USA > Massachusetts > Bristol County > Attleboro > Reports of town officers of the town of Attleborough 1908-09 > Part 23
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It was estimated in the report submitted in 1907 that the Attleboro supply, as then developed, on the basis of the Sudbury gaugings recorded up to that time, was capable of furnishing seven hundred and fifty thousand (750,000) gallons per day and that with the apparatus provided for lifting water from Orr's Pond to a percolat- ing area adjacent to the wells, the supply would have a capacity of one million, three hundred and fifty thou- sand (1,350,000) gallons per day. It was further calcu- lated that if a storage basin immediately above the pumping station were constructed the daily capacity would be increased to one million, seven hundred and fifty thousand (1,750,000) gallons-an amount capable of supplying the anticipated future population of Attleboro until 1927. These estimated capacities would still hold good if new records of minimum run-off had not been made in 1908 and 1909, but with these records available, the present capacity of the works under extreme condi- tions, including the use of Orr's Pond and the percolat- ing area, can now be estimated at only eight hundred and fifty thousand (850,000) gallons per day. If the reservoir above the pumping station was constructed the supply would be capable of furnishing one million, two hundred thousand (1,200,000) gallons per day or sufficient to meet the anticipated demands until 1918. It is to be noted that these anticipated capacities are based on con- ditions which have occurred but once in thirty-five years and which may not recur for years to come but, since such minimums have been recorded, the safe capacity of the source must be based thereon and the necessity for further development predicated on a possible repetition.
218
ANNUAL REPORT
Obviously the experience of the past two years makes the provision of additional storage immediately neces- sary. Where and how such storage can be best developed is the problem and evidently, in the light of these recent records, the reservoir ust above the pumping station by which the supply will only be increased to an amount sufficient for eight years in the future, does not present the same relative advantages as it did on the records available previous to 1908. For this reason surveys have been made of reservoir sites farther up the valley, storage capacities calculated and from the area of the contributing watersheds the daily drafts made possible by their construction have been estimated.
Preliminary designs of dams and estimates of cost have been worked out for four storage basins as follows :
No. I. On Seven Mile River with dam five hundred feet above West street, near station.
No. 2. On branch brook with dam a short distance from its junction with river at point just above Washing- ton street, North Attleborough.
No. 3. On Seven Mile River, five hundred feet above Washington street, North Attleborough, with flow line at elevation 186.0.
No. 4. On Seven Mile River at same site as No. 3, but with flow line at elevation 196.0.
The following table presents the important features of these four storage basings.
219
ANNUAL REPORT
TABLE NO. 4.
Table Showing Principal Controlling Factors of Four Possible Reservoirs.
RESERVOIR
Area contributing water-
shed, sq. miles
Elevation Flow Line
Area of Flow Line, acres
Net Available Capacity
Gallons
Average Depth
Possible daily draft with
with reservoirs added to
present works,
Year to which supply will meet demands of town
No. 1
5.75
124
25
75,000,000
10.4
1,200,000
1918
No. 2
0.65
200
41
145 000,000
12.5
1,700,000
1927
No. 3
3.60
186
102
188,000,000
7.8
1.900,000
1929
No. 4
3.60
196
180
732,000,000
13.7
4,100 000
1957
The following table shows the estimated cost of the several reservoirs.
TABLE NO. 5.
Table Showing Estimated Cost of Several Reservoirs.
RESERVOIR
Estimated First Cost
Cost per mil- lion gallons of available storage
Cost per million gallons of daily draft added to supply
No. 1 .
$ 54,000.00
$720.00
$154,000.00
No. 2.
83,000.00
570.00
97,600,00
No. 3.
109,000,00
580.00
103,800 00
No. 4*
230,000 00
314.00
70,000.00
* NOTE-Additional cost of No. 4 after No. 3 reservoir is constructed, $125,000.00
220
ANNUAL REPORT
The figures showing estimated cost include an allow- ance for land covered by all reservoirs except that ad- jacent to the pumping station where it is assumed that the land will necessarily be purchased in any case for the protection of the quality of water. The estimates are based on surface indications and without investiga- tion of underground conditions.
