USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Town annual reports of the several departments for the fiscal year ending December 31, 1875 > Part 24
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318
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
South line of Front street to the North line of Temple street would be 858 feet, and the area covered as follows :
Area within present fence line of Vine Street (private), 13,020 sq. ft.
Area in Cherry Street, outside 66 66
541
Area in Franklin Street (public),
2,043 66
Area to be acquired outside of ways,
27,296 60
Total area,
42,900 66
Width of bridge, Span “ 52.9 feet in the clear.
78 feet.
If this scheme were carried out it would be desirable to re- locate a portion of Franklin street, so as to avoid the grade crossing, and allow travel to go under the bridge. The distance between the north rail of the new tracks of the Boston and Albany Railroad and the south rail of the present south track is about 150 feet, and if new tracks are laid on the south, as is probable, it will be materially increased. At present it is an extremely dangerous grade crossing. It is believed the Railroad Corporations interested would be willing to make a liberal arrangement with the city to share the cost of changes, if they could avoid the expense they will otherwise be obliged to incur in the proper guarding of this crossing.
The completion of the Mill Brook Sewer in Union street, south of Lincoln Square, and the prospect of building operations being commenced on the abutting property in the Spring, will require the grade of that street to be established. I would call the attention of your honorable body to the need of early action, so that grade damages, from buildings being placed at improper levels, may be avoided.
The preservation of the integrity of the public streets of a city requires much watchfulness and care. By the provisions of Sec. 24, Chapter 47 of the Ordinances, any abutter may con- struct a door step that shall not extend more than two feet within the limits of the location of the street. In a forty foot street the standard width of the sidewalk is but six feet and eight inches, and by the above Ordinance it can, at the pleasure of the abutter, be practically reduced at any point to four feet and eight inches. It seems that regard for the appearance and convenience of our streets would suggest the repeal of this provision in the section referred to.
349
REPORT OF ACTING CITY ENGINEER.
College Street, as ordered by the County Commissioners, is to be completed by July 1st, next. Concession having been made in the manner of construction, so far as not to compel the city, in any event, to top-dress the road bed with eight inches of gravel, as they were liable to do under the specifications of the Commissioners in the event of no other proper material being at hand, the estimated expense is reduced some $2,000.00. If prices in the Spring are the same as during the past year, it can probably be put under contract for about $4,000.00.
SEWERS.
Sewers have been constructed during the past year, and work connected therewith performed, as exhibited in the following table :-
ABSTRACT OF SEWERS Built from December 1st, 1874, to December 1st, 1875. BUILT BY SEWER DEPARTMENT.
STREETS.
in Inches.
Size
Sewer.
Feet of
Manholes.
Basins.
Inlets.
Pipe Inlets
Feet of
of Inlets.
Size
LOCATION, ETC.
Boynton,
2
2
Catharine,
15" oval 12"
152.1
1
Fruit,
163.5
2
Main,
1
1
15.015" Near George street. 12.012"
Mechanic,
15"
10.0
2
2
North Ashland,
15"
51.0
1
2
2
2
2
18.012" Curve at Vernon st. 8.0 12" Corner Winter st. place and corner Beach street. From Lexington st., North.
Prescott,
12"
173.2
2
Oak Avenue, Queen,
15"
35.0
1
2
2
12.012" Nor. of Kendall st. 18.012" Curve at Chandler street.
Salisbury,
1
1
9.012" Opp. Boynton st. 12.012" Corner Asylum st.
Summer, Ward,
12"
256.4
3
Ward,
12/
294.0
3
Ward,
15"
30.7
1
1
1
10.012" Curve at Endicott street.
Washington Sq., West,
12"
233.3
2
At cor. Summer st. From John street, North.
Totals,
1,399.2 16 17 17
168.0
18.012" N. of Joe Bill road. Fm. Oak ave., east. Fm. William st., S.
At Viaduct Bridge. 6.012" Corner Lily street.
