USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Swampscott > Town annual report of Swampscott 1912 > Part 9
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Very soon after the works were completed it was found that the quantity of sewage which had to be pumped at times during wet weather, was very much larger than had been anticipated or could be expected if only domestic drainage was flowing to the pumping station. The engineer who designed the system and superintended its construction explained this by saying that rain water, and especially the water from melting snow, ran into the sewer through the small holes left in the manhole covers for ventilating the sewer.
An inspection of the records kept at the pumping station indicates that this could not have been the true cause of this extra flow, because these sudden increases in the volume of water coming to the pumps at these times was too large to have possibly gotten through the holes in the manhole covers. It further appears from the records that these sudden increases in
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the flow do not appear to depend at all upon the fact of whether or not there is snow melting upon the streets. While melting snow was given by the engineer as a special reason, no such relation is indicated by the records ; in fact, the greatest of these sudden increases, inflow, occur at times when there is no snow upon the ground, the month of July for example.
Apparently the theory that excessive flow in the sewers was caused by leakage through holes in the manhole covers was abandoned for some reason ; perhaps because at times the flow would suddenly increase to four or five times the amount usually flowing. At any rate, an explanation later given was that the tide backed up the water in the underdrains so high that it flowed over the walls built in the manholes to keep the water which was flowing in the underdrains and in the sewers from mingling, so the walls were increased in height.
It appeared that the theory that the tide backed up the water in the underdrains and caused the excessive flow to the pumping station was manifestly erroneous, because the underdrains and sewers are at such an elevation that tidal influence could by no possibility have caused the water in the underdrains to overflow into the sewers. Moreover, after the walls separating the underdrains and sewers were raised these sudden and excessive flows continued to occur.
That there must be some connection by which water flows from the underdrains into the sewers is certain, although your Committee has as yet been unable to locate it. Further investi- gation to determine this point will be necessary, as this matter is vital to any plan to improve the conditions of the brooks, whether the unused capacity of the present sewer and drains is made use of or new conduits and drains are constructed.
In any event, and whatever its cause, the pumping plant has been enlarged to take care of it, and yet, while this excessive flow has amounted at times to nearly five times the ordinary flow, it even then amounted to only one-fifteenth the capacity of the sewer at the pumping station. From this it can be seen what a very large pumping plant, about fifteen times as large as the present plant, would be required if the full capacity of the sewer is to be utilized and the flow pumped as at present.
It is evident that the collecting end of the drainage system as constructed does not balance with the disposal end of the system. The Town has spent large sums of money to construct an under- ground system of collecting domestic and other drainage, and it is desirable to utilize it rather than spend money to duplicate it,
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and yet the disposal end of the system is so planned that if an attempt is made to utilize this surplus drainage capacity of the collecting system and thereby secure for the Town a return for money spent on its construction, the cost of pumping, if pump- ing is continued, might easily be more than the interest on cost of new works, which would otherwise be necessary, although such new works would only serve to duplicate those which have cost the Town so much to use but which it would cost too much to use if pumping is to be continued.
These considerations led your Committee to take up the ques- tion of whether or not it was necessary to pump the flow which a utilization of the full capacity of the present drainage collec- tion works would bring to the location of the pumping station.
It seemed to your Committee that it was not a highly economical proceeding to bring the sewage to the pumping station and then drop it into a receiving basin whose bottom was fifteen feet below the bottom of the sewer, and then pump it out again. This naturally led the Committee to inquire whether it was necessary to pump at all, except in an emergency, and in the opinion of your Committee, it is not necessary to pump all the present flow, nor would it be necessary to pump any of the increased flow coming from utilizing the full capacity of the drainage collecting system of the Town.
If the full capacity of existing sewers and drains is utilized the brook problem can undoubtedly be settled at comparatively small expense. Therefore, your Committee begs to submit some of the facts which it has thus far investigated, which have led to the conclusion that it will be able to finally recommend to the Town a policy which if carried out will settle the brook problem, and at the same time lessen the cost to the Town of the con- struction and operation of its drainage works, including sewers.
Disposal of Drainage of the Town by Gravity Instead of Pumping.
At the outset of the investigation the Committee found that there existed a popular impression that the tide in some way made it impossible to run the sewage into the sea, therefore pumping was necessary. Indeed, the members of your Committee were of the opinion that pumping was necessary because of the tidal influence until they saw that pumping was necessary because the outlet was so constructed that after the sewage had cascaded into the receiving basin, the bottom of which was fifteen feet below the sewer, it could not get out again unless it could flow out through a pipe which was laid so that the sewage would have to
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run up hill to a height of about twenty-three feet above the bottom of the basin. Sewage has to be pumped because the outlet pipe is placed so high above the bottom of the basin that it cannot run out, and not because of tidal action. As the outlet is con- structed the tide is not a contributing factor at all. All the sewage is pumped to the high point in the outlet pipe because it cannot get there any other way. but after it gets to the high point it runs to sea by gravity, and it does this independent of whether the tide is rising or falling, or whether it is high tide or low tide.
