USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1878-1879 > Part 18
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what might otherwise be objectionable matter. The experi- ment is one which can be safely made. The whole subject will at all times be within the control of the city authorities, and whenever indications shall appear that the discharge into the river at that place may prove detrimental, either to health or property, the main drain can be extended to the ultimate terminus near the Arsenal. The construction of the main drain may properly be commenced in Maple Street, near the brook, and until the lateral branches shall be considerably extended there will consequently be but a small quantity of sewage to be disposed of. The knowledge to be derived from experience will indicate the length of time during which the drain may be discharged into the river at this point. There can be no question that the extension of the sewer to a point near the Arsenal may properly be postponed until after the construction of other portions of the work.
The Commissioners have carefully considered whether it might not be advantageous, in a financial point of view, to postpone the construction of that portion of the main drain which is indicated to be built across the marsh to the deep tide-water, of bricks, and of the dimensions as set forth in the engineer's report, for a period of fifteen years or more. But if, upon trial, it should be found to be necessary to have an outlet at that point, then to construct that part of the drain of timber and of a smaller size; and as the same would be below the level of ordinary high tides it would be preserved for many years. The distance is about five thousand feet. A wooden drain six feet square inside would undoubtedly be adequate for the carriage of the sewage for the period above- named, perhaps even for a longer time. If this should be done there would be a material saving in the first cost of con- struction. The land damages would be the same, but the cost of excavation would be somewhat less. We estimate the cost of such a wooden trunk at the sum of seventeen thousand five hundred dollars, which, with the cost of land and excavation would amount to about one hundred and thir-
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ty-five thousand dollars, which would be about forty thousand dollars less than would be expended in the construction of the full size brick drain. If this should be done, then it might be well to build a brick drain from the lower terminus of Ma- ple Street, near the brook, to connect with the upper end of the wooden drain, such portion to be only six feet in diame- ter instead of the size given by the engineer. The length of this part of the route is about sixteen hundred feet. The smaller drain would not cost as much as the larger one by eight thousand dollars or more. The two changes would make a total saving of nearly fifty thousand dollars ; and this sum invested and the interest thereon compounded until the time shall arrive when it would become necessary to recon- struct the drain of the size and materials stated by the engi- neer, the same would amount to more than would then be re- quired to defray the cost of the new work, which would prob- ably not exceed the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars. The only question thus far presented in the consideration of this portion of our subject, is that of economy. The putting in of the wooden structure will not be an experiment, as similar drains in neighboring cities have been in use for many years with satisfactory results.
But there is another consideration why so much of the drain as will extend below Maple Street should be built in the manner just indicated. If the method of disposing of sewage now generally pursued shall be ascertained by scientific in- vestigations and experience to be the only practicable way of dealing with it, and if population and manufactures shall in- crease as rapidly during the next twenty-five years as they have in the past quarter of a century, the disposal of the waste matter of the sewers will become a more serious and difficult problem than it is at the present time. The large sewer now being constructed by the city of Boston is not de- signed for the removal of any considerable portion of the sewage from either Newton or Brookline. And we do not learn that the authorities of Boston have as yet originated, or
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seriously contemplated the construction of a system of drains which shall be adequate for the disposal of sewage from any considerable portion of the territory outside of its own limits. It is a question of considerable moment whether, for many years longer the sewers of Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, and Brookline can be safely permitted to discharge their con- tents into Charles river. If not, then objections may be made to the introduction of sewage from Newton, Watertown, and Waltham, into that stream. It is to be regretted that the whole subject of the drainage of Boston, and of its neigh- boring cities and towns, has not been committed by the authority of the State to a general commission, having power to prescribe a system for the whole metropolitan district, and to compel its adoption. But this has not been done, and it is manifest that for a term of years, whose limit cannot now be foreseen, the territory west of Brookline and Cambridge must be allowed to drain into the river. And we do not appre- hend that any serious inconvenience will result therefrom un- til after the population shall become much more numerous and dense than it is at present. But what is to be appre- hended is, complaints which may arise from the accumulation of sewage matter from other and larger sources, in the river and harbor below.