Patterson, Pond,
1
1
1
1
1
1
to From Vernon Foyle street. From Foyle to Tay- lor street.
1
1
30.12"
350
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
SUMMARY OF SEWERS
Now LAID IN THE CITY OF WORCESTER.
DATE.
FEET OF SEWERS LAID.
Manholes.
Basins.
Inlets
Previous to 1867,
6,481.5
14
17
39
1867,
5,539.5
19
2
4
1868,
15,869.0
108
71
102
1869,
24.720.0
199
51
61
1870,
43,320.0
334
146
161
1871,
33,158.9°
292
163
173
1872,
17,887.5
162
51
52
1873,
14,893.4
127
90
82
1874,
12,347.5
97
85
85
1875,
1,399.2
16
17
17
Totals,
175,616.5
1368
693
776
33.26 miles of Sewer.
MILL BROOK.
There has been completed 336.7 feet of Arch in Mill Brook Sewer, by Amos Pike, contractor. The form of construc- tion of Mill Brook Sewer is as follows :-
5,075.35 Feet dry wall in open Canal.
4,694.70 Arch laid in cement.
882.25 " In 15 stone arch bridges.
10,652.30 Feet total length, or 2.02 miles nearly.
One hundred and thirty-five permits to enter the Public Sew- ers have been issued during the year. The total number is 1901.
In cities with a system of sewers as extensive as we now have it is customary to adopt certain Ordinances relating to their police. With the exception of the Ordinance requiring entrance into the public sewers to be made under the direction of a licensed drain digger, there are, at present, no rules which can be enforced
351
REPORT OF ACTING CITY ENGINEER.
in this city. While the officials whose duty it is to keep the sewers and appendages in proper condition and repair are aware of evil practices existing, they are powerless to prohibit them, on account of no ordinance relating thereto. I would most earnestly call the attention of your Honorable Body to the necessity of the passage of an Ordinance prohibiting exhausting steam into the public sewers. The steam inevitably softens and destroys the mortar, causing the rapid decay of the sewer, and prevents the workmen entering for the purpose of examination and making repairs in the vicinity of the exhaust pipe on account of the heat.
The practice of depositing dead animals, refuse and filth of all kinds into inlets and catch basins should also be prohibited.
The sewers built during the last year, with the exception of the Mill Brook Sewer at Lincoln Square, have been constructed under the charge of Gen. Chamberlain, the Superintendent of Sewers, and have been laid at considerable' less expense than under the contract system. The care of maintenance, which entails cleaning of most of the catch basins several times during the year, and incidental repairs, has also been under the Super- intendent's charge, and carried on in a very efficient and satis- factory manner.
Sept. 21st, bids were invited for the construction of about 340 lineal feet of the Mill Brook Sewer at Lincoln Square and in Union street, with a Forebay and Wheel pit to secure the water privilege of Hon. Stephen Salisbury. Sept. 29th, the contract was awarded to Amos Pike of this city, who has carried it on to completion in an energetic and satisfactory manner. The cost to the city has been under his contract, $10,099.00. Mr. Salis- bury paying in addition, $817.86 for the Forebay and connec- tion.
A contract has been made with Messrs. H. C. Fish & Co., for four sluice gates for the Forebay and Wheel pit at $350.00 each ; also for the main gate, to act as the dam, for $450,00, making a total of $1,850.00, $700.00 of which is to be paid by Mr. Salisbury.
October 19th, your Honorable Body directed a report to be
352
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
made in relation to the "Island District Sewer," and in regard to the outlet of the main sewer. The following report was sub- mitted the 26th of the same month :
"To the Honorable the City Council of Worcester.
HAVING received instructions from your Honorable Body to report in relation to the Island District Sewer, and in regard to the outlet of the Main Sewer, I have the honor of submitting the following
REPORT.
No doubt can exist as to the necessity for drainage of the territory embraced within the so-called 'Island District.'
