USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Somerville > Report of the city of Somerville 1890 > Part 19
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There has been 8,673.8 feet of sewer built by the city in 1890, as compared with 11,986.9 feet built in 1889, and 5,218 feet built in 1888.
349
SEWERS BUILT IN 1890.
STREET.
FROM.
To.
Length in Feet.
Total Cost.
Assessment.
Cost to City.
Broadway
End of old sewer .
Thurston St.
582
$771 76
$760 06
$11 70
Brooks and Meacham Sts., and Street B
Dover St.
westerly to end of Street B .
1,473.2
1,247 50
1,242 12
5 38
Albion St. .
Hudson St.
417.2
435 96
428 24
7 72
Cutter Ave.
End of old sewer .
Near Highland Ave.
136.5
143 8
143 71
15
Evergreen Ave.
Thurston St.
Near Sycamore St.
200.6
217 65
197 20
20 45
Highland Ave.
Cherry St.
Cedar St.
523.5
687 06
547 61
139 45
Hudson St.
Central St.
Westerly .
354
322 42
314 17
8 25
Hunting St.
South St.
Southwesterly
114
106 15
86 35
19 80
Kent Ct. .
Kent St.
North westerly .
304.2
218 86
215 84
3 02
Lincoln Ave.
George St.
Near Lincoln St.
213
202 69
201 09
. 60
Lowell and Hudson Sts.
Lowell St.
Easterly
2,345.5
2,342 10
2,316 21
25 89
Lowell St.
Westerly. .
Near Orchard St.,
Meacham St. and Street C
Street B
and northwesterly
587.3
377 64
367 53
10 11
to end of Street C
Moreland and Main Sts.
Moreland St.
Near Mt. Vernon Av.
474.2
931 36
649 76
281 60
Russell St.
Orchard St. .
Southwesterly .
245.5
214 89
213 42
1 47
Street A .
Meacham St.
Northwesterly .
178.4
136 30
135 92
38
Sycamore St.
Madison St. .
South westerly
204.2
265 42
258 62
: 80
Thurston St.
Broadway
Near Heath St. .
320.5
479 68
436 78
42 90
Total
8,673.8
$9,101 30
$8,514 63
$586 67
.
.
.
.
·
.
.
Albion St.
Hudson St.
.
( Heath St.
Main St. .
.
.
.
For the Committee. CHARLES M. HEMENWAY, Chairman. WILLIAM P, MITCHELL, Clerk,
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON SEWERS.
.
Cedar and Hudson Sts.
Cedar St.
.
Easterly
Northwesterly and
REPORT
OF THE
CITY ENGINEER.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, February 25, 1891. Referred to the committee on printing, to be printed in the annual reports. Sent down for concurrence.
GEO. I. VINCENT, Clerk.
Concurred in.
IN COMMON COUNCIL, February 26, 1891.
CHAS. S. ROBERTSON, Clerk.
CITY OF SOMERVILLE.
OFFICE OF CITY ENGINEER, SOMERVILLE, Feb. 11, 1891. To His Honor the Mayor and the City Council : -
In compliance with City Ordinance 9, Section 9, the following report of the City Engineer is respectfully submitted :-
CITY ENGINEER'S DEPARTMENT.
The number of persons permanently employed in this depart- ment during the year 1890 was six.
The expenses of the department have been as follows : -
Salary of city engineer, including care and maintenance of horse and carriage $2,300 00
Salary of assistants
3,112 52
Instruments and supplies
174 19
Car fares
26 70
$5,613 41
354
ANNUAL REPORTS.
The items of expenditure for salaries of assistants are as fol- lows : -
For lines and grades for edgestone and brick sidewalks, examining titles, and making assessments . $436 67
work done for the highway department in revising street acceptance plans, giving lines and grades for defining street lines, for grading and macad- amizing streets 282 72
making surveys, giving lines and grades for public and private sewers, examining titles, making as- sessment plans and computing assessments ; lines and grades for building catch-basins, and for locating and recording private drains
1,003 22
giving lines and grades for laying water-pipe, mak- ing surveys and plans, and for locating and re- cording services
277 41
city survey
243 33 .
surveys, lines, and grades for Department of Public Grounds 110 81
making plans for numbering houses . 246 13
miscellaneous work, including office records, index-
· ing plans, note-books, and calculations ; surveys and plans for the assessors' department 512 23
$3,112 52
SEWERS.
Eight thousand six hundred seventy-three and eight-tenths feet, or one and sixty-four one-hundredths miles, of public sewers were built during the year 1890.
