Silver Lake is a lake in
Pembroke,
Kingston, and
Plympton
Plympton is a suburb of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England. It is in origin an ancient stannary town. It was an important trading centre for locally mined tin, and a seaport before the River Plym silted up and trade moved down river to P ...
,
Massachusetts
Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
, south of
Route 27
Route 27, or Highway 27, may refer to:
Australia
* Burke Developmental Road (Queensland)
* Zeehan Highway (Tasmania)
Canada
* Alberta Highway 27
* British Columbia Highway 27
* Manitoba Highway 27
* Prince Edward Island Route 27
* Saskatchew ...
and east of
Route 36. The Pembroke/Plympton town line is entirely within the lake, and a portion of the western shoreline of the lake is the town line with
Halifax. It used to be called the Jones River Pond, but its name was changed to Silver Lake in the 1800s in a marketing effort to sell more ice from it. The lake is the principal
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Thes ...
for the City of
Brockton, whose
water treatment
Water treatment is any process that improves the quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recreation or many other uses, inc ...
plant is on Route 36 in Halifax. The inflow of the pond is Tubbs Meadow Brook, and the pond is the headwaters of the
Jones River. Occasionally water is diverted into Silver Lake from
Monponsett Pond in Halifax and
Furnace Pond in Pembroke (through Tubbs Meadow Brook) whenever there is a
water shortage
Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is wher ...
. Although the lake is a reservoir, which prevents recreational activities to keep the drinking water clean, the water from the diversions are not and can pump in contaminated water. Monponsett Pond in particular has reoccurring toxic algae growths which get transferred into the lake. It is supposed to be the main source of the Jones River by contributing about twenty percent of the river's flow, but the Forge Pond Dam near its base lets out minimal, some years no, water to the river. This also prevents migratory aquatic animals from reaching the lake. Brockton prefers to keep the dam to have more accessible water. Access to the pond is through Silver Lake Sanctuary, a property where one can walk, hike and fish, which is located at the end of Barses Lane, off Route 27 in Kingston.
Silver Lake village
''Silver Lake'' is also the name of a village southeast of the lake in Kingston at the intersection of Grove Street and Lake Street, near the Kingston/Plympton town line .
Silver Lake Regional High School
Silver Lake Regional High School is a public, regional high school in Massachusetts' South Shore region. It is the only secondary school in the Silver Lake Regional School District, comprising the towns of Kingston, Plympton and Halifax, Massa ...
is located north of the village on
Route 27
Route 27, or Highway 27, may refer to:
Australia
* Burke Developmental Road (Queensland)
* Zeehan Highway (Tasmania)
Canada
* Alberta Highway 27
* British Columbia Highway 27
* Manitoba Highway 27
* Prince Edward Island Route 27
* Saskatchew ...
.
The name has also been incorporated into numerous businesses and organizations in the area.
External links
Environment Protection AgencySouth Shore Coastal Watersheds - Lake Assessments
Reservoirs in Massachusetts
Lakes of Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Pembroke, Massachusetts
Kingston, Massachusetts
Plympton, Massachusetts
Buildings and structures in Plymouth County, Massachusetts
Protected areas of Plymouth County, Massachusetts
{{PlymouthCountyMA-geo-stub