The fact that it is now impossible to foresee what may be required in the future is one important reason why the con- struction of a large and permanent drain leading from Maple Street to a point near the Arsenal should not hastily be en- tered upon. The outfall at that point will be at so low a grade that it will be impossible to connect that terminus of the drain with any drain to be constructed through Boston, so as to receive the sewage from Newton without resort to pumping, the expense of which should be avoided if possible. But if pumping must be resorted to, then it will be desirable that the large quantities of storm-water must be discharged from the sewers before arriving at that point. By an exam-
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ination of the profile* it will appear that in the lower portion of Maple Street it is designed to construct the drain with a descent of fourteen feet within the distance of about three hundred feet. In the line of this descent and near its upper portion is the proper place to commence the six foot brick drain to connect with the wooden drain below, which we have already indicated will be of sufficient capacity to meet all reasonable requirements for at least fifteen years, and probably for twenty-five years. If, at the end of such pericd, the discharge of the sewers into the river shall not be found to be so objectionable as to require a discontinuance of the practice, or a modification of the same so far as to exclude the dry-weather sewage, then, whenever required, the build- ing of the larger drain in place of the smaller brick and wooden structure may be effected. And by the time when the smaller drain shall become inadequate, we believe it will be definitely determined whether the sewage of Newton can or cannot be permitted to flow into the river. But if it shall be ascertained that the discharge of the principal portion of the sewage into the river must be stopped, then there can be constructed an intercepting sewer from Maple Street, by such route as may be found to be best, to and along the northerly slope of Brighton Hill to Faneuil, there connecting with a drain leading through Boston. This would also provide for the drainage of the northerly side of that hill. We think it is probable that this sewer could be constructed at such an elevation as would allow the sewage to pass from it, without pumping, into the connecting sewer. This intercepting sewer should have a capacity sufficient to receive the ordinary sew- age, but should not be designed to carry off large quantities of storm-water, which should be discharged either through an outlet into the river near the brook, or by way of the drain across the marsh. As it must not be assumed that any con- siderable portion of the rainfall in Newton will be conveyed
* The profile and plans of the Engineer are on file in the office of the City Clerk.
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by sewers through Boston, into the harbor, and we have not instituted any surveys concerning such intercepting sewer, and therefore do not submit any plan of the same, as we could not have done so without an additional appropriation having been granted, and the requirement for such a sewer is not sufficiently manifest at this time to call for further con- sideration from us.
Although drains of the size recommended by the engineer, above the point in Maple Street previously mentioned, will not actually be required for a number of years, yet it will not be expedient to construct them of any smaller dimensions than will be wanted within twenty-five or thirty years at least. A large part of such drains must necessarily be laid deep in the ground ; the cost of excavation will be large, and it would be unwise, in view of these facts, within that period to incur the expense of re-opening the ground and recon- structing the sewers, besides subjecting the citizens to the annoyance which would necessarily arise from the obstruction of the streets during the progress of the work, and also caus- ing no small injury to the surface of the streets. Could suit- able sewers be built with only comparatively slight excava- tions and in a favorable soil, then it might be expedient to introduce a system of smaller drains than the one recom- mended. But as the opposite from this will be the experi- ence of Newton in constructing its drains, it will be wise to largely anticipate future wants.
We have endeavored to recommend for Newton a system of sewers which may hereafter form a portion of a more gen- eral system, but anything which may be adopted by our municipality in this particular must necessarily be somewhat contingent, as to its forming a part of a greater whole, upon the developments and investigations of a not remote future. While we believe that the plan proposed is the only one which it would be wise to adopt at the present time, yet in view of what may possibly be required at no distant day, and of what scientific research may unfold, we believe that com-
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mon prudence and sagacity require that only such portions of the work should be entered upon as may from time to time become necessary.
It is not to be assumed, as is apparent from the views here- inbefore expressed, that the plan proposed is to be adhered to in every particular. On the contrary, in the execution of the work, it will probably be found that in some respects changes can be advantageously made. For instance, the route of the main sewer for Wards 2 and 3 is not given as the only one which is suitable. The engineer has indi- cated on his plans the general direction and course of that portion of the drain, but neither he nor the undersigned de- sire to be understood as prescribing the precise route. It was necessary to indicate a line, and this has been done, but it may be varied and the drain be constructed where the least cost of construction and the smallest injury to estates shall in a measure indicate, due regard being had to the local advantages to be derived from the drain itself.
The engineer in the plan proposed has taken into consider- ation the occurrence of freshets, when it is probable that the capacity of the main drain and the principal branches will be inadequate to carry off the sudden and large accumulations of surface-water, and he has suggested that the sewers be permitted to overflow, at suitable points, before reaching the outfall, the extent of such overflow to be determined by the local circumstances at each point. We desire to emphasize the caution which the engineer has expressed as to this mat- ter. And we regard his suggestion of so constructing the lateral branches that at points where the surface-water can otherwise be readily disposed of, only a limited portion of such water should be admitted, as being the method which will prove the more beneficial.
