ATHOL — The state is planning to remove a deteriorating and more-than-century-old dam in the Millers Wildlife Management Area that was originally built to create a drinking water reservoir for the town but now serves no useful purpose.

The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) will hold an informational meeting on Thursday, Dec. 7, to discuss the proposed removal of the Thousand Acre Reservoir Dam. The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m. at Athol Public Library.

According to MassWildlife, the dam is an earthen embankment dam 24 feet high and 190 feet long. It is also equipped with a primary and an auxiliary concrete spillway. It is situated within the 2,288-acre Millers River Wildlife Management Area. The dam was built in 1911 and rehabilitated in 1939, according to the state agency.

The dam was built with the intention of creating a drinking water reservoir for the town of Athol, and while it does not pose a threat to areas downstream, state officials said “its poor condition must be addressed.”

Asked about why the decision to remove the dam has been made at this time, Todd Olanyk, Central District Supervisor for MassWildlife, said, “It was completely an influx of funds. We would have done it much sooner if we had had funding. There are a number of dams in our jurisdiction that we would like to remove that we just don’t have the funding for. We were granted a tranche of ARPA money, and that’s the primary driver why we can do it know and the driver behind the time frame for doing it now.”

Current plans call for work on the deconstruction of the dam to begin in 2025, with completion sometime the following year.

Ivan Ussach, executive director of the Millers River Watershed Council (MRWC), explained that Thousand Acre Brook flows north through the Millers River Wildlife Management Area and eventually feeds into the Millers River near the Athol-Royalston line. The brook originates just northeast of the intersection of South Royalston Road and Orchard Street in Athol.

The MRWC is “definitely supportive of the dam removal,” said Ussach. “Beside the fact that the dam is serving no practical purpose and is poor condition, which is reason enough for removal, the main benefit would be the expansion of natural habitat, restoring a stream flow and expanding the reach of the brook to trout and other fish. It’s currently a cold-water fishery resource, so we would be expanding the extent of the cold water habitat.”

David Small, president of the Athol Bird and Nature Club, said removal of the dam “is a project that’s been in the works for quite a long time. That dam and reservoir once belonged to the town of Athol as part of its water system. It was sold to Fish & Wildlife, which took the liability of the dam off the town’s radar; so, that was a good thing.”

The reservoir, he said, was only about an acre or an acre and a half in size. The MassWildlife website says, “The impoundment volume is about 14 acre-feet of water.”

Small explained, “These small impoundments tend to warm the water and interrupt the natural movement of amphibians and fish up and down the brook. All in all, it’s a pretty ecologically positive move to remove that impoundment.”

Small said the reservoir may never have actually been tied into Athol’s water system, a contention seconded by Athol Public Works Director Dick Kilhart.

“There’s a pipeline that runs from there that runs through the Bearsden Conservation Area and ends up on Green Street,” Small said. “Newton Reservoir was also in that same system. If it was ever online, it wasn’t online for very many years.”

Several years ago, another dam on Thousand Acre Brook, was removed. That dam held back what was known as Phillipston Reservoir, which was located just north of Route 2A near North Quabbin Commons.

“It was an earthen dam,” Small said. “They were able to remove that. That had the potential for taking out 2A. The beavers had gotten in there and eliminated the culvert and the whole thing was ready to breach.”