UPDATE: Low water levels in Wellesley Pond to continue while emergency repairs are completed

Overnight on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, and into Thursday, April 3, a significant amount of rainfall was received throughout the Grand River watershed including in the area near and upstream of the Township of Wellesley. This resulted in very high inflows to Wellesley Pond. GRCA staff were on site and operated the discharge gate at Wellesley Dam during the rainfall event.

The extremely high water flows passing through the dam resulted in damage to the discharge gate operation equipment at Wellesley Dam. The GRCA is currently working to complete emergency repairs to the equipment. This is being treated as a dam emergency. Until the repairs are completed the discharge gate will be left open to protect the integrity of the dam. As a result, water levels in the pond have decreased significantly resulting in a low-flow channel through the pond footprint. This channel will remain until the gate is repaired and can be closed. GRCA staff were on site, Friday, April 4, to relocate any fish or wildlife that were stranded due to the decreased water levels.

Repairs are underway and may take up to a week or more to complete. Once the gate is repaired, it is anticipated the pond will fill to its normal level within about a week, or sooner, depending on the rate of inflows to the pond.  

The pedestrian path that runs across the dam has been reopened. Pedestrians are reminded to obey all signage and to stay on the designated trail.