The most desirable scheme of storage development would in the first undertaking involve the construction of that reservoir which, while adding a substantial in- crease to the present capacity of the supply, will not make necessary the investment of an amount of money out of all proportion to the requirements of the town for years to come. Therefore, while reservoir No. 4, or that above Washington street with a flow line at elevation 196.0, is the cheapest per unit of water stored or per unit of possible daily draft added to the supply, it does not follow that the construction of this basin, requiring an expenditure of two hundred and thirty thousand dollars ($230,000) and furnishing a daily supply of four million (4,000,000) gallons-an amount which will not be needed for two generations-should be undertaken at the present time. A smaller storage basin costing a relatively less amount of money may well prove the more economical undertaking and will so prove if its construction postpones the expenditure of the greater amount necessary for the larger reservoir a sufficient length of time. In other words, in estimating the rela- tive economy of the two projects, the actual first cost of the smaller undertaking may logically be reduced by the present value of the saving, with interest accumulated, during the time which the larger expenditure is post- poned by the construction of the smaller reservoir. Fur- · ther, it is to be noted, that there is an additional reason for delaying the greater expense in the fact that with a larger population the income of the water works will in-
ATTLEBOROUGH WATER WORKS PLAN SHOWING ORR'S POND WATERSHED AND POSSIBLE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT AS SOURCE OF SUPPLY. DEC. 1909
WRENTHAM
Water Commissioners William M. Stone David E. Makepeace Karl H Hyde
Frank A. Barbour Engineer
---
Scale
1.000
8000
1
Note :- Plan compiled from State Top, Map
WHY
POND
tree
300
High:
River
300
Watershed
USH
Orr's Pond
N O
R
7.
UGH
Street
ATTLEBOROUGH FALLS
Possible Impounding Res /145,000,000 gal.available Reservoir
POND
Street
Possible Impounding Reservoir, 188,000,000 vai lable
732,000.000
Drapel
Road
Street
Post
Clifton
Brook Watershed
Founyk
of
Brook
Street
mile
West
Thatcher
West
"Pumping Station
Orr's Pond 40,000,000 gat.availa!
Tiffany
Area-Orr's Pond Watershed 8.05 sq. miles
A
TL
Seven Mile River "
5.75 m m
. Four Mile Brook
1.75 # #
Branch
0.65 % .
county
nunWatershed
William Warter sh sally
e
Road mu Ort
56
FALLS
Ave
Washington
Old
Possible Impounding Reservoir 75,000,000 gal, available storage
Tour
-
ORR'S PONE
Street
Ellis
RHODE ISLAND STATE INE
Street
TAR T- TAW OKA C'ARE
221
ANNUAL REPORT
crease faster than the cost of maintenance and the de- partment will be in a better position to finance the larger undertaking.
Neglecting for the moment other considerations which may affect the value of the four possible storage basins, the relative economy of different schedules of construction may be indicated by calculating the amounts of money which, if invested at the present time, will pay for the cost of the reservoir necessary for imme- diate construction and in addition, with interest accu- mulated, will be sufficient to meet the necessary expen- diture at the several dates when, under different schemes of development, the remaining reservoirs become neces- sary. Such a comparison is made in the following table :
TABLE NO. 6.
Table Showing Various Schedules of Reservoir Con- struction and Cost Per Million Gallons of Daily Draft Added to Present Supply Resulting from the Adoption of Each Schedule-This Cost Being the Sum of Money Per Million Gallons of Daily Capacity Added Which, if Placed at Interest Now, Will Construct the Several Reservoirs When Required.
Schedule of Construction
Cost per million gallons added to present supply
Reservoir on river to el. 196.0 in 1910. $69,697.00 Reservoir on river to el. 186.0 in 1910 Reservoir on river to el. 196.0 in 1929. . · 51,010.00 Reservoir on branch brook to el. 200.0 on river
to el. 186.0 in 1927; raised to el. 196.0 in 1939 51,154.00
Reservoir near pumping station in 1910; on branch brook in 1918; on river to el. 186.0 in 1934; raised to el. 196.0 in 1943. ... 50,403.00
Reservoir on branch brook in 1910, at station in 1927; on river to el. 186.0 in 1934; raised to el. 196.0 in 1943. 49,370.00
222
ANNUAL REPORT
Obviously, the preceding table is based on several assumptions of future conditions which may not prove entirely accurate in the final outcome, but it does serve to indicate two things: first, that the large basin above Washington street with flow line at elevation 196.0 cannot be economically undertaken at the present time, and second, that the smaller reservoirs, although involv- ing greater proportionate first cost, do, because of the postponement of larger expenditures affected by their constructiton justifiably form a part of the chain of storage basins to be ultimately provided. Further, it is apparent from the preceding table that it makes little difference in point of final relative cost whatever the order may be in which these smaller basins are con structed and whether the reservoir near the pumping station, that on the branch brook or that on the river above Washington street, with flow line at elevation 186.0, should be first undertaken must be determined by other than financial considerations.
