USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1875-1877 > Part 24
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34
Table showing results of Analyses of different grains per
SOURCE OF WATER, ETC.
Ammonia.
Albuminoid Ammonia.
Cochituate, 2 parts ; Sudbury river, 3 parts. Aug., 1878
Chestnut-Hill Reservoir, average of tests made nearly every week, July, 1876, to July, 1877 .
.0028
.0140
Charles river, in West Roxbury and Ded- ham, average of 11 tests, May-Aug., 1873 .
Charles river, at Newton Upper Falls, March, 1876
.
. .
Newton Water Works, Filtering Basin, Jan., 1877 .
.0003
.0011
Waltham Water Works, Filtering Basin, May, 1873 .
Pawtuxet river, Providence supply, aver- age of 6 tests
·
. .
Presumpscot river, Windham, Maine.
Flows from Sebago Lake which sup- plies Portland
.
.
.
.
.
. .
.
.
35
waters. Amounts of Foreign Matters stated in U. S. gallon.
Inorganic Matter.
Organic and Volatile Matter.
Total Solid Residue at 212° F.
1.24
1.23
2.47
Merrick and Sharples.
2.44
1.87
4.13
Wm. Ripley Nichols.
1.66
1.30
2.96
Merrick and Sharples.
1.75
0.99
2.74
Merrick.
Chlorine, 0.20,
2.02
0.26
2.28
Hardness, 0.73.
2.89
0.89
3.78
Merrick.
1.11
1.04
2.15
J. H. Appleton, 1868, Hardness, 0.58.
0.96
1.44
2.40
S. Dana Hayes, May, 1871.
36
It will be seen that the Newton water contains an exceedingly small quantity of organic matter. The small amounts of ammonia, albuminoid ammonia, and chlorine indicate freedom from contami- nation. The inorganic matter is small in amount, and is reported to consist mainly of sulphate of lime and alkaline salts, with traces of carbonate of lime, silica, alumina, and iron.
The basin was first made about 975 feet long ; part of this length being through fine sand, as above mentioned. Under ordi- nary circumstances, this was found to yield at the rate of 1,230,000 gallons in 24 hours, when drawn down to low-water mark, or 6 feet below the ordinary surface of the river. This is much in excess of the present consumption. But it was expected that the yield would diminish somewhat in dry times, while the consumption would increase. Further, this supply was disproportionately small comparatively to the scale of the rest of the works ; and as it was known that the basin could be enlarged very cheaply during the present depression of business, an extension of 600 feet was made in 1877. .
The yield of the whole basin has not yet been ascertained. Experiments will soon be made for this purpose.
The lot of land bought for the site of the basin extends about 800 feet further up stream, and has a width of about 200 feet out of water.
Undoubtedly a large additional supply of filtered water can be obtained from this territory when needed, by building a covered gallery or extending the open basin.
There has been some question as to the merits of open basins in comparison with covered filters or galleries. Much depends upon local circumstances, such as liability to the blowing or washing in of dust, leaves, and more objectionable matters.
Open basins require much wider space than covered galleries, and hence may be less economical where high ground comes nearly to the river. If the Newton basin should be extended further up stream, it might be best to arch over the first 200 feet, for this reason.
It has been urged that the growth of weeds on the slopes of open basins would be very troublesome. There has not yet been any
CROSS SECTIONS OF FILTERING BASIN.
NEAR LOWER END. SHOWING OUTLET PIPE, ETC.
NATURAL
12 fo
lofo
SURFACE
SLOPE
DE 94 90
EMBANKMENT.
691.00
E 91-00 -
PE
TOI
LOW-WATER
LEVEL
£85-00
124in più8
81 00
SLOPE IT TO
TURAL
8 f.o
1of o'
E 99-50
E 99.00
-3of 0"
4fo".
SLOPE Ii
SLOPE 2
PATH
EMBANKMENT.