About eighty acres of the territory would drain into the proposed sewer in addition to the Piedmont District. About thirty acres of the 'Island District' is extremely low, not more than 3} feet above the ordinary water level of the Blackstone River at the outlet of the Mill Brook Sewer. To drain the territory by gravity, at that point, under existing circumstances, is impracticable ; cellars that are now flooded during high water would not be relieved. That the general health of the neighborhood would be improved by a perfect system of drainage is beyond question, and a large area of low land lying West of the Providence Rail Road would be greatly benefited by a sewer con- structed at a level which would permit lateral sewers to enter from that direction.
The following schemes for accomplishing the object desired are sub- mitted for consideration :-
First, by the passage of a grade law regulating the grades at which cellars and streets shall be built to insure perfect drainage. This can- not be recommended, as the law would, of necessity cover, not only the Island District, but the section West of the Providence Rail Road already referred to, and the expense of grading, and raising buildings already constructed, would be excessive in comparison with the other schemes.
The second scheme contemplates the purchase of a portion of the
353
REPORT OF ACTING CITY ENGINEER.
water rigacs of the Washburn and Moen Manufacturing Co., at Quin- sigamond Village, and taking down about five feet of their dam at that point. This would ensure proper drainage of the District, but is open to serious objections. The outlet of Mill Brook Sewer is at present into a Mill Pond ; during low stages of water, a portion of the bed of the stream is uncovered and exposed to the action of the air; the sewage matter deposited undergoes a chemical change which is offen- sive, and in the future, as the population of the city increases, will be- come more so. To prevent this nuisance it would be necessary to wall the channel of the River so as to contract the flow during dry weather and prevent this deposit from taking place. The experience in London is instructive in this case. In 1858 a Commission was appointed to in- vestigate and report on the subject of perfecting the system of outfall sewers of that city. Mr. Henry Letheby, one of the most eminent English Chemists, says :-
' That there is much mischief resulting from the present mode of dis- posing of the sewage of the Metropolis, I cannot doubt ; but this mis- chief is not occasioned, as I once supposed, by the soluble matter of the sewage, but by the mud or insoluble constituents which settle and putrify upon the banks of the River.'
Dr. Odling says :-
' That any means which would prevent the deposition of organic mud in the bed, but more particularly on the exposed banks of the River, would effect an amply sufficient purification.'
Dr. Letheby further remarks :-
'That the most effective means of improving the condition of the River, and of protecting the public health, is the embankment of the Thames ; for the removal of the offensive inud, and the submerging the River's banks, are, in my opinion, the most important of all con- siderations.'
The action of salt water on sewage is more pernicious in the Thames than fresh water would be, but the channel of the Blackstone would doubtless require to be walled in the future, if this scheme should be adopted. The cost of this, added to the cost of water rights to be acquired, would exceed the expense of the third scheme, which is to carry a sewer to a point below the dam at Quinsigamond Village for an outlet. A sewer of the requisite capacity to carry the storm waters of the Piedmont and Island District would be of sufficient size to take the ordinary flow of Mill Brook Sewer in addition to the dry weather
46
354
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
flow of the above districts. By an arrangement of gates, the dry weather flow of Mill Brook could, if desired at any time in the future, be diverted and carried below the dam, the waters during the wet sea- son being discharged directly into the River as at present. In this connection it may be remarked that sewage discharged into a rapidly running stream has a tendency to purify itself by the action of the atmosphere, and the character of the River below the dam is more favorable for an outlet than above. The proposed Island Sewer would pass under the Mill Brook Sewer at Cambridge St. and have a uniform fall of one foot in one thousand. The estimated expense is, from Southbridge St. to Cambridge St. $56,000.00 ; and from Cambridge Street to the outlet $136,000.00.
The sewer would be in wet excavation for its entire length, and con- struction should be commenced at the outlet to admit of the economi- cal disposal of water to be encountered.
