USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1879-1880 > Part 18
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* 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 as 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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ing, we cheerfully express our approval of the attention which the engineer has given to the subject, and our appre- ciation of the valuable assistance and suggestions which we have received from him.
All of which is most respectfully submitted.
CHAS. ROBINSON, JR., E. W. CONVERSE, Commissioners. J. FRANKLIN FULLER,
NEWTON, December 27, 1879.
REPORT OF THE ENGINEER.
To HON. CHARLES ROBINSON, Jr., r Commissioners on Sewerage for the E. W. CONVERSE, Esq., City of Newton.
J. FRANKLIN FULLER, Esq.,
GENTLEMEN : - I now present my report in relation to the matters which you have referred to me.
THE DISPOSAL OF THE SEWAGE
is the first subject for consideration.
The principal means of disposal of water-carried sewage may be divided into three classes.
1st. Treatment for coagulation and subsidence, by the aid of chemicals.
2d. Application to land.
3d. Discharge directly or indirectly into the sea.
TREATMENT BY THE AID OF CHEMICALS.
This treatment, in some of the numerous "precipitation processes," has been practiced to some extent in England for more than thirty years. The hope at first entertained of making valuable manures in this way, has now been gen- erally abandoned. The sewage is clarified by the removal of part of the matter in suspension, but the fertilizing elements are chiefly in solution and are not extracted to any great ex- tent by these processes. Hence the precipitated sludge has but little value as manure. Formerly, farmers would some- times pay a trifle for some of it for use near where it was produced.
" At Birmingham there is now no serious attempt to sell
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the sewage-sludge, but it is at great cost, £14, 10s. per acre, dug into a portion of the farm land, at a rate of about one acre per week ; or at a loss of about £750 a year. At Leeds, Bradford, Bolton, and at Coventry, thousands of tons of ex- tracted sewer-sludge remain to cumber the works."
Perhaps the most successful application of a precipitation process, in a sanitary point of view, at present in operation, is at Coventry, in England.
This city has about forty thousand inhabitants, living in ten thousand four hundred houses. Private water-works supply about seven hundred and twenty thousand imperial gallons of water per day; there are also twenty-one public wells and many private wells, from which a considerable number of the people obtain water, so that the consumption for domestic purposes is estimated at twenty-five gallons per day per in- habitant.
There are five thousand water-closets and numerous silk- dying works, breweries, oil and varnish works, etc., from which refuse liquids pass into the sewers. Large quantities of subsoil water also leak in, so that the ordinary daily flow through the sewers is two million gallons, or fifty gallons per day per inhabitant.
The "General Sewage and Manure Company, Limited," took the sewage and a few acres of land under a fourteen years' lease, at a rental of £75 per annum. Works were built at a cost of twelve thousand pounds, and got into oper- ation about five years ago. The sewage was first strained, then treated with chemicals and run into large tanks to allow the sludge to settle ; after which the water was drawn off and run through a filter consisting of about four and a half acres of loamy land with sub-drains about five feet deep. These drains discharge into the river Sherbourne, which is a small and rather sluggish stream about ten feet wide. Its natural flow is sometimes not more than half as large as the volume of sewage-water turned into it from the Coventry works. In other words, it is a stream about twice as large as Cheese-cake brook, at West Newton.
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It was reported that the sludge amounted to about thirty tons per day, and cost, in its wet state, about 4s. 10d. per ton. A part of it was dried by centrifugal machines and artificial heat, and in this state it cost £2, 10s. per ton. The sludge could not be sold, either wet or dry, at anything near its cost, and hence the drying by artificial heat was abandoned. In January, 1876, after special exertions, three hundred and fifty tons of sludge direct from the subsidence tanks were taken or ordered by neighboring farmers, at 3s. per ton, or six- ty-two per cent of its cost.
In April, 1877, the engineer of the company reported that the cost for each million gallons of sewage treated was £4, 14s. He also says : " The sales of manure, according to the books, have been at rates varying from 4s. a ton for sludge containing about sixty-five per cent of moisture, to 40s. a ton for dried manure containing ten per cent of moisture." Ac- cording to this, the cost for treating two million gallons per day would be £3,430 per annum, and from all the informa- tion attainable, it seems probable that the company lost at least £3,000 every year.
It might reasonably be inferred that the company could not long continue at this rate ; and in the latter part of 1876, the Town Council appointed a committee to investigate mat- ters, and they reported in favor of continuing the system. In May, 1877, a new contract for carrying on the works was made with the " Rivers Purification Association, Limited." The terms of this contract are not made public.
After the sewage is strained, it is dosed with a cheap salt of alumina (obtained by treating the shale found in the coal and iron-stone formations with sulphuric acid) ; lime is then added to the mixture, and subsidence and filtration fol- low, as before described. The cost of the chemicals is about £1, 13s. per million gallons of manufacturing sewage, and about £1, 2s. 6d. per million gallons of domestic sewage. It should be observed that this cost is for sewage diluted to the rate of fifty gallons per day per inhabitant.
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The chemical treatment is not continuous, however ; all the sewage from 11 P. M. till 5.30 A. M. flows through the settling tanks and on to the filtering area without any ad- mixture of chemicals.
The drying of the sludge by artificial heat is definitely abandoned, and no return from sales of sludge is now relied upon.
In applying this process, it is desirable to find a location for the works to which the sewage can be carried by gravita- tion, and at a good distance from other buildings, so that un- der proper restrictions, the odors will not make a nuisance. As the effluent water after the treatment retains a large part of the soluble and putrescible sewage matter, unless it is thor- oughly filtered through land, it must be carried in covered sewers to some stream or body of water large enough to dilute it with several times its own volume of nearly pure water.
In the case of Newton, there may be some question whether locations sufficiently remote from buildings can be secured. The best approximation would seem to be as fol- lows :- carry the sewage of Wards 1 and 7, and part of Ward 2, to the marsh between Newton and Faneuil, and the rest of the sewage to the bank of the Charles river at the mouth of Cheese-cake brook. This could be done without pumping, and probably the effluent-water could safely be dis- charged into the river in both cases, though some people might be unduly alarmed and object to a discharge at the last-mentioned place. The sludge would have to be carried away to land dry enough to receive it without offence. At present the nearest houses are about a quarter of a mile from each of these locations. Probably objections, whether rea- sonable or not, would be made by the owners of adjoining lands against the treatment of sewage on a large scale at either of these places.
The first cost of conducting the sewage to these locations, and of land and plant for carrying on the process, would
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probably be as great as for carrying the same amount of sew- age to an outfall opposite the Arsenal grounds, as hereinafter recommended.
A large part of the usefulness of an ordinary system of sewers consists in its ability to carry away the rain-water from the streets. The first run of street-water at the begin- ning of rainfalls is often more filthy than ordinary dry- weather sewage.
A very large part of the sediment deposited in streams by sewers comes from the streets during storms. Hence precip- itation works should be large enough to take care of a storm- flow considerably greater than the ordinary dry-weather run.
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