The very full and able presentation of the subject of drain- age, and of the different methods which have been practised in other countries, as set forth by the engineer in his report, renders it unnecessary for us to enter into any lengthy dis-
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cussion of the matter. Yet in view of its importance, of the attention which has recently been given to it, and of the ex- periments which have been commenced in our own neighbor- hood within the past few months, we deem it to be proper for us to state somewhat briefly the results of our observa- tions and the conclusions at which we have arrived.
It is generally known that for a year or more the town of Lenox, in this State, has had in use drains by which the sew- age is disposed of by filtration through tile pipes, and the sur- rounding soil prepared for that purpose. The situation of that town, the small amount of its sewage, the probable lim- ited increase of its population, the large areas of suitable land which can there be obtained for the purpose, without being in close proximity to numerous dwelling houses, and the lim- ited time which has elapsed since that experiment was under- taken, would not warrant us in recommending the adoption of a similar method for Newton, whose conditions and topo- graphy are somewhat peculiar.
During the present year, and within the past few months, the State, at its women's prison in Sherborn, has constructed and put in use a system of drainage under the direction of George Waring, jr., Esq., a well-known sanitary engineer. The prison has about five hundred inmates. The sewage, passing by drains outside the enclosure of the prison is there discharged into receiving basins, where the solid matter is retained ; the liquid then passes by means of a large pipe in- to a series of tile pipes, of two inches diameter, laid in rows six feet apart and ten inches below the surface of the ground ; from these pipes the sewage, escaping through the pores and at the joints, percolates through the soil, which has been pre- pared for that purpose, and passes downward to another series of similar small pipes, laid in rows twenty feet apart and four feet below the surface, and those pipes discharge in- to an open trench. What flows from these pipes has the appearance of pure water. These works have been in opera- tion only three or four months, and that period of time has
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been insufficient in which to test their adaptation for the purpose for which they were designed. We have examined the same, and from what we have observed and heard at the time of our visit, we were not favorably impressed. There was a very strong and disagreeable odor escaping from the ground in which the sewage was deposited, and we were told that, at times, the same was wafted into the prison and was exceedingly offensive. The tract of land in which the series of tile pipes are laid embraces about two and one-half acres, and is situated about forty or fifty rods from the buildings. It appeared to us that the character of the soil was not well adapted to the purpose, being wet, and not porous, and that it will soon become necessary to enlarge the filter-bed so as to contain an area of from five to eight acres, or even more. It will therefore be seen that unless the soil be light and well adapted to the purpose, more than an acre of land for a filter- bed will be required for every one hundred inhabitants ; but under the most favorable conditions as to soil, even if the bed be made to a considerable depth, taking into account the long winter season of our northern clime, we do not believe that it will be advantageous to have less than an acre of fil- ter-bed to every two hundred inhabitants. The liquid con- tents of the sewers is not, however, the only substance to be disposed of. The solid matter, or sludge, which is collected in the receiving basins, must be got rid of. It is worthless as manure. The quantity which would accumulate from the drainage of a city or large town would not be inconsiderable, and the expense of its removal would not be trivial.
Will such a system meet the requirements of Newton? Provision for the sewage from a territory to be occupied by not less than twenty thousand people must be made, other- wise the scheme would prove to be inadequate within a com- paratively short period. This would require the appropria- tion of one hundred acres of land, certainly not less than fifty acres, for filtration, either in one or several lots. We are not
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aware of any land in our city suitable for such a purpose, which can be so appropriated and which would be sufficiently remote from residences so as not to become a public nuisance. If there be no such land within the city limits, it cannot be expected that any neighboring town would assent to the dis- charge of the drainage of Newton within its borders, pro- vided it could readily be done. And we do not presume that it is practicable to dispose of the sewage from our muni- cipal limits by this method, without resort to pumping.
There is also a strong probability of another serious objec- tion which would arise if this method should be adopted. It is evident that if the sewage gases shall escape from the fil- tration bed and be borne by the winds from an eighth to half a mile, they will be highly detrimental to the health and comfort of those residing in its neighborhood. That this will not be the unavoidable consequence cannot be safely asserted from the results thus far realized at Sherborn. It has there been ascertained that the flow of the sewage from the prison into one acre of land containing the series of pipes, for a con- tinuous period of only four days, did not only thoroughly satu- rate the soil, but it also rose upon the surface of the ground and became stagnant, and as an inevitable consequence, large quantities of deleterious gases escaped into the air. If this be the result from the operation of the works for less than four months, what will be the effect when they shall have been in use for several years ?