The preceding statement is equivalent to saying that the reservoir just above the pumping station, because of the records of the past two years, has lost the unques- tionable economic advantage which, on previous records, it held over other possible sites. In addition it may be pointed out that there are other questions as to the ad- visability of reserving the area which would be covered by this basin to insure adequate purification of the water stored at higher points on the watershed and also in re- gard to the possible effect of constructing a storage basin in such close proximity to the present wells in dis- turbing natural ground water conditions. Because of these contingencies but principally because of the short period of eight years over which its construction will ex- tend the capacity of the works to meet the anticipated demands of the town, this reservoir is not recommended as the first work to be undertaken.
223
ANNUAL REPORT
There remains to be considered the reservoir on the branch brook and that on the river above Washington street with flow line at elevation 186.0-the first esti- mated to cost eighty-three thousand dollars ($83,000.00) and the second one hundred and nine thousand dollars ($109,000.00). Other things being equal the choice should lie with the project involving the lowest first ex- penditure.
The topography and surface indications are favorable for the reservoir on the branch brook; the average depth is sixty (60) per cent. greater than that of the basin on the river and the area of land exposed when the water is drawn down to elevation 184.0-the estimated lowest point in a dry year-is less than half that uncovered at minimum level in the basin on the river. The contributing watershed-sixty-five hundredths (.65) square miles- although relatively small, is large enough to guarantee the filling of the reservoir on the branch brook during the months when the remaining portion of the watershed above the present intercepting works will supply the town. It is to be noted that the effective storage in this reservoir is about all above the flow line at elevation 186.0 of the reservoir on the river and also that there are fifty million (50,000,000) gallons of water stored above elevation 196.0-or high water in the laige reservoir on the river.
Because of the foregoing physical advantages and the equal final economy as already indicated in this report. but principally because of the lesser first cost, the reser- voir on the branch brook is recommended as the first to be undertaken. Based on the records available at the present time its construction will guarantee, in a mini- mim year, a daily draft sufficient for the anticipated needs of the town until 19:27 At this date the reservoir on the river, with flow line at elevation 186.0, can be constructed, thereby increasing the supply to an amount
224
ANNUAL REPORT
sufficient until 1939, when the dam on the river can be raised to elevation 196.0 and a supply of four million (4,000,000) gallons per day obtained. At other points on the watershed additional storage can be developed, but no detailed investigation of these possibilities have been made at the present time.
The type of dam on which the estimates are based in- cludes an earth embankment, concrete core-wall and sheet piling wherever rock or hard impervious material cannot be economically reached with the core-wall. It is proposed to remove all vegetable growth and to care- fully trim up the slopes for a distance below the high water line, but it is not proposed to strip the surface soil from the entire area covered by the reservoir. A foun- tain or similar device to aerate the water and initiate the oxidizing processes essential to the removal of vegetable matter and iron in solution will be made a part of the outlet works of the reservoir, which will also include an overflow weir and gate house. It is proposed to have the water, drawn from storage, flow in the natural stream-bed to a point where the depression of the water table by the draft from the present wells, will cause it to enter the ground and so become purified. Whenever increased growth of population on the stream between the storage reservoirs and the wells renders it necessary a pipe line will be laid from the reservoir to some point within the limits of the area to be acquired by the town for the pro- tection of the quality of the supply when, either by na- tural passage through the ground or by treatment on the present on an enlarged percolating area, the stored sur- face water will be purified and made equivalent in quality to the normal underground flow.
