USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1887 > Part 24
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He shall also keep a full record of the name of each water-taker, the location and description of the building in which the water is used, the character of its use, the kind of service, the quantity supplied, and the amount charged therefor, all properly arranged for convenient reference.
He shall also keep a full record of the amount of water daily pumped, consumed, and in store; and, generally, of all facts pertaining to the condition and use of the works that may be desirable for reference.
He shall perform any other duties prescribed by the Board.
SECT. 4. The Water Board shall have the general super- vision and management of the water works, and shall have power to appoint, hire, dismiss, discharge, and fix the com- pensation of such other officers and employees of the de- partment (except Superintendent and Registrar) as they shall deem necessary for a proper transaction of its business.
SECT. 5. The Board shall annually, in the month of Jan- uary, present to the City Council a report to and including the thirty-first day of December of the preceding year, con- taining a full statement of the doings of the department, of the condition of the work, and such other matters as they may deem proper.
SECT. 6. The Board shall annually, in the month of Sep- tember, submit to the Committee on Finance of the City Council an estimate in writing of the receipts and expendi- tures of the department for the ensuing year.
SECT. 7. All bills and vouchers of purchases for the department, and pay-rolls and other bills for labor, shall be approved in writing by at least three members of the Board.
SECT. 8. All books of account and records in the depart-
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ment shall, at times, be open to the inspection of any committee of the City Council designated to examine them.
SECT. 9. The Board shall attach a meter to all services supplying other fixtures than faucets; also to fixtures supplying only faucets where more than three are used. The Board shall also furnish meters to all water-takers who desire to use them, regardless of the fixtures supplied.
All meters hereafter set shall be furnished, maintained, and renewed at the cost of the city, and the Board shall charge an annual' rental therefor ; provided, nevertheless, that any meter injured through the negligence of a water- taker, or by frost, shall be repaired at his expense.
SECT. 10. All premises where water is taken may at any reasonable time be inspected by a properly authorized officer of the department; and full authority is hereby given to the Board to order such inspection whenever they deem it for the interests of the department that it be made.
SECT. 11. The owner and the occupant of the premises in which water is used, who fails to protect his meter from frost, or fails to keep the service pipes and fixtures in good order, and neglects to repair them in three days after they have become defective, or neglects to shut off the water to prevent waste, shall be liable to a forfeiture of two dollars; and if the forfeiture is not paid within two days after notice, the water shall be cut off and shall not be let on until the waste is stopped and the fine is paid, together with two dollars for shutting off and letting on the water.
In case of a second offence within one year the water shall be shut off, and shall not be let on except by a vote of the Board, and the payment of such forfeit, not exceed- ing ten dollars, as the Board may impose.
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SECT. 12. Applications for service pipes shall be made upon blank forms furnished at the office of the Board ; when the estimated cost of the applicant's part has been deposited, the pipes shall be laid. From the main to the street line the work shall be done at the expense of the city, the remainder at the cost of the applicant. The account shall be adjusted, and any balance paid, before the water is turned on.
SECT. 13. Extensions of main pipe shall only be made when authorized by an order of the City Council. Appli- cations therefore must be made upon the blanks furnished by the Board, upon which shall be indorsed the estimate of the cost of the extension desired. No such application shall be considered by the Board unless accompanied by a written agreement, binding the applicant, or other responsible party, to guarantee the city annually, for at least five years, a sum equal to five per cent of the total cost of the extension. All receipts for water sold from such extension, and no other, shall be credited to the party making such guaranty as payments upon account of same.
Applications for extension of mains through private ways or grounds shall in no case be granted unless the owner thereof executes a proper instrument, securing to the city the right of permanent occupation, free from any acts of interference that shall affect the safety of the pipe, and securing to the department free right of entrance for pur- poses of its inspection and maintenance. Nothing in this section, however, shall be construed as affecting the right of the City Council to authorize the extension of a water main without guaranty, if, upon a vote taken by yea and nay, two- thirds of the members of each branch present and voting shaH vote to do so.
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SECT. 14. All bills for water, including the minimum charge for water furnished by meter, shall be payable to the Treasurer in advance, on the first day of March annually. Bills for specific supplies, or for a part of the year, and fines and penalties, shall be paid before the water is let on. Where water is supplied by meter, the excess over minimum rates shall be payable semi-annually, on the first day of March and of September, for the six months next proceeding.
SECT. 15. In every case of non-payment of the water rent for thirty days after the same is due, the Board shall cause a written demand to be left at the premises where the water is taken; and unless the rent is paid within three days thereafter, together with twenty cents for the demand, the Board shall cut off the supply. The water shall not be let on until the amount due, together with said fee, and two dollars for the shutting off and letting on, is paid, whether other persons taking water through the service pipe are delinquent or not. In every case of non-payment of water rent, the owner of the premises, whether he is the occupant or not, shall be required to pay the same, and all charges connected there- with, provided he has been duly notified of the use of water, and has made no objection.
Whenever the water is shut off by request of plumbers for the sake of making repairs, except those named in Section 11, the charge for shutting off and letting on shall be one dollar.