Another advantage of the third scheme is, that in case any of the numerous chemical processes on trial in Europe for the purification of sewage should prove practicable, or if irrigation or filtration should be resorted to as a means of purifying the effluent water, the sewage dur- ing a large portion of the time could all be concentrated at one point, by gravity, where it could be dealt with at the greatest advantage. During freshets no evil effect would ensue from the discharge of the Mill Brook Sewer directly into the river.
Respectfully submitted,
C. H. M. BLAKE,
Civil Engineer.
WORCESTER, OCT. 25th, 1875."
355
REPORT OF ACTING CITY ENGINEER.
The appraised value of Stock and Tools on hand under charge of the Superintendent of Sewers is appended.
INVENTORY OF PROPERTY IN THE CHARGE OF SUPERINTENDENT OF SEWERS, NOVEMBER 30, 1875.
One steam pump,
$25 00
One boat (Mill Brook Sewer),
15 00
Two tool chests,
12 00
One tool chest (small),
1 00
Four pairs hip boots,
12 00
Four wheelbarrows,
12 00
Nine lanterns,
4 00
Fourteen picks,
15 00
Twenty shovels,
15 00
Two hoes,
1 00
Five crowbars,
8 00
Eight pails,
4 00
One lot sewer scrapers,
10 00
One lot gas pipe,
6 00
One hand saw, one hatchet,
2 00
One axe, one tape, one trowel,
2 00
Lot stone hammers,
15 00
Two iron buckets,
6 00
One hydrant wrench,
1 00
Lot hose for flushing,
20 00
Lot timber,
10 00
Lot tackle blocks,
10 00
Lot rope,
15 00
100 feet §-in. hose,
8 00
One express wagon,
140 00
Lot striking hammers and drills,
30 00
800 brick,
7 50
Lot bracing plank,
10 00
Four long-handled shovels,
3 00
Two spirit levels,
2 50
One powder can, one oil can,
50
One tamping bar,
50
One lot cement pipe,
10 00
356
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
Two sets shears for tackle blocks,
5 00
One mattock, one square,
2 00
One puddling bar,
1 00
Four fish hook ropes,
2 00
One ladder,
1 00
One bbl. cement,
1 65
One bill hook, 1 00
Eight sets basin covers,
9 60
Six bucket chains,
1 50
Lot of bolts,
3 00
$430 75
Respectfully submitted,
C. H. M. BLAKE, 1
Civil Engineer.
WORCESTER, Dec. 6th, 1875.
SOURCES FOR AN
ADDITIONAL SUPPLY OF WATER.
CITY OF WORCESTER.
IN CITY COUNCIL, June 28, 1875.
The Joint Standing Committee on Water to whom was referred the Order relative to the feasibility of appropriating Tatnuck Brook for supplying the City with water-also the communication of the Mayor regarding a further supply of Water, would herein respectfully submit the following Report :
That they recommend the purchase of the several water rights on Tatnuck Brook, provided that the sum necessary to acquire said rights shall not exceed $200,000.
They also recommend that a Reservoir be constructed, and Water Pipes laid, in accordance with the Report of the Acting City En- gineer, which Report is herewith submitted.
D. S. GODDARD, GEORGE GEER, G. J. RUGG, T. J. HASTINGS,
Joint Standing Committee on Water.
ENGINEER'S REPORT
ON SOURCES FOR AN ADDITIONAL SUPPLY OF WATER.
To the Honorable the City Council.