SURFACE
E 93.00
£ 91:00
E 91 00
Ordinary hight of
water in River.
E-8500
8fo
-- iofo"
TO
SLOPE
EMBANKMENT
TO
NATURAL
SURFACE -----
E 91-00-
F91:00
LOW - WATER LEVEL £ 85 .00
Elevations above mean low-tide are shown by numbers with the letter E prefixed to them.
AMdrisal Link Pation
SLOPE
PE
4 f 0"
Tof O"
410"-
SLOPE
PATH
PATH
21 TO1
SLOPE 2
+fo'
-- 10 fo"
PATH
E 94.00
SLOPE 2
4fc
NEAR UPPER END, AT WIDEST PART.
88 f 04
4fo
THROUGH PART IN FINE SAND REQUIRING FLAT SLOPES.
37
considerable amount of such growth in the Newton basin. The low temperature of the inflowing water, about 52°, and the gravelly character of the slopes, are unfavorable to vegetation.
The water in open basins generally contains considerable con- fervoid growth during the summer, but it is more easily removed, and probably averages less abundant, than the peculiar fungus growths which often infest covered galleries.
Where the ground is not very high above the water level, open basins can be built at less cost than covered galleries for the same yield of water, and they have an immense advantage in their large storage capacity, which enables them to accumulate water while the engines are stopped, so that nearly the maximum yield for 24 hours can be secured by a few hours' pumping.
The city of Lowell has a very well-built covered gallery, 8 feet wide, and about 1,300 feet long, which was made about 6 years ago, at a cost of about $150,000. Its yield is less than 1,000,000 gallons per day, and as it has but little storage capacity it is inconvenient to operate with their 5,000,000-gallon pumps.
The cost of the Newton basin, including road-grading, engineer- ing, and everything excepting the land, was about $28,000.
CONDUIT FROM FILTERING-BASIN TO ENGINE-HOUSE.
It was deemed best to locate the engine-house on the Newton side of the river.
This necessitated a conduit across the river, below the low- water level in the basin, for conveying the water to the pump-well. This conduit consists of a 24-inch cast-iron pipe, from the basin to a point about 56 feet from the engine-house ; for the remaining distance it is a culvert of granite masonry laid in mortar.
The interior of the conduit is accessible, when freed from water, through two chambers, one in the bank at the basin, and one at the junction of the pipe with the culvert. These chambers have vertical channels for screens or for stop-planks. They are fin- ished at the surface of the ground with suitable granite copings, and secured with padlocked covers.
The iron pipe is & inch thick and 631 feet long. The distance through the two pipe chambers is about 9 feet. The stone culvert is 3 feet by 3 feet 6 inches in the clear, and 56 feet long, making
38
the total distance from the mouth of the conduit to the wall of the engine-house 696 feet.
James J. Newman, of Providence, laid the pipe across the river, built the pipe-chambers, and made the first section of the basin, under contract, in the summer of 1876.
The extension of the basin was made in 1877, under contract, by John B. Dacey & Co., of Boston.
ENGINE-HOUSE, CHIMNEY, ETC.
The engine-house is a substantial brick structure, located about 125 feet easterly from Needham street, and opposite the end of Oak street. Its principal dimensions are as follows : -
Length of main building 100 ft.
Width of front part, occupied by engines . 50 ft.
" " rear 66 66 " boilers .
52 ft.
Wing adjoining boiler-room occupied by coal, etc.
41 × 44 ft. 10 in.
Vestibule .
12 ft. 6 in. × 26 ft. ·
Height of engine-room along its sides 17 ft.
66 66 66 " middle 32 ft. 7 in.
" boiler-room 66 " sides . 20 ft. 6 in.
Chimney 8 ft. 8 in. square at base. Flue 3 ft. 4 in. square. Top 99 ft. above granite base, and 200 ft. above mean low tide in Bos- ton harbor.