Summing up the preceding consideration of the pres- ent source of supply and the possibilities of its further development, it appears that if a repetition of the unusual dry conditions of 1908-09 should occur the sup-
225
ANNUAL REPORT
ply, as at present developed, would not be capable of meeting the requirements of the town; that the area of the watershed of the present source is amply large enough to furnish water for forty years to come if storage reservoirs, to hold the flow of the wet months and to replenish the flow of the dry months, are con- structed ; that such storage, in amount sufficient to pro- vide four million (4,000,000) gallons per day, can be economically provided by the construction, from time to time, of the several reservoirs described and finally, of the possible reservoirs, that on the branch brook above Washington street, because of lower first cost, is the one to be first undertaken.
Thus far in this report the discussion of the problem of additional supply has been confined to the develop- ment of the Seven Mile River. It is not unreasonable to ask whether some other source does not merit considera- tion and, although no investigation by surveys or by such pumping test as is always necessary to determine the capacity of ground water supplies has been made, it may be well to compare, by estimates based on informa- tion derived from topographical maps and an inspection of the ground, the economic possibilities of these other supplies with that of the further development of the present source.
The territory on the west of the Seven Mile River is the gathering ground of the Pawtucket supply. The Ten Mile River below North Attleborough requires no consideration ; above North Attleborough it is already pre-empted.
The Bungay River, as a possible source, was investi- gated in 1886 before the adoption of the present supply. It was then proposed to take water from the ground ad- jacent to the river, but analysis proved iron to be pres- ent in such amounts as to render the water unfit for domestic use.
226
ANNUAL REPORT
To the popular mind large storage basins, such as Whiting Pond and Lake Archer, represent unlimited supplies regardless of the area of the contributing water- shed. In 1887 the feasibility and cost of obtaining water from the Wrentham lakes was investigated and a report made to the town by Mr. Percy M. Blake. Designing for twenty thousand (20,000) people the estimated cost varied with different methods of distribution from one hundred and ninety-one to two hundred and seven thou- sand dollars ($191,000.00 to $200,000.00). If underaken at the present time and made sufficient for a reasonable future growth the cost of the necessary twenty-inch pipe line-ten and seven-tenths (10.7) miles long-the pump- ing station and accessories would not be less than two hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars ($275,000.00), exclusive of the expenditure necessary for the acquire- ment of land and water rights, which would be large. Mr. Blake reported the area of the watershed of these ponds to be five and two-tenths (5.2) square miles or considerably less than that indicated by the State topo- graphical maps. On this basis the possible daily draft would be about three million, seven hundred and fifty thousand (3,750,000) gallons and would not exceed five million (5,000,000) gallons per day if the area of eight and three-tenths (8.3) miles, shown by the State maps as contributory to these lakes, is accepted as correct ; in both cases these estimates being predicated on lowering the water ten feet in years of minimum run-off. It is therefore evident that despite the large storage the Wrentham ponds have not much greater daily capacity than can be obtained from the present source by the con- struction of reservoirs.
More important is the question of quality. In 1886 the water of Whiting Pond was reported to have con- siderable color, a fact which alone would render it un- satisfactory to consumers accustomed to a ground water
227
ANNUAL REPORT
supply. Since 1886 the development of Whiting Pond or Lake Pearl as a pleasure resort and the almost com- plete surrounding of Lake Archer by cottages has greatly lessened the qualitative value of these waters. Neither in economy, capacity, or quality of the water do the Wrentham lakes compare with the present source of supply as it may be developed and a more detailed in- vestigation of these ponds is, therefore, not justified.
Only a very exceptional quality of surface water would be satisfactory to Attleboro after its use of a cool, color- less and odorless ground water and it is probably safe to conclude that no surface supply can be found in any of the adjacent watersheds which, in these finer elements of quality, would prove acceptable. In other words, the supply must be a ground water and the pos- sibility of obtaining this-aside from the area of water- shed and other surface indications-can only be proved by examination, by test wells, of the sub-surface condi- tions and prolonged pump test in the dry period of the year. The supply from the present source is of high quality-not only from a sanitary standpoint but in soft- ness and low iron contents. Such a water is not always easily found and particularly in the amount which must be proved to be obtainable in any new supply before the abandonment of the present source would be justifiable. In fact it is probably safe to conclude that the amount of four million (4,000,000) gallons which it is estimated can be obtained from the present source, by development of storage reservoirs, cannot be taken from the ground at any place except by similar provision of means for the conservation of the run-off of surface water either in natural reservoirs or in artificial basins. It therefore fol- lows, that, without a detailed investigation, our consid- eration of the possibility of other ground water sup- plies must necessarily be limited to a comparison of their probable cost with that of the development of the pres-
228
ANNUAL REPORT
ent works on the assumption that a certain place water suitable in quality and sufficient in quantity can be ob- tained-an assumption which, obviously, may easily prove impossible of fulfillment.