The following Order passed the City Council March 29th, 1875 :
"Ordered; That the City Engineer be directed to make such sur- vey of Tatnuck Brook as shall ascertain its Water Shed, its capacity for storage, its value to the mill owners thereon, and such other ex- penses as would be involved by the taking of said brook for the uses of the City. "
Also to take the measure of flow of water from Henshaw Pond, "and Kettle Brook." In obedience to the above Order I beg to submit the following Report :
A subject which should predicate the consideration of the result of the surveys and investigations made is the necessity of an additional supply of water. Worcester is essentially a manufacturing city, and any reduction in the allowance of water for manufacturing purposes will inevitably retard its future growth; it should therefore be the policy of the city to have a supply sufficient not only for the present but for years to come. The consumption of water is sure to increase more rapidly than the population, as proved by the experience of all cities. The Worcester Lunatic Hospital, which now has its own source of supply, will, next year, on removal to the new buildings, require from the city at least 30,000 gallons per day, an amount which would be seriously felt in seasons of dry weather; this is only a single case, but others will doubtless arise in the immediate future of equal magnitude. The quantity of the supply is for certain manufacturing purposes of scarcely more importance than the quality ; bleaching and the manufacture of the best quality of paper for instance requires water of peculiar purity and clearness. The liability of each source to future pollution should also be carefully considered, which involves its distance from the city, quality of the soil for agricultural purposes and
359
ADDITIONAL SUPPLY OF WATER.
location of manufacturing establishments, or prospect of such location in the future, above the point from which the supply is to be taken.
The Lynde Brook water-shed, from which we derive our present sup- ply, has an area, including the water surface of the Reservoir, of 1870 Acres. The Reservoir when filled to its present safe capacity contains 663,330,000 gallons, or about 176 days supply. It has been custom- ary, in estimating the amount of water to be collected from a shed, to assume a large percentage of the rainfall as available, but the test of experience in this country, as well as in England, has proved conclu- sively that this method of estimation has been fallacious, the results being much larger than can practically be obtained, and the numerous failures of supply have caused the most eminent engineers to base their calculations on entirely different data from that formely used. It has been the practice to take as a basis for calculation the average fall for a series of years, when, to ascertain the amount that can be relied upon the mean of the two or three dryest consecutive years should be taken. Before making an estimate of the value of the present source the opinions of some of the best authorities in this country and Eng- land will be quoted. The experience in England is given to prove only that the true basis for calculation is from years of minimum rain- fall, instead of the average of a series of years. As the evaporation in our climate is so much greater than in England, we cannot take the relation of the fall to the yield there as a precedent to base calculations on in this country.
Mr. Joseph P. Davis, City Engineer of Boston, in his Report on the available yield of the Sudbury River gives the experience at the Riv- ington Gravitation Works, which supply the City of Liverpool, as follows :----
" The area of the water-shed from which water is collected is about 16 square miles. The average rainfal for 17 years is stated at 4517 inches. The compensation water stipulated to be given to the mills is 9,960,000 U. S. gallons per day, or about 13 inches of rainfall. The storage capacity was 48,500 cubic feet per acre of collecting ground, but it has recently been increased to 68,500 cubic feet. The average rainfall of the district was originally taken at 48 inches of which 36 inches or 75 per cent. was assumed to be available for the use of the city and for mill compensation. The average of 11 years rainfall delivered to Liverpool has been only 142 inches, and in 1865 only 9& inches, instead of the 24 inches originally estimated. It is stated that the present storage capacity of 68,500 cubic feet per acre has little chance of being filled in a run of dry. years ; indeed, the cor- poration engineer estimates that even with this enormous storage the available yield will only be equal to 12,600,000 U. S. gallons per day,
360
CITY DOCUMENT .- No. 30.
while reliance should not, he says, be placed on more than 10,800,000 gallons (equal to 1476 inches of rainfall) in cycles of three dry years. Upon this estimate, the total collection, including the compensation to the mills, would be 1426+13 = 27% inches, or 59} per cent. of the average rainfall, and this is with a storage capacity equal to 210 days supply.
The drainage grounds of the Rivington Works must afford unusual advantages for collecting water. The amount of storage provided shows that the slopes are steep, and undoubtedly the geological forma- tion is generally of an impervious character, else basins covering such large areas would not be built.