Under the engine-room there is a well-lighted basement 7 ft. 4 in. high, with its floor just above high-water mark and at the right level for supporting the air-pumps, condenser, etc.
The boiler-room has no basement under it, and its floor is 3 ft. 5 in. lower than that of the engine-room.
The coal-room, with a side vestibule, a lavatory, etc., are in a wing adjoining the boiler-room. This wing is reinforced by exterior buttresses and embankments estimated to make it safe for a depth of 12 feet of coal, giving storage capacity for 600 long tons. It has a dumping-stage at about the level of the eaves, reached by a road ascending along the side of the bluff and through a door in
39
the gable end of the wing, so that carts are driven in and dumped from the sides of the stage without any shovelling over of the coal.
The pump-well is 9 ft. 10 in. X 29 ft. 9 in., and about 15 ft. deep inside. The front wall of the building stands on one of the side walls of the well, so that the well occupies nearly the whole front of the basement. The bottom of the well is a tight platform of Georgia pine, and the walls are of brick masonry. The water passes through screens at the junction of the conduit and well. A sluice-gate is set at the entrance to the well for shutting out the water when desirable.
The pump-well, and the culvert, forming part of the conduit, were built by day work in November and December, 1875.
The subsoil in this vicinity is quicksand interstratified with thin layers of stiff material, so that the excavation required strong sheathing. On breaking through one of the stiff layers near the bottom of the excavation, a large stream of water burst in and ran very freely for a day or two, bringing in a large quantity of sand. The inflow of water soon became feeble and ceased to bring in sand, and when the excavation was finished its bottom was very compact. It was supposed that any cavities made by the action of the water would be speedily filled by the settling of the super- incumbent sand. But it was afterwards found that a large cavity just outside of the sheathing and extending below the bottom remained unfilled. Doubtless the severe frost contributed to sup- port the arch over it. After the floor of the well was laid and the walls were partly built, their weight pressed the sand out into this cavity, allowing one end to settle about 5 inches. The floor of the well was not injured by this amount of bending, but the side walls were cracked. By digging down outside of the sheathing the cavity was reached and filled. The walls were cut away at the cracks, built together again and completed, and there is no indica- tion of any subsequent settling.
In an unsheathed excavation with flat slopes, about 60 ft. away, it was found that the sand would run out from under the layers of stiff material, leaving cavities extending back 10 or 15 ft., when the load of superincumbent material was not great.
Excavation for the engine-house foundation was begun May 11, 1876. It was not necessary to go very deep into the quicksand, and there was no difficulty on this account. The greatest intensity of
40
pressure on the sand is under the chimney foundations, 7} feet below the present surface of the ground, and is estimated at 5,100 pounds per square foot.
From 4 to 8 feet of filling was required to bring the interior of the main building up to grade; this was carefully made with sand well wet. The foundations for the boilers were laid in this filling. The engine foundations are partly on the filling and partly on the wall of the pump well. Considerable savings of time and money were made by making the foundations in this way instead of building them up from the bottom. Neither the chim- ney, the boilers, nor the engines show the slightest indication of settling.
Some settling occurred under the pavement in the side vestibule, where it was of little importance, and the filling received but little attention.
The engine-house and chimney were built under contract, by J. W. Coburn & Co., of Boston. Michael McDonald, of West New- ton, put in the foundations under a sub-contract.
The grading of the roads and grounds at the pumping-station was finished in 1877, under contract, by James E. Cabill ; and a horse-shed was built in the rear of the engine-house, by S. D. Garey.
The present equipment of the engine-house is as follows : -
3 tubular boilers 5 ft. 3 in. in diameter and 19 feet 8 in. long, with 54 tubes, each 4 in. in diameter and 19 feet 8 in. long, built by Kendall & Roberts, sub-contractors.
1 Duplex boiler feed pump.
1 Duplex high pressure steam-pump, with 12-in. water-plungers and 15-in. stroke, and capable of raising 1,000,000 gallons of water into the reservoir in 24 hours.