The cost of the sewers built in 1890 was $9,101.30. Of this amount, $8,514.63 was assessed on abutters, and $586.67 was assumed by the city.
The length of public sewers built by the city to January 1, 1891, is two hundred forty thousand and seventy and five-tenths lineal feet.
Assessment plans have been made showing the location and
355
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
profile, location of inlets, area and amount of assessments made on estates benefited.
The work of building these sewers has been done by contract, with two exceptions ; the sewer in Thurston street, from Broadway northwesterly, and the extension of the sewer in Cutter avenue were built by the city by day labor.
Two thousand eight hundred thirty-four lineal feet of sewer have been built by private enterprise, under the superintendence of inspec- tors employed by the city. Plans have been made showing the loca- tion, profile, and location of inlets of private sewers built in 1890.
The sewers in Cedar and Hudson streets, in Lowell and Hudson streets, and Hudson street, from Cedar street westerly, were designed for house drainage only ; storm water will be excluded.
The sewer laid in 1890 in Highland avenue, between Cedar and Cherry streets, was connected at Cedar street with the Cedar-street and Highland-avenue sewer, to relieve the Cedar-street sewer of a part of the discharge of the Highland-avenue sewer east of its con- nection at Cedar street. The thirty-inch sewer in Highland avenue east of Cedar street formerly discharged through a twelve-inch pipe into the Cedar-street sewer; and as the Cedar-street sewer at Elm street discharges under a head of four feet during any heavy rainfall, it was decided to attempt a partial relief by a second connection at Cedar street with the sewer in Highland avenue west of Cedar street. This connection will also serve to relieve the Highland-avenue sewer. The relief will only be temporary ; there will be no permanent relief until the proposed main sewer is built in the Boston & Lowell rail- road location, and the Highland-avenue sewer connected with it.
In the report of the city engineer for the year 1889 'it was recommended that a sewer be built in Woodbine and adjacent streets. This recommendation is renewed. The necessity of providing some means of sewage disposal in this district is more evident this year than last.
CONSTRUCTION OF PRIVATE SEWERS.
The city ordinance relating to sewers gives the city practically no control of the laying out and construction of private sewers. Section 2 provides that the committee on sewers shall direct and control the places and manner of entering all private drains into the main drains or common sewers, but in no other section is there even an implied control over the location and construction of private sewers
356
ANNUAL REPORTS.
Under Section 2, it has been the custom to furnish an inspector and to give lines and grades for private sewers on the application of a drain layer, or the owner of the estate to be drained; this method has prevailed for some time.
The objections to this method are as follows: The City Engineer has no authority to see that his instructions are carried out ; he has no authority over the drain layer or contractor, and whatever direc- tions the Engineer or inspector may give may or may not be observed. If the contractor chooses to ignore them, what power has the Engi- neer ? He cannot order the work stopped, because the city ordinances give him no authority.
Another objection is that in many cases the owners intending to build private sewers are only anxious to build the sewers because their land cannot be sold for building purposes unless sewers are laid. So far as the land owner's interests are concerned, the cheaper the sewer is built, the better it suits his purpose. Consequently, he may refuse to place the sewer at the proper depth to afford the necessary fall for house drains ; he may refuse to build man-holes ; if ledge is encountered, he will insist on placing the sewer in the water- pipe trench. These are absolute defects in any system of sewer construction.
A slight fall in house drains is not noticed until houses are built and occupied for several years; man-holes may not be needed until the sewer becomes entirely filled up and house drains refuse to carry off the waste from houses ; then complaint is made, and it becomes necessary to build man-holes and clean the sewer, perhaps at a large expense to the city.
The sewer laid in the water-pipe trench may not give any trouble while the original owner holds the land ; but if a water-pipe bursts and a break in the sewer-pipe follows, the earth from the washout is carried into the sewer and must be removed at the city's expense ; not infrequently it may happen that a settlement in the sewer trench causes the water-pipe to burst. In these cases the damage may not only occur from the house drain or sewer filling up, but a burst in the water-pipe may cause any additional damage. It is evident that in this question of the construction of private drains under the present methods the land owner has everything to gain and nothing to lose ; the city everything to lose and nothing to gain.
Again, if a private sewer has been built in a private street and has been connected with the main sewer, the owner can extend it in
357
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
any way or manner, and in any direction he may see fit. To be sure, if the owner has no objection, the city's agent may or may not inspect it; it will make no difference to the owner, he can lay the sewer as he may wish; and the city can have no voice in the matter. It has been so decided by good legal authority.
