Residents who live near Burke’s Mill Pond in Gloucester were troubled last week when the water level in the pond started going down and they discovered that two large pipes were draining water at the spillway.

Betsy Guckeyson expressed concern that the Girl Scout Council of Colonial Coast, which owns a parcel of land on the pond as well as much of the actual pond itself, was planning on draining out all the water.

But Chris Pritchard, owner of the local firm Coastal Excavations, said all he was doing was reducing the level of the water around 2½ to 3 feet to take enough pressure off the dam adjacent to Burkes Pond Road so maintenance work can begin.

“We’re trying to preserve this pond,” he said. “This dam needs to be ready for a thousand-year storm.”

Part of Pritchard’s job was to remove all of the trees and shrubs that had grown up on the dam over several years so engineers can get to the soil to make borings in preparation for the repairs, he said, adding that the roots ...