1 Compound duplex condensing engine, with water-plungers 22 in. and 22.4 inches in diameter and 50-in. stroke, and capable, at a fair working speed, of raising 5,000,000 gallons of water into the reservoir in 24 hours.
1 Automatic cylinder lubricator, connected with all the steam cylinders.
All the above equipment was furnished and set, under contract, by Henry R. Worthington, of New York.
41
In addition to the above, there is a mercurial pressure gauge for measuring the water pressure and for testing the spring pres- sure gauges on the boilers and engine ; and a full supply of ther- mometers. Also some machinist, carpenter and piping tools, firing tools, hose and pipes, and the usual furniture, lamps, etc.
All the water used in the boilers is measured by a 13 inch Fales & Jenks meter ; and all the coal supplied to them is weighed on a Fairbanks scale with its platform set flush with the floor in the vestibule between the coal-room and the furnaces.
The buildings are arranged for a second large engine like the first, and two more boilers.
The large engine draws water from the pump-well through a 24- inch pipe branching to the water-cylinders. When the pump well is drawn down to low-water mark, the water has to be raised about 24 feet to fill the water-cylinders. The objections to attempting to raise water more than 24 feet by exhaustion are too great to allow the location of the engine and house at any higher level. The building would also have been more costly and less convenient for receiving the coal, if set higher.
The water is delivered from the large engine through a 24-inch pipe passing down through the floor, and out through the wall under ground. The line of 24-inch pipe outside of the building includes a manhole and blow-off piece, a check-valve and a 24-inch gate, and connects with one branch of a pipe casting shaped like the letter X, and located near the junction of Needham street and Oak street extension. One branch of this casting (now capped) is intended for connection with the second engine when required. The other two branches connect with the main pipe circuit, as described under the head of Distribution.
The 1,000,000-gallon pump is intended for a reserve, to be used in case of accident only, or when the large engine needs extensive repairs. It draws water from the pump-well through a 16-inch pipe, reduced to 12-inch near the pump. It delivers by a 12-inch pipe passing down through the basement and thence under ground to a connection with the 24-inch pipe between the 24-inch gate and the X. Outside of the building this 12-inch pipe has a small blow- off, a check-valve and a gate.
42
THE RESERVOIR
is on the northerly side of Ward street, a little east of the end of Hammond street. In other words, it is on the westerly slope of Waban Hill, a few hundred feet from the summit and about 50 feet below it. Its high-water mark is 265.8 feet above mean low tide. This gives sufficient head for the general supply of the city. If it had been built on the summit of the hill it could supply a few additional residents on the highest hill-tops. But in that case the pumping-engine would have had to lift all the water against about 28 per cent. more pressure than it now does. This increase of pressure would require more coal and heavier pipes ; it would be inconveniently great for the majority of the water-takers and would increase the waste of water.
The cost of the reservoir, including right of way to it, would have been about the same as in the present location. The addi- tional steam required for pumping would cost about $1,000 per annum on a consumption of 1,000,000 gallons per day. The cost of piping would have been increased about $26,000 to this time, and future piping would also cost more.
There are in the city two houses, each nearly a quarter of a mile from a highway, which are higher than the reservoir. There are also about ten houses in the city to which the reservoir can furnish a good supply for tanks below the level of the first floor, but no certain supply above the first floor.
Probably no one knowing the facts in the case will seriously maintain that the reservoir ought to have been placed on the top of the hill.
Some saving of main pipe might have been made by locating on Institution IIill at Newton Centre ; but its top is too high, being but a few feet lower than Waban Hill, and its sides are too steep, to furnish a good location for a reservoir of the size desired. There are no other hills in the north part of the city which are high enough.
In the transfer to the city of the land for the site, a marginal tract around the sides not adjoining Ward street was also con- veyed, to be opened and used as a street. It was considered desirable that the city should have the fee of this land as a security against possible undermining of the reservoir by abutters. Miss
SECTION AT GREATEST CUT.