These facts have been conclusively demonstrated, not as a matter of theory alone, but as a matter of fact, from a study of the records of the pumping : the known height of the tide ; the known elevation of the high point in the discharge pipe; the pressure at the high point and the readings of the pump gauges when the pumps were in operation.
Having found that with the outlet system as constructed the tide had nothing whatever to do with making pumping neces- sary, the Committee quite naturally wanted to know whether the tide would render pumping necessary if the outlet from the receiving basin was made low enough so the sewage would flow out by gravity, and your Committee basing its opinion upon the special knowledge and experience of the engineer it has employed, unqualifiedly states that all the sewage or other drainage which is brought or can be brought to the pumping station by the present main sewer will run to sea by gravity and without pumping if it only has an opportunity to do so, regardless of the ebb and flow of the tide.
It cannot run to sea entirely by gravity through the existing pipe because that pipe was deliberately placed so high that all the flow to the pumping station would always have to be pumped. Even with the present pipe, however, the cost of pumping can be greatly reduced by discontinuing the practice of running all the flow into the receiving basin. It can be still further reduced by taking the hump out of the discharge pipe at a lower elevation and can be entirely done away with and provision made for carrying the drainage of the whole Town to sea by gravity to the present point of discharge off the end of Dread Ledge.
In determining which procedure is wisest, the effect of tidal influence has no part, the question being entirely one relative to expense, considering all factors of public health, convenience and well being.
As the brook nuisances, which are most menacing to the health of the community, and the ones which are the most com-
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plained of, occur upon Stacey's Brook and its tributaries, and, further, as appears, that upon the steps taken to remedy the con- ditions of these brooks depends the procedure which should be adopted with respect to the other troublesome drainage problems which now affront the Town as well as the policy which the Town should adopt and follow in the future, the Com- mittee feels that it should discuss in considerable detail the actual conditions existing on this brook, to the end that the citizens of the Town may act in the light of full and complete knowledge of the facts. Stacey's Brook and its trib- utaries, King Brook and Mudge Brook, originally drained a ter- ritory of several square miles, situated in the municipalities of Swampscott, Salem and Lynn.
As far as the area situated in Salem is concerned, the charac- ter of the watershed is substantially in its original and natural condition, but with regard to the areas in Lynn and Swamp- scott, the conditions are entirely different. These latter areas are largely built up. The main brook and many of the origin- ally tributary brooks have been filled up or diverted in whole or in part, while the character of the water flowing in those which remain open has been greatly changed.
The water which now comes to the outfall of this brook is nothing but diluted sewage and at times is pretty strong sewage.
Stacey's Brook which originally drained portions of the three municipalities and which had its source in Floating Bridge Pond, has been filled up for a large part of its length above the track of the Boston & Maine Railroad, and the waters which would have flowed in this brook now flow in the Lynn sewers to a point on the seaward side of the Boston & Maine Railroad, near Herrick's shoe factory, where an overflow, so called, is located. The purpose of this overflow is to discharge a portion of the flow of the sewers into the original channel of the brook and let it flow to sea from the King's Beach outfall across the Massachusetts Metropolitan Park Reservation.
A considerable portion of the water which would have flowed in Stacey's Brook through the City of Lynn and then to sea through the Town of Swampscott, if the City of Lynn had not allowed the brook to be filled up and the water turned into sew- ers, falls upon areas in the Town of Swampscott, and it has been argued by officials of the City of Lynn that it was a per- fectly proper thing, therefore, for the City of Lynn to pass the water on to the sea through the Town of Swampscott, by way of the old channel of the brook which still is open through the
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Town. The water flows for a mile or more in the Lynn sew- ers before it is discharged by the City of Lynn on to the territory of the Town of Swampscott, and by that time it has become indistinguishable from the Lynn sewage with which it has flowed and mingled.
It is apparent at once, that these conditions must be remedied. Swampscott cannot allow an open sewer to flow for nearly half a mile across her territory. Further, as bearing upon the impor- tance of the method adopted for the abatement of the nuisance to the whole question of proper and economical drainage of the Town, it should be stated that the investigation made by the engineer employed by the Committee, indicated that at those times when the sewage of Lynn is discharged in the brook some of it backs up in the underdrains of our sewerage system and thence finds its way into the sewers proper and is conveyed to the pumping station, there to be pumped to sea at the expense of the Town. Further investigations will be necessary to deter- mine to what extent this occurs, but the records at the pumping station indicate that at times more than three-fourths of the sew- age being pumped comes from the overflow from the Lynn sewers.