SECT. 16. The annual price or rent to be paid for the use of meters and for water shall be in accordance with the following schedule.
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The Board is hereby authorized to make abatements and rebates in all proper cases; no special rates, however, shall be allowed. In any case not provided for by the schedule, the Board shall set a meter, and charge for the water at meter rate.
SCHEDULE OF RATES.
Dwelling Houses.
If occupied by one family, one faucet $6 00 Each additional faucet, not exceeding two 2 00
One faucet used by two or more families, each family using 4 00 Set wash-tubs, not more than three in a set, each set, 1 00
For all other fixtures, the water to be supplied through meters at following rates : -
For Consumption Averaging Daily for Six Months.
Under 3,000 gallons per day (per thousand gal.), 35 cts.
Over 3,000 gal. and under 6 per day
66
66
30 “
“ 6,000 “ 66 10,000 “ 66
66 21 "
" 10,000 66 20,000 " 66
66 19 « " 20,000 66 66 30,000 " 66
66 15 «
30,000 gals. and over per day 66 66 12 «
(Each meter to be subject to a minimum charge of $10.00 per annum:)
SECT. 17. Any plumber, or other person, who shall make any alteration in, or addition to, any water-pipe or fixture, except so far as a written permit therefor has been given by the Board, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding twenty dollars.
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SECT. 18. Whoever opens any hydrant, or removes the cap thereof, or opens or makes any connection with the pipe or reservoir, or turns off or on the water in the pipe or reservoir, without the permission of the Board, except in case of fire, shall be liable to a penalty of not less than three, nor more than twenty dollars ; provided, however, that in case of emergency the water may be turned off by any employee of the city, who shall, in such case, immediately give notice at the office of the Board.
SECT. 19. Whoever, without the authorization of the Board, fishes in the reservoir or filter basin, or discharges any gun or firearm upon the same or on the grounds con- nected therewith, or bathes therein, or places or uses any boat therein, or posts any bill, placard, or advertisement within the said grounds, shall be liable to a fine of not less than five nor more than fifty dollars for each offence; and the Board is hereby authorized to exclude the public from any or all grounds of the department, whenever such exclusion may be deemed by them necessary for the proper protection of the works.
SECT. 20. No water shall be sold to parties outside of the city.
SECT. 21. This amendment shall take effect, in so far as it relates to meters, on March 1, 1887; in all other respects it shall take effect upon its passage.
RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE NEWTON WATER DEPARTMENT.
SECTION 1.
Office.
1. The office of the Water Board is hereby established in the room at City Hall now occupied by the Water Regis- trar.
SECTION 2.
Organization.
1. Besides the offices of Water Registrar and Superinten- dent established by ordinance, the permanent organization of the department shall be as follows : -
A civil engineer, an inspector of meters and fixtures, a pumping engineer, a fireman, a main-pipe foreman, a service- pipe foreman, three teamsters, and a clerk in the office of the Water Board. It is understood that the City Engineer is the civil engineer of this department.
SECTION 3.
Water Registrar.
1. The Water Registrar shall be the clerk and executive officer of the Board ; all orders and communications of the Board shall be signed by, or given through, him, and shall be obeyed and respected accordingly.
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2. He shall assess the water rates according to the tariff established by ordinance. He shall make out and distribute bills, exercise a constant supervision over the use of water, and attend to the enforcement of all regulations relating thereto.
3. He shall issue the orders of the Board for the laying of main and service pipe only after the requirements of the ordinance shall have been fulfilled ; and in no case shall he order an extension in a private way until he has received a certificate from the City Engineer that said way is graded to proper level.
4. He shall be especially careful to see that the require- ment of the ordinance regarding the pre-payment of water rates is strictly enforced, and in no event shall he order water turned on till the bill therefor shall have been paid.
5. He shall annually, on or before the first day of Septem- ber, lay before the Board an estimate in detail of the appro- priations required by the department, and of its income, for the next financial year.
6. He shall receive a daily report from the other officers of the department of the progress and condition of the work in their charge, and shall make a weekly report to the Board thereupon.
7. He shall keep copies or memoranda of all orders from the office and the reports of other officers closely posted up, and will be held responsible for the proper condition of the . books, papers, and work of the office, as also for the due per- formance of the duties imposed upon him by ordinance.
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SECTION 4.
Superintendent.
1. The office of the Superintendent is hereby established at the pipe yard at Newtonville.
2. The Superintendent shall have general charge of the out-of-door work. No new work shall be undertaken by him without the order of the Board; any work of maintenance, however, necessary to be performed without delay, may be done without said order, the Superintendent immediately reporting thereon to the Registrar.
3. He shall have control of the laborers and other employees engaged upon work under his charge. He shall have power to hire and discharge day laborers, and to sus- pend any other of his employees, giving immediate notice of such suspension to the Board for its action.
4. He will be held responsible for the good conduct of the men under his direction, the condition of the water, of the reservoir and its grounds, of the grounds about the pump- ing station, the basin and grounds in Needham, the piping, gates, hydrants, and other appurtenances of the department plant, and all tools and property at the pipe yard.