NATURAL
6f0"
33f 9“
ELEVATION 270-30
SURFACE
1
HIGH WATER LEVEL.
ELEVATION 265-80
WABAN HILL RESERVOIR .
VERTICAL SECTIONS THROUGH EMBANKMENT.
Scale, 8 feet tolinch.
ECTION AT GREATEST FILL.
14f 0".
5f 6
-*- 6fo -1 . 2f 6
33f 9"
ELEVATION 270.30
450
HIGH WATER LEVEL
ELEVATION 265-80
SLOPE 12 TO I.
Baller 1 in 12
Butter Tin 12
18f 0"
EMNT
PUDDLE
EMBANKMENT.
SURFACE
NATURAL
PUDDLE
If6", if6">
6"
ELEVATION 247 897
18 f 0
SLOPE
IS TO I
PUDDLE
1f6"1f6",
6"
ELEVATION 247-80
3 f 3'
--- 4f 6"
SLOPE
2.0
43
Anna C. Ward gave the city a small amount of land across the end of her homestead lot for a part of this street.
The outline of the reservoir is approximately pentagonal; it was arranged to use all the land within the street lines excepting a low piece at the north-west corner, which was needed for storing materials.
The original surface within this outline was saddle-shaped; the height being about 255 in the middle and at the south-west corner ; at the north-east corner 272; at the south-east corner and also along the north-west side about 247.
The soil and loam were removed from the whole site down to the firm gravel.
An earth embankment forming the wall around the reservoir was then built, as shown by the accompanying diagrams.
The bottom instead of being level and at grade 247.8 is dishing, sinking away gradually to the gate-chamber at the south-west corner, where it is at grade 246. This depression of 1.8 feet adds to the capacity, and will facilitate cleaning the bottom when required.
The grades for the bottom and banks were fixed by the consid- eration that the material excavated should be sufficient to make the embankment, with a small surplus for contingencies, such as the possibility of finding unexpectedly large quantities of poor material or of stone.
The total capacity of the reservoir is about 15,000,000 gallons. It is expected that 350,000 gallons at the bottom will contain con- siderable sediment, but that all above this will be suitable for domestic uses.
The material marked " puddle " on the diagrams is depended upon for making the reservoir water-tight. It is composed of stiff, gravelly earth of all grades from the coarsest gravel to material as fine as clay. In order to secure the best composition practicable, different materials were selected and passed through screens for mixing and for separating lumps and large stones.
By mixing gravels of different degrees of coarseness, more weight can be gotten into a given space, and less fine material is needed to fill the interstices. A large share of gravel adds to the stiffness as well as to the density, and also diminishes the liability to cracking by exposure to air in construction.
44
The material thus prepared was spread in successive layers about 6 inches thick, and each was wet and compacted by a heavy grooved roller.
The inflow and outflow of water are controlled by gates and valves located at the south-west corner of the reservoir, in a chamber of masonry and covered by a gate-house, as shown by the accompanying drawings. The 20-inch pipe from Ward street enlarges and unites with a 24-inch pipe passing under the gate-chamber, and connecting with a 30-inch brick conduit passing under the bottom of the reservoir nearly to the north-east corner, where it opens upwards into the reservoir through a granite coping.
The 24-inch pipe under the gate-chamber is furnished with two self- acting valves ; one of these allows water to pass from the chamber into the pipe ; the other allows water to pass through the pipe and brick conduit into the reservoir.
When water is forced in, it shuts the first valve, opens the second, and passes into the north-east part of the reservoir. When the engine stops and the current is reversed the second valve shuts and the first one opens, so that the supply is taken from the south- west part of the reservoir.
The chamber is separated by a cross wall into two divisions, one of which opens into the reservoir; the other is in the form of a square brick well, in the bottom of which is the first or outlet valve. The cross wall has two openings through it, each about two feet square, one near the bottom and the other a little below high-water mark. Each of these openings is controlled by a gate, so that the water-supply may be drawn from either the upper or the lower part of the reservoir or may be shut off entirely.