In his report to the City Council the then City Engineer of Lynn urged the construction of the Stacey Brook sewer, and said that the primary purpose of entering upon the work at that time was to divert the water of Stacey's Brook from Bog Meadow, and he further urged the construction because the very large flow which would thus result would aid materially in relieving the nuisance which was complained of as existing at the outfall of the Lynn sewer at West Lynn, and would prevent the creation of any further nuisance. So in 1888 the flow of Stacey's Brook was diverted into the Lynn sewers, and in 1889 Jackson Brook was also turned into the sewer of that city. This was done, said the City Engineer of Lynn in his report to the City Council, by order of the City Council, but " without the consent of the General Court."
It is quite evident that if it was not the original intention of the City of Lynn, acting upon the advice of the then City Engineer to discharge a portion of the flow of Stacey and Jack- son Brook sewers upon the territory of the Town of Swampscott, that the flow of the sewers was so increased beyond what the City Engineer had anticipated that it became necessary, in his opinion, to dischage it upon the territory of the Town.
At any rate, an overflow permitting such discharge was con-
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structed under the direction of the City Engineer of Lynn. The overflow, as first constructed, however, did not prove large enough to discharge a sufficient quantity of sewage upon the territory of the Town of Swampscott so as to prevent the flood- ing of the Lynn sewers in the central part of the city, and in his report of 1895 the City Engineer of Lynn still further sought a remedy for the evils arising to the Lynn system through failure to appreciate the conditions, and to design sewers adequate to meet those conditions, by recommending that the overflow be lowered still further and that still more of the sewage of Lynn be dumped upon the territory of Swampscott. His official recommenda- tions are so utterly devoid of any consideration of the rights of the Town of Swampscott that they are quoted at length :
"To prevent flooding of the down town sewers," says the then City Engineer, "it may be necessary to lower the crest of the overflow where the Stacey Brook sewer connects with the Eastern intercepting sewer (foot of Burrill street near Herrick's factory). This would permit a much larger portion of the rain- fall upon the watershed of these brooks to be diverted and carried to sea by the old channel, through the Town of Swampscott. As a considerable part of this Stacey's Brook watershed lies in that Town it appears not improper to thus dispose of the water rather than to empty it into our intercepting sewer."
It then appears that the official opinion of the City of Lynn, as voiced by her City Engineer, was that it was not improper to dump raw sewage upon the territory of the Town of Swamp- scott, because some of the water in that filthy mass originally fell as clean rain water upon the surface of the Town, and was then diverted by the City of Lynn into its sewers and there defiled.
Your Committee cannot believe that, knowing the facts, the citizens of the Town will agree that the acts of the City of Lynn were proper, or that the consequences of these acts should be longer suffered by the Town. Following the recommendations of the Lynn City Engineer, the overflow was at some time lowered, and now with nearly every rain the water which falls upon the watershed of these brooks is received by the Lynn sewers, and after flowing in them and mingling with the usual flow of sewage, the mingled sewage and storm water, which has all become sewage, is discharged out of the sewer at the over- flow at Herrick's factory, and after flowing through the concrete conduit built by the City of Lynn as far as the Swampscott line, flows to the depth of several feet in the open brook through Swampscott as far as New Ocean street, where a portion of it
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finds its way into the Swampscott sewer and the Town is obliged to pump it to sea, while the remainder flows to sea across the beach on the Metropolitan Park Reservation, incidentally leaving its foul deposits upon the adjacent territory within the Town limits.
The Committee is prepared at the present time to outline cer- tain steps which should be taken by the Town in establishing a permanent policy which can be followed out. This outline is based upon such study of the problem as could be made during the time since the Committee was appointed. All the evidence thus far examined strongly indicates that the policy herein out- lined is the one which the Town should adopt, but more detailed investigations are necessary along the lines of the policy indicated, in order to absolutely confirm the conclusions which the Com- mittee has been compelled to come to from a consideration of the facts so far examined, and especially are further investiga- tions necessary as to the extent to which the acts of the City of Lynn have contributed or may contribute to cause a continuance of unsanitary conditions within or expense to the Town, and further as to the actual cost of carrying out a policy along the lines indicated and the extent to which the City of Lynn should be called upon to contribute to this expense.
The Committee feels that as this whole matter of drainage is of such great importance to the health and comfort of our citizens, and the financial elements involved in a proper solution are of such moment to the Town that it should at this time present to the Town the conclusions to which the investigation it has made up to this time point.
Outline of steps to be taken by the Town to abate in the most economical way the present unsatisfactory condition of the natural drainage channels within the Town and to establish a policy which will, during the term of years, best contribute to the health, convenience and prosperity of the Town.