5. He will be watchful to prevent or remedy any defect in a street or sidewalk resulting from the presence of main or service pipe or their appurtenances.
6. Before leaving his office he will report to the water office where he may be found while absent, and the time of his expected return.
7. He shall make daily reports to the Water Registrar of the progress and condition of work in his charge.
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SECTION 5.
Inspector.
1. The Inspector, under the charge of the Registrar, shall make inspections of the fixtures and meters in service, at such times as the Registrar shall deem expedient, and he shall, in general, act as chief assistant to the Registrar.
2. He shall have charge of testing, setting, and repairing meters, and shall keep careful record of the dates and results of all tests made; of the condition of all meters removed for repairs, both before and after repairs are made, with the date of their removal and resetting. He shall also keep a careful record of the cost of setting, repairing, inspecting, and renewing all meters, and a record showing the work per- formed by all meters from the date of setting, with the annual and aggregate expense of their maintenance, com- puted both per meter and per 100,000 feet of water regis- tered.
3. He shall make daily reports to the Water Registrar of the condition and progress of the work under his charge.
SECTION 6.
Engineer.
1. Upon receipt of orders therefor from the Board, the City Engineer shall, within twenty-four hours, establish lines and grades for the extension of all water-mains, and shall take such measurements of main and service pipe extensions, and their appurtenances, as will enable him to correctly locate and plat the same; he shall keep the returns from the pumping engineer closely posted up, and shall plat therefrom a diagram showing the engine duty.
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2. He shall make a daily report to the Water Registrar of the progress and condition of the work under his charge.
3. He shall perform such other duties as the Board may from time to time by vote require of him.
SECTION 7.
Pumping Engineer.
1. The pumping engineer shall be held responsible for the good condition of the pumping station, machinery, fixtures, furniture, tools, and other property of the depart- ment therein contained.
2. It shall be his personal duty to keep the engines, pumps, and engine-room in a neat and proper condition.
3. He shall be entitled to one day's leave of absence in each week, provided such absence will not interfere with the proper prosecution of the work of the department, but he shall not absent himself from the pumping station or its immediate vicinity without permission asked and obtained from the water office.
4. He shall keep closely posted up the book of record of the pumping engine, which will be furnished him.
5. He shall make a daily report to the Water Registrar of the height of water in the well and river; the quantity of water pumped, and of coal consumed, and of the general condition of the pumping station, and of the work under his charge. He shall also make weekly reports to the City Engineer of the engine record, upon blanks to be furnished him.
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SECTION 8.
Fireman.
1. The fireman shall, under the supervision of the pumping engineer, attend to the firing of the boilers, and perform all work incidental thereto; it shall be his personal duty to keep boilers, furnaces, boiler-room, coal-room, and other adjuncts to the boiler-room in a neat and proper condition.
2. He shall not absent himself from the pumping station without permission of the pumping engineer, but shall be entitled to one day's leave of absence in each week, when such absence will not interfere with the proper performance of his duties.
3. He shall keep a careful record of the amount of coal used, and the purpose of its use.
SECTION 9.
Employees.
1. The foreman of main and service pipe and two of the teamsters shall at all times be under the direction of the Superintendent; the other teamster shall be also under the direction of the Superintendent at such times as his services are not required by the Inspector. The clerk in the Water Board office shall be under the direction of the Water Registrar.
SECTION 10.
General Rules.
1. The matter of employment and discharge of other assistance than labor shall be exercised only by the Board.
2. The Board shall establish the compensation of all employees of the department, under the ordinance, and no
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change in compensation of any employee shall be made without the consent of the Board.
3. No expenditure whatever shall be incurred by any employee of the department without authority therefor from the Board.
4. The Board desires that it shall be distinctly understood by all employees, that the department expects, in return for the pay attached to their several positions, the whole of their time, and the best of their ability. No extra pay for work directly connected with their duties will be allowed to persons whose pay is fixed by the month or year, and no absence from duty without leave will be permitted.
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A BIOLOGICAL EXAMINATION OF THE WATER SUPPLY OF NEWTON, MASS.
[Published by courtesy of the authors.]
BY W. T. SEDGWICK, PH. D., AND S. R. BARTLETT, S.B.
READ BEFORE THE SOCIETY OF ARTS, JAN. 12, 1888.
THE city of Newton gets its water from a filter-basin 1,575 feet long, running alongside the Charles River in the town of Needham. The water in the filter-basin is pumped by engines in a pumping-station near by, to a reservoir some four miles distant on Waban Hill, from which it flows by gravity to all parts of the city. In the spring of 1887 the authors made, in the Biological Laboratory of the Institute of Technology, a quantitative bacteriological examination of the water from the Charles River, the filter-basin, the reser- voir on Waban Hill, and the tap in the city of Newton, estimating carefully the number of bacteria and moulds in equal samples of water taken from the different localities on the same successive days. At the same time, Mrs. Richards and Mr. Bartlett carried on a chemical examination of sim- ilar samples in the Institute Laboratory of Sanitary Chem- istry. In the course of