In the bottom of the open part of the chamber there is a blow- off valve, which opens into a 12-inch pipe running out under the embankment to a brick well at the side of Ward street. When all the clear water is drawn out of the reservoir the remainder with the sediment may be run out to the well, by opening this valve.
All the water which passes out through the gate-chamber goes through two sets of copper wire screens supported in vertical channels in the walls.
It was thought judicious to guard against the possibility of hav- ing the water raised too high in the reservoir, by providing a waste
I
13 f 5'
E
-.
F
E 270.17
C
D
E 265-80 JGH-WATER LEVEL
WEAR
GATE HOUSE.
GATE HOUSE AND CHAMBER AT
WABAN HILL RESERVOIR.
PLAN OF INLET STONE
4 f 0ª
2 18"
If
250
of
If4º
A .-.
2f
OUTLET
.--- E 247.50 ---- B
S
FOOTING CONCRETE
ROAD METAL
PUDDLE
PAVING
24
BRICK INLET CONDUIT.
SHEET No.1. Longitudinal Section .
4
4f6
E 247.72
2fo*
RISE, 0-38 IN 100
0
E 242. 25
E 260- 80
CHANNELS
SCREEN
SLOPE IT TO 1.
INLET
CHET
Elevations above mean low-tide are shown
45
wear. This wear consists of a cast-iron box or trough running across the gate-chamber, with its upper edges at about high-water mark. If the water should rise above this it would flow into the box, pass out at one end, and thence, through a channel in the masonry and an iron pipe, into Ward street, where it would soon attract attention. If the engine were delivering water at the rate of 5,000,000 gallons in 24 hours, and it all came into the reservoir, the surface would rise about 5 inches above the crest of the wear, and the outflowing stream would soon do damage in Ward street and vicinity.
The gate-chamber is covered by a substantial brick gate-house with a slated roof. The floor is of cast-iron plates, and it supports two stands with hand-wheels for operating the gates on the cross wall.
A foot-path 6 feet wide extends around the top of the embank- ment. The gate-house and path are reached by a flight of granite steps running up the slope, at the south-west corner.
The area of the bottom of the reservoir is 91,525 square feet, and the area of water surface when the reservoir is full is 126,000 square feet.
The contract for the construction of the reservoir and gate- chamber was awarded to John B. Dacey & Co., Oct. 29, 1875. They began work November 11, and removed the soil from the site before Nov. 25, when work was stopped on account of cold weather. During the winter they hauled a large part of the granite for slope-paving. They recommenced April 6, 1876, and finished all their work about Oct. 5.
The outer slopes of the reservoir were seeded about the last of September, and the grass started slowly. During a long wet time in November the soil became thoroughly saturated with water, and nearly all of that on the north and north-west banks ran off during an extraordinary rainfall of 6 inches in 52 hours, ending Novem- ber 21. A little of the gravel under the soil also ran off, but the bank was not at all affected otherwise. The soil on the other slopes settled a little.
The question has been raised whether this soiling would have stood better if the slope had been a little flatter. This question
46
was considered at the inception of the work. It was anticipated that a very unusual rain-storm might saturate the soil before the grass became well established, and produce slipping ; but probably a small flattening of the slope would make but little difference in that case. No more land of the proper elevation could well be obtained ; hence the area required for flattening, say from 1} to 12 base must have been taken out of the water space, diminishing the capacity of the reservoir about 600,000 gallons, while the cost of construction would have been almost exactly the same. Each 600,000 gallons of storage capacity in this reservoir cost about $3,550, and the total cost of repairs has been about $350 ; making a net saving to the present time of at least $3,200 by the adop- tion of the steeper slope. It is hoped that little or none of this will be absorbed by further sliding, as the grass will soon be well rooted.
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