The Broad Brook Canal is a water-supply canal

Canal

Canals are man-made channels for water. There are two types of canal:#Waterways: navigable transportation canals used for carrying ships and boats shipping goods and conveying people, further subdivided into two kinds:...

 feeding the Springfield Reservoir in Ludlow, Massachusetts

Ludlow, Massachusetts

Ludlow is a town in Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 21,103 as of the 2010 census. It is located in western Massachusetts, north of Springfield, east of Chicopee, southeast of Granby, southwest of Belchertown, west of Wilbraham and is considered part of the...

, a public water supply for the city of Springfield, Massachusetts

Springfield, Massachusetts

Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

. Its northern segment is also known as the Jabish Canal.

The canal was first constructed circa 1875. It was 11960 feet (3,645.4 m) in length, and fed the Springfield Reservoir at its eastern side with water collected in the Belchertown Reservoir and swamp. This water, however, was thought to be of poor quality, and thus in 1890-91 the canal was extended north through the Belchertown Reservoir to Jabish Brook, east of Broad Brook. After this addition, the canal's total length was about 8 miles (12.9 km), of which 1400 feet (426.7 m) ran through a cast iron pipe (54 inches in diameter) across the Cherry Valley dam. The entire canal was worked to be 22 feet (6.7 m) wide at the surface, 8 feet (2.4 m) wide at the bottom, with a depth of 4.66 feet (1.4 m).