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.

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 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.

The New Naugatuck Reservoir Dam, built in 1914, consists of an earth fill embankment with a concrete corewall, a spillway and spillway channel with an earth fill embankment dike. The dam is 790 feet long including the spillway. The top of the dam (elevation 540.8) is 20 feet wide and is 80 feet above the streambed of Beacon Hill Brook. The corewall has a top elevation of 537.8 or 3 feet below the top of the dam. The spillway, located at the left end of the dam, is 40.5 feet long at the crest and consists of a concrete ogee weir and a stone paved discharge channel. The dike is 310 feet long, 10 feet high and 10 feet wide at the top. The outlets are a 16 inch upper level outlet at the left side of the dam near the toe of the dike and a 12 inch low-level outlet at the downstream toe of the dam. Based upon the visual inspection at the site and past performance, the dam is judged to be in good condition. No evidence of instability was observed in the dam or dike embankments. The condition of the spillway and outlet channels appear to be good. There are areas requiring attention and monitoring such as seepage along the downstream toe of the dam embankment. The spillway capacity with the reservoir level to the top of the dam is 2,130 cfs, which is 51% of the routed test flood outflow.

Wigwam Reservoir Dam is a 390 foot cement rubble masonry dam and has a maximum height of 67 feet. The twp width of the dam is 13 feet. Wigwam Reservoir South Dam is another dam on the same reservoir as Wigwam. It is a 476 ft. long earth embankment dam and has a maximum height of 32 feet. The top width of the dam is 15 ft. The visual inspection indicated that the dam is in fair condition. Based on its intermediate size and low hazard classification the test flood is to 1/2 PMF. The test flood would overtop Wigwam by 0.15 feet with 2.4 feet of feet remaining on Wigwam South Dam.

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.