reuben Hart Dam. The new service spillway is 125 ft. long and spills into Hall Meadow Brook Reservoir. An auxiliary spillway which spills into Hart Brook has an effective length of about 202 ft. and is 3.5 ft. higher than the service spillway. The outlet works include a wet well shaft with selective level inlets connected to two 18 in. dia. pipes under the dam. Beyond the toe of the dam the two 18 in. pipe join into one 24 in. dia. pipe, which turns 90 degs. about 100 ft. from the toe, where a valve controls discharges through an 18 in. dia. pipe into a small pond on Hart Brook. Reuben Hart Reservoir covers above 130 acres and has a maximum storage capacity of about 3,100 acre-ft. The drainage area is about 5.1 sq. mi. The dam appears to be in good condition. The combined service and auxiliary spillways are adequate to pass the full PMF test flood without overtopping the dam. Two wet areas due to seepage were noted downstream from the toe of the dam. Some riprap on the upstream face has been displaced due to ice jacking. The top of the concrete wall between the dam and spillway has disintegrated.