Before passing from this part of our subject there is a seri- ous objection, to which allusion has already been made. The sewage from several portions of the city could not be dis- posed of in this way, even within the city limits, unless it should first be raised by pumping to a higher elevation. It would be somewhat expensive to do this, and from the best information which we have obtained, and the investigations thus far made, it would not be expedient at this time to adopt such a method of disposing of sewage in our northern
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situation, where for six months in every year there is no growth of vegetation, which would take up the sewage for plant nutriment. Furthermore, we do not think it would be feasible by this method to dispose of any considerable portion of the surface-water of the streets, gardens, or grounds. So far as this may be desirable, it is apparent that this system would not meet the reasonable expectation of our citizens. The necessity for the removal of the surface-water by sewers is not so manifest now as it will be when the population shall have doubled or quadrupled and the lands have been applied to such uses ås shall cause all water thereon to run quickly off into the streets. Any system of drainage which shall not provide for the reception of considerable quantities of surface- water in certain localities will, in the end, prove to be inade- quate and a source of disappointment.
We are aware that this system has a respectable number of advocates and the same has recently been freely discussed, and for these reasons the subject has been carefully reviewed by us and is here more fully treated of than it would other- wise have been. We have not perceived any cause for dis- senting from the opinion of our engineer ; on the contrary, a re-examination of the subject has strengthened us in the con- viction that the general views and conclusions expressed by him are correct. Nevertheless, it will be the part of wisdom not to be unmindful of the experiments and investigations now being made, as the results may be such as to justify a modification of the system recommended. It is certainly de- sirable that some means be discovered whereby, without dis- proportionate expense, the purification of sewage by its appli- cation to the land, without being harmful in a sanitary point of view, can be secured. If, however, there be an urgent demand for drainage, it will not be wise to await the results of incomplete experiments, but drains should be constructed upon the plan which, from practical tests, gives promise of the greatest utility. And if, in the judgment of the public
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authorities of Newton, it be deemed necessary to enter at once upon the construction of drainage works, we unhesitat- ingly say that the plan proposed by the engineer, as modi- fied in this report, is the one, in the light of present know- ledge, best adapted to meet the wants of our city and citi- zens.
It will be observed that the engineer has not, in his report, made provision for the draining of the two villages at the Upper Falls and the Lower Falls, as the sewage from those places could not be carried by gravitation into the main drain. Should the method now in use at Sherborn afford sufficient promise of utility in our climate, it may be found to be practicable to apply that system, with some modifications, to those villages, provided land suitable for filtration beds, sufficiently remote from dwelling-houses, can be obtained for that purpose.
Before closing this report, your Commissioners beg leave to call your attention to the authority conferred by chapter 69, of the statutes of 1878, to establish grade lines for drain- age and sewerage, within such portions of the territory of the city, as may from time to time be found to be expedient. The exercise of this authority is vested in the Board of Al- dermen. The statute provides that after such lines shall have been established, no building shall be erected or cellar constructed, below such grade lines.
It is unnecessary to recite here all the provisions of the statute ; but if they be applied and enforced, it is manifest that the operation of the law will greatly tend to promote the public health, and, in a pecuniary point of view, be highly advantageous to the city.
The failure to establish such lines in the cities of Boston and Cambridge has cost those cities respectively large sums of money, and they have been compelled, at great expense, to remedy evils which ought to have been prevented. Newton should learn from their experiences not to delay action, but
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should at once enter upon the work of establishing lines as authorized by the statute. Already houses have been erected on lands in various parts of the city at too low a grade, and if the continuance of such a course be not stayed, our city, at no distant day, will be involved in a matter of no small diffi- culty and cost. After the difficulty shall exist, the city authorities will be brought in direct conflict with the owners of the houses on these low lands, and although they may have the power granted to them sufficient to enable them to successfully deal with the grievance,- yet it is almost an in- variable rule that any interference with private property, in such cases, is at the cost of the public. The recent experi- ence of Cambridge is a good illustration. Under a special statute, that city required certain large tracts of land to be filled to a prescribed grade, and the houses thereon to be raised in conformity therewith, and as the owners did not comply with the direction, the city caused the work to be done, and thereupon assessed the cost of the work on the respective estates. But the legislature, in order to protect the citizens from hardship or oppression, had inserted in the statute a pro- vision that any person, instead of paying his assessment, might surrender his estate to the city and be paid its value, independent of the benefit arising from the work. The result was that the city became the owner, by surrender, of estates to the amount of about a quarter of a million of dol- lars, and was compelled to pay for the same an amount greater, in many instances, than the property with the im- provements could be sold for by it. And in some instances, the city abated seven-eighths of the particular assessments, in order to effect settlements and avoid surrenders.
We assume that our labors as Commissioners terminate with the presentation of this report. The duty assigned to us was not free from difficulty, but we trust that the manner in which it has been discharged by us will be conducive to the interests of the city and of our fellow-citizens. In clos-
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