The losses by evaporation and absorption are muchless in the Eng- lish climate than in this. As illustrating the difference in capacity to absorb moisture, of the atmospheres of the two countries, it may be stated that the mean yearly evaporation at Whitehaven, England, from water surfaces was determined, by six years of experiment, to be 30Too inches, while experiments lasting for one year showed it to be at Og- densburg, N. Y., 49376 inches, and at Syracuse, N Y., 50Too inches. Observations taken at Salem and Cambridge, Mass., determine it to be about 56 inches. In England the yearly losses are comparatively uni- form, and are usually estimated at from 9 to 16 inches in depth ; here they are very variable, but are found to be as an average equal to about one half of the rainfall, or say from 15 to 30 inches of depth, or about 10 inches more than in the former place. This difference may, perhaps, be more satisfactorily shown by a comparison of percentage of yield. The total yield of the Rivington district for a term of six years was about 74 per cent. of the rainfall, the average fall during that period being 45 inches. On the Cochituate district the average yield for a long term of years is found to have been about 40 per cent. These results give the ratios of yield between the two districts as 100 to 54. The average yearly rainfall of Eastern Massachusetts is not very different from that of Liverpool, but the portion of it which can be made available for a water supply is much less. Applying the proper corrections to the Liverpool results, it will be found that with a storage capacity equal to 200 days supply, from 16 to 18 inches of depth may be reckoned upon as available, from a water-shed having steep slopes and a surface of an impervious character."
The Cochituate water-shed during a perid of 9 years, from 1863 to 1871 inclusive, yielded to the Lake but 38} per cent. of the rainfall (see table 2, page 363). This district however is rather unfavorable for collecting a large percentage, a considerable portion consisting of bog meadows, which retain the water and admit of a large loss by evaporation.
In table 1 is embodied the result of a series of careful experiments made by Mr. Kirkwood, engineer of the Brooklyn Water Works, to
361
ADDITIONAL SUPPLY OF WATER.
determine the capacity of storage reservoirs for an additional supply for that city. The area of water-shed used in experiments was, ex- clusive of water surfaces, 335 square miles. Mr. Kirkwood says in reference to the methods of obtaining the rainfalls.
".Returns are given of the rainfall at two different points, and for part of the time at three ; one of the points is without the basin, but supposed to be characteristic of it. Of the other two, one is at the lower end, the Croton Lake, and the other towards the centre of the basin."
47
362
TABLE I.
TABLE SHOWING THE MONTHLY RAINFALLS ON THE CROTON WATER-SHED FOR SIX (6) YEARS, AND PERCENTAGES OF THE SAME REACHING THE DAM.
1864.
1865.
1866.
1867.
1868.
1869.
MONTHS.
Rainfall in inches.
Croton Dani.
Equivalent flow in
Rainfall in inches.
Percentage flowing to
Equivalent flow in
Rainfall in inches.
Percentage flowing to
Equivalent flow in
Rainfall in inches.
Percentage flowing to
Equivalent flow in
Rainfall in inches.
Percentage flowing to
Equivalent flow in
Rainfall in inches.
Percentage flowing to
Equivalent flow in inclies.
January, .
1.84 123.4
2.270
3.43
71.5
2.454
0.96 110.1
1.057
1.24
74.4
0.923
3.61
49.7
1.794
4.18 49.0
2.043
February,
1.39 62.9
0.874
2.86
42.4
1.213 5.03 101.1
5.086
3.74 107.0
4.000
1.15
62.1
0.714 4.74 74.5
3.533
March, .
2.16 70.3
1.519
5.12
85.7
4.387
2.13 107.3
2.280
2.05 147.4
3.021
1.89
21.9
4.142 5.64
87.7
4.940
April, .
3.04
53.5
1.626
2.95
66.0
1.944
2.69
86.8
2.310
3.26 70.2
2.290
4.32
81.4
3.514 2.48 125.7
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