I. Change the method of disposal of water collected by pres- ent system of drains and sewers from storage and intermittent dis- charge by pumping, to a continuous gravity discharge. Already the capacity of the pumping station has been taxed, so that start- ing with the receiving basin full the flow has been of such vol- ume that it has taken eighteen hours of continuous pumping to clear the basin and yet the flow at that time was only about one- fifteenth of the capacity of the sewer which empties into the receiving basin.
It is easy to understand from this statement the immensely
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expensive pumping plant, both as to construction and operation, which will be required, when the full capacity of the sewer is reached if the present practice of pumping all the flow to the pumping station is to be continued.
As far as the data in the office of the Sewer Commissioners discloses there are no service connections with the sewers which would come low enough to be affected by the action of the tide. The records of sewer connections do not cover all connections and are not in all cases as clear as could be desired. But it is certain that not over a dozen connections at the outside could possibly be within the range of tidal influence.
2. Take the necessary steps to cause the City of. Lynn to cease discharging sewage upon Swampscott territory.
3. As far as possible turn all water brought as hereinafter described or hereinafter determined upon, by drains or sewers, to a point on New Ocean street where Stacey's Brook now crosses into the main sewer at that point. The details of carrying the flow to sea from this point depends upon several contingencies, all relating to the action which the City of Lynn takes in the matter of discharging sewage upon the territory of the Town.
There have been several schemes suggested for providing sewers and drains for the part of the Town lying east of present pumping station. One contemplated bringing the flow from all the territory west of Salem street to the present station by gravity and either pumping all the flow east of Salem street to the present station, or constructing a second outfall, which should enter the sea near the Marblehead line, and convey part of the flow west of Salem street to the new outfall by gravity and pump the rest either to the present pumping station or raise it high enough to flow to sea by gravity from the new outfall.
The construction of the sea outfalls, however, are expensive proceedings, and it would be far less expensive to bring all the sewage of the Town to one outfall than to attempt to construct two. The Town has already spent large sums on bringing the sewage of a large part of the Town to a position where it can flow only to the Dread Ledge outfall, and for that reason alone, a single outfall in any other location is out of the question.
Moreover, if we assume that a second outfall might be con- structed off shore from Beach Bluff, we cannot assume that the currents there would be favorable for the discharge of sewage, while we do know that the currents are favorable at Dread Ledge. Besides this, the construction of an outfall off an ex- posed shore, such as at Beach Bluff, is quite different and sure
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to be many times as expensive as the construction of an outfall in the protected water back of Dread Ledge.
Altogether the proposition for a second outfall at Beach Bluff is barred from consideration, on the ground of expense and fur- ther upon the ground of an uncertainty as to whether or not such an outfall would become offensive. At Dread Ledge, however, we do not have to depend upon theory as to the propriety of dis- posing of sewage at this point because sewage has been disposed of here for ten years, and its suitability as a point of discharge has been amply demonstrated. As to the proposal to pump the sewage from a large area, it would seem folly to pump sewage which can be handled at less expense without pumping.
It is quite possible to drain practically all of the unsewered portion of the Town by gravity to the site of the present pump- ing station. An intercepting sewer to accomplish this can start at the present pumping station (at the elevation of the sewer which at present discharges into the receiving basin and being given the same grade as the present outlet sewer from New Ocean street to the pumping station) and effectively drain every acre in Town, which is at present without sewerage and not tributary to existing sewers, except possibly ten to fifteen acres at the extreme easterly corner of the Town, and will effectively drain that area also if it is not planned to drain it below' tide level. Should it ever seem desirable for the Town to spend money to drain these few acres below tide level it could be in- expensively done by raising the small amount of drainage which would be below the level with a small automatic electrically operated pump.
The intercepting sewer here recommended would drain the large swamp area lying between Humphrey and Orient streets, so that instead of being a menace to health and a blot upon a beautiful section of the Town, it would become a source of revenue from its taxable value of the land, and of the improve- ments which would speedily be made upon it if the facilities for proper drainage were provided.
Provided the City of Lynn ceases to use King Brook as a sewer, or if not, contribute to the cost of handling that sewage, the expense of bringing about the necessary improvements on King and Mudge Brooks will not be large. Some sewage facili- ties must shortly be provided for a portion of the section of the Town east of the present sewage pumping station. and the recommendation of a gravity sewer to convey all the drainage of this area to the site of the present pumping station, instead of
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pumping the flow from a large part of the area or the construc- tion of a second outfall at Beach Bluff, is greatly in the interest of economy, and while your Committee has neither had the time or money to conduct the detailed investigation necessary to determine actual costs, your Committee is satisfied that the gravity intercepting sewer recommended will provide for the drainage of the eastern section of the Town for fifty per cent of the expense entailed by the adoption of any of the other schemes when the capitalized cost of pumping and maintenance is considered.
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