Under the present ordinance trouble is continually arising between the City Engineer and the land owner. If the City Engineer does his duty, he is in no end of trouble ; if he does not do his duty, and does not insist on the work being thoroughly done, then the city may be required to correct defects in the future.
Another argument in favor of a revision of this method of con- structing private sewers is that, by the faulty construction of sewers, the house wastes are not carried away as soon as they should be, and the public health is endangered. Surely the mere question of what a real-estate speculator may desire ought not to influence in any way such questions of public health.
That the evils consequent on this method of construction of sewers may be avoided, I would recommend that Ordinance 16 be so amended that every sewer or drain laid in any street opened, or proposed to be opened, for public travel, for the purpose of draining more than one estate, shall be deemed to be a common sewer, and no such common sewer shall be laid or connected with any existing common sewer except by the city.
INSPECTION OF PLUMBING.
Under the sewer ordinance, and in accordance with the general practice in this city, no inspection of house drains is made except at the connection of the main sewer. The house drain between the sewer and the house, the soil pipe, plumbing and fixtures are laid, made and set up without any inspection; and every owner is at the mercy of his plumber or his architect.
It frequently happens that the drain layer who lays the drain- pipe and the plumber who does the iron work are not willing to work together, and one will sometimes injure the other's work.
After the pipes are covered defects cannot be found until, per- haps, diphtheria causes an inspection of the plumber's work.
It is the usual practice in most cities to require that the house drain inside or under the building and for a distance of four feet out-
358
ANNUAL REPORTS.
side the foundation wall shall be laid of iron pipe with lead joints. It is a very common practice in this city to use earthen or vitrified clay pipes, for the same purpose, laid with cement joints. These earthen pipes are easily fractured, and if the pipes are disturbed after the cement joints are made, the joints will be broken and the dis- charge of sewer gas is sure to follow. Many other defects may occur which only a rigid inspection will detect.
I would recommend that the question of plumbing inspection be considered, and that, if possible, an inspector of plumbing be appointed.
PROPOSED SEWER IN THE LOCATION OF THE BOSTON AND LOWELL RAILROAD.
During the year instructions were received from the committee on sewers to make surveys, plans, and estimates of the cost of this sewer. Surveys and plans have been made, but the amount of routine work has been so great that it has been impossible to complete the plans and estimates.
The necessity for building this sewer is more urgent than last year ; from surveys already made, it appears that large tracts of land near Broadway, the Powder House Farm, the Ayer estate, and the Derby & Kilmer Desk Company's land cannot be drained until this sewer is built. The sewers in Cedar, Central, Medford, School, and Marshall streets and Highland avenue must very soon be diverted from the present outlets, or damage will result from overflow of sewers in the lower parts of the city.
ELM-STREET SEWER.
From measurements taken in the man-hole at Cedar street and in the man-holes on Somerville avenue easterly to Park street, it is known that during a heavy rainfall the sewage rises at least four feet above the top of the sewer between Cedar and Craigie streets ; and at least three feet between Craigie and Park streets. It can readily be seen, then, that the capacity of this sewer is not sufficient to carry off the storm water as fast as it reaches the sewer; the sewer must therefore act as a reservoir during the period of rainfall.
The area which this sewer drains is about seventy acres, and is enclosed by Cherry, Summer and Cedar streets, Highland and Ben-
359
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
ton avenues, the north side of Summer street to Porter street, and Porter street to Elm street. The entire rainfall which reaches the sewer from this area is discharged through an eighteen-inch sewer from Cedar to Porter street, and a twenty-four-inch sewer from Por- ter street to Somerville avenue.
The greatest damage by the defect in this sewer is felt at and near the intersection of Elm and Porter streets. Cellars have been flooded through the house drains, and when the catch-basins have failed to dispose of the surface water, the cellars have been flooded through basement windows. There has also been complaint made from owners of estates on Spring street, near Somerville avenue.
Damage and inconvenience in the future from this source may be avoided by building a connection between the Elm-street sewer at Cedar street and the Beacon and Elm street sewer at Elm and Mossland streets. This connection should be used only as a storm overflow. I would recommend that a connection be made this com- ing season.
The sewer in Elm street between Cherry and Cedar streets has settled, and is so very much distorted that it is nearly impossible to clean it. I would recommend that a section from Cherry street southwesterly about 300 feet be rebuilt.
SPRING-STREET SEWER.
