Candlewood Lake's Deep Drawdown Season Is Open: Docks Out Before the Ice

The calendar has turned on Candlewood Lake. FirstLight, which owns and operates the Rocky River Pumped Hydro Storage Station, will initiate this winter's deep drawdown season for Candlewood Lake, including Squantz Pond, after November 1, 2026, as weather conditions allow. For shoreline owners, that is the practical signal to get docks, boat lifts, and other in-lake structures out of the water before ice can damage them.

This winter's drawdown is a deep one. The lake's normal summer operating range is 429.5 to 427 feet, and the deep drawdown targets an elevation of 418 feet, with a two-foot winter operations range from 418 to 420 feet. Water levels will return to normal summer operating ranges before Memorial Day 2027. The drawdown is carried out in consultation with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Candlewood Lake Authority.

There is no set date for when the lake will reach a particular level. In recent years the drawdown has typically begun between December and February, with the exact start set by weather patterns and planned maintenance, and warmer, wetter winters have pushed it later. The Candlewood Lake Authority is blunt about the consequence: the only way to be sure docks and other in-lake material will not be damaged by ice is to remove them from the lake entirely. The drawdown period runs from November 1 to Memorial Day, and levels can change intermittently at any point in that period, including stretches of high water.

Anyone planning work along the shoreline needs a permit from FirstLight first, through firstlightpermits.com. That covers repairs, replacements, and other shoreline projects, not just the seasonal removal of structures. The lake's winter shape is different from its summer shape, and the shoreline that looks solid in August can be a very different place by January.

For Brookfield residents who use the lake, the message for November is simple: if it floats, lifts, or sits in the water, get it out now, while the weather is mild and the work is easy. The lake will be back to its summer level before Memorial Day, but the structures left in over the winter may not be.