Perhaps the most suggestive location for a new sup- ply and one which in distance from Attleboro and prob- able cost will most favorably represent the possibility of any new supply of ground water is on the Wading River in Norton. The length of pipe line would be about fif- teen thousand (15,000) feet, the necessary size of pipe sixteen to eighteen (16 to 18) inches in diameter and the first expenditure to develop a supply equal to that ob- tainable by the reservoir proposed for first constructiton on the Seven Mile River, would be not less than one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars ($125,000.00). This includes the cost of a single pipe line, driven well system, pumping station and accessories and an allow- ance for land and water rights. The operating expenses would be higher than for the present works and the town would be depended on a single pipe line-with- out duplication of mains such as have been provided be- tween the source now in use and the point of consump- tion. As a result it would probably be considered ad- visable to keep the present station in commission, thus involving an additional expense in maintaining the . system.
It is to be noted that the cost of a new supply has to be compared with the future cost of developing the present source. The expenditure already made for inter- cepting works, water rights, pumping plant and force mains would still require the payment of interest and installment on bonds even if the works were practically abandoned. On this basis, comparing the cost of water from the present source developed to a daily capacity of one million, seven hundred thousand (1,700,000) gallons. with that of a new supply obtained in Norton, it appears
ALLEN
ROAD
Hillside Station
100
198
₩496
194
1
cation
182
190
+80
pet!
19
196
198
200
ATTLEBOROUGH WATER WORKS - Plan showing - POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT OF STORAGE
-on-
Seven Mile River above Washington St.
December. 1909
F A.Barbour. Engr.
Property Line
DRAPER
Line
River
Water Commissioners William M. Stone David E. Makepeace Karl H. Hyde
Flowage
192
Dam to Elev. 196. 0-
-
-
190
1
188
184
-182
Mile
Abandoned.
ROAD
Flowage Line El 200 200 204
LITS
198
196
194
492
472
184
182
480
GatelHo
+78
176
Dam to Elex. 186.0-
-180
178
Gate Ho
+84
190
+88
182
+84
194
ST.
200
9+ 496
******************* R.I. & MASS R.R Co .****** Adamsdale Branch .**********
200
+80
82
+8.
100
200
400
600
800
-
JAY 77CH NIddOH
404
0
480
-174
172
Seven
Property Line __
ELLIS ROAD
Branch Brook
Dam genuss
WASHINGTON
Magnets
ge Line Eley 196
192
+84
188
88
Flowage
184
Flowage Line Elev. 186
192
100
1
18.8
1
1
Scale of feet
1
1
174
182
-192
229
ANNUAL REPORT
that the latter would involve an expense per gallon of water in the standpipe at least one-third (1-3) greater than will be required by an extension of the present system.
When a longer forecast is made of future requirements and the possibility of developing in the watershed of the Wading River a supply of four million (4,000,000) gal- lons per day from the ground is considered, the probable necessity of storage to conserve and equalize the sea- sonal run-off, makes any attempt to estimate the ex- pense practically impossible without a prolonged inves- tigation by pump test in a dry season. It may be stated, however, that with a watershed of thirty square miles and assuming the wells so placed that the stream bed will be dry in the minimum period of the year, a storage of three hundred and fifty million (350,000,000) gallons would be required to make up the deficiency btween a run-off, based on the Sudbury records, and a daily de. mand of four million (4,000,000) gallons. This must be provided either in surface reservoirs or in the ground and in the latter case would require an area of three- quarters (3-4) of a square mile over which the water table could be lowered ten feet-a requirement which could be met only by exceptionally favorable conditions or by an expenditure similar to that suggested for the development of the Seven Mile River. From these gen- eral considerations, therefore, it does not appear that the watershed of the Wading River offers any economical advantages which would justify the abandonment of the present works, even if supply satisfactory in quality could be obtained, and it is believed that this conclu- sion will apply with equal or with greater force to a com- parison of the cost of other possible ground water sup- plies with that of the development of the present source.
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