The sewer in Spring street, from Somerville avenue northwest- erly, about 220 feet, should be lowered. The existing sewer is not laid at a sufficient depth to drain the cellars of certain estates in this part of the street. I would recommend that this work be done the coming season.
THE EXTENSION OF THE WILLOW-AVENUE SEWER.
The sewer in Willow avenue, from Highland avenue southwest- terly, is thirty inches by twenty inches, and now discharges through a twelve-inch pipe in Hawthorne street. The connection recently made with the thirty-inch sewer in Highland avenue at Cedar street will require a larger outlet at Willow avenue than is afforded by the twelve-inch sewer in Hawthorne street. I would therefore recom-
360
ANNUAL REPORTS.
mend that the sewer in Willow avenue be extended to connect with the sewer in Elm street.
WINTHROP-AVENUE SEWER.
In the reports of the City Engineer for the years 1889 and 1888 it was recommended that the Winthrop-avenue sewer be extended from Mystic avenue to Middlesex avenue. In the report of 1888 the condition of the present outlet and the benefits to be derived from an extension of the sewer were very definitely stated. I desire to call particular attention to the report of 1888, and continue my recommendation that this sewer be extended immediately.
BRIDGE-STREET OUTLET.
The annual dredging at this outlet has been made this year at the following cost : -
New England Dredging Company, 3,322 cubic yards at
$0.60
$1,993 20
Labor
219 05
Cambridge Water Works, flushing
92 80
Advertising
1 75
Teaming .
11 50
Rubber boots .
19 50
Oil suits and hats
7 50
Boston Woven Hose Company, pipe
2 33
$2,347 63
Five-ninths of this amount, $1,304.24, was paid by the City of Somerville.
PRIVATE DRAINS.
Four hundred and sixty-three permits for laying private drains and twenty-one for repairs have been granted during the past year.
361
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
Locations of new drains and changes made in old work have been recorded in the usual manner.
The cost of inspection was $356.63.
CATCH-BASINS.
Thirty-five new catch-basins were built during the past year, at a cost of $2,470.59.
Two catch-basins have been rebuilt at a cost of $87.88.
The cost of cleaning catch-basins was $1,908.25.
CLEANING SEWERS.
The usual examination of sewers has been made ; no large de- posits have been found. The cost of cleaning sewers was $308.00. The cost of cleaning ditches at outlets, Winthrop avenue, Canal, Union, and Waverley streets was $108.36. The cost of cleaning dirt-catchers in man-holes was $58.50.
A table showing the location, size, cost per foot, assessment and cost to the city of sewers built in 1890, may be found in Appendix A.
REPAIRING SEWERS AND CATCH-BASINS.
The cost of repairs on sewers was $99.68; on catch-basins, $219.08 ; on man-holes, $19.57.
HIGHWAYS.
The work of the highway department has been under the charge of Thomas H. Eames, who was elected Superintendent of Streets January 22, 1890. It has been carefully, thoroughly and systemat- ically done.
The principal items in the work done are laying edgestone and brick sidewalks ; paving gutters and grading and constructing streets where edgestones were laid during the year ; and repairs and im- provements on old streets and streets accepted during the year.
Sixteen thousand and twenty-seven lineal feet of edgestones and gravel sidewalks, and seven thousand nine hundred and thirteen square yards of brick sidewalk have been laid.
The following items of work were done on streets on which edgestones were laid : -
Five thousand and eighteen square yards of gutter paving were laid, at a cost of $5,004.23 ; three thousand two hundred twenty-six
362
ANNUAL REPORTS.
square yards of gravel road were built, at a cost of $476.45; and nine thousand seven hundred thirty-eight square yards of macadam road were built, at a cost of $2,421.40.
In addition to this, six hundred fifty-five lineal feet of edgestone and garvel sidewalk, and five hundred fifty-one lineal feet of brick sidewalk have been built, the labor for which has been paid from the appropriation for highways, the abutters furnishing the materials. The cost to the city was $848.78.
The contract price for edgestone delivered on the work was forty-four cents per lineal foot ; for circles, sixty-five cents per lineal foot ; and for flagging, thirty-five cents per square foot. The gutters were paved with cobble stone at $1.65 per ton, or about forty-seven cents per square yard laid.
Fourteen thousand six hundred forty-three square yards of gravel road and thirty-four thousand two hundred ninety-six square yards of macadam roads were built during the year.
In Appendix B will be found a table showing the location and cost of edgestone and brick sidewalks, and the cost of paved gutters and roadway, constructed in streets where edgestones were laid. This table was prepared to show the relative cost of laying edge- stone as compared with the cost of repairing and grading streets occasioned thereby. The average cost per lineal foot of edgestone, for repairing, grading and macadamizing, as computed from this table, is about twenty per cent. more than the amount assessed for laying edgestone; and for a gravel road from forty to seventy-five per cent. of the amount assessed.
In Appendix C will be found a table showing the location and cost of all street repairs and improvements made during the year.
There has been but very little expended on the maintenance of old streets. The large amount of work which has been done on new streets has more than exceeded the amount of the appropriation, and repairs on the old streets were postponed for another year.
It is imperative that some of the through streets be extensively resurfaced during the coming year. Somerville avenue, from the Fitchburg railroad to the North Cambridge line; Washington street, from Union square to the Cambridge line; Summer street, from Bow street to Central street; Middlesex avenue, from Mystic avenue to
363
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
Mystic river ; Mystic avenue, from Union street to the Medford line,- all need to be rebuilt.
SOMERVILLE AVENUE, FROM EAST CAMBRIDGE LINE TO NORTH CAM- BRIDGE LINE.
The roadway was repaired in 1889 and 1887, at a cost of about $2,600, and in 1888, from Prospect street to Craigie street, at a cost of about $3,000.
The present condition of the roadway is such that it should be repaired from the East Cambridge line to the North Cambridge line. If these repairs are made in the same manner as has been the custom, the cost, in the same ratio, would be about $3,500, or about twenty- four cents per running foot. But, in my opinion, these repairs should be more thoroughly made. It is of no value to pick up the surface and fill the depressions with stone, roll the new surface, gravel and roll again ; for the result is that, unless the old surface is removed from the work after it is loosened, when the wear takes place the new surface is soon ground down into the old and becomes worse than before. It is important that a road should have a firm foundation and be well drained. If the repairs were made the coming season in the most thorough manner, it is doubtful if the macadam would wear more than one season.
The travel on this thoroughfare is so heavy that a macadam road cannot be built which would stand the wear of the heavy traffic more than one season, and would then require a large expenditure the following season for repairs. This way of making repairs may appear to be economical at the time the repairs are made, yet this apparent saving only causes increased expense later, because of the continued demands for money for repairs, which must be made to keep the streets in passable condition.
A macadam pavement on this thoroughfare cannot be consid- ered a permanent pavement ; it is muddy in wet weather, and unless it is properly sprinkled and rolled it wears out very rapidly. In dry weather the dust is a nuisance.
True economy demands that a granite pavement be laid on Somerville avenue ; as this pavement, if properly laid, will wear for a great many years. That this statement is correct is evident when it is noticed that the cost of repairs as given above, $3,000, will capi-
364
ANNUAL REPORTS.
talize $75,000.00 at four per cent. ; a sum sufficient to pave from East Cambridge line to Carleton street.
WASHINGTON STREET, FROM UNION SQUARE TO THE CAMBRIDGE LINE.
This street was repaired in 1888, at a cost of $961.79. The roadway is in very bad condition, and should be macadamized the coming season.
SUMMER STREET, FROM BOW STREET TO CENTRAL STREET.
Since 1881 this street has been repaired in sections at different times at a total cost of $1,883.92. The paving in the horse car track is in an unsafe condition and should be relaid; the street should be macadamized at the same time.
MIDDLESEX AVENUE.
This avenue is in need of very extended repairs. The greater part of the roadway is at grade 12.50, and on a high course of tide it is flooded nearly the entire length. The grade of this avenue is fixed by statute at 16.00. There is no record that any repairs have been made since 1881, when it was repaired at a cost of $2,960.46. I would respectfully recommend that this avenue be filled.to grade 16.00 and the roadway macadamized during the coming season.
MYSTIC AVENUE, FROM UNION STREET TO THE MEDFORD LINE.
The roadway is very much out of repair, and a considerable length is below grade 13.00. It should be raised to grade 16.00 to conform to the statute and be macadamized. The reasons already given for paving Somerville avenue will apply equally well to Mystic avenue. The heavy travel will very soon destroy the macadam pave- ment.
STREETS ACCEPTED.
Fourteen new streets were accepted. Plans for these streets ac- cepted were submitted by abutters, have been revised, corrected, and deposited with the city clerk.
In Appendix D. will be found a table showing the location, length, and width of streets accepted in 1890.
365
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
STREETS NUMBERED.
Three hundred and forty-nine streets and courts were numbered. One hundred and thirty-five plans for street numbers were prepared, and three thousand seven hundred fifty doors were numbered pre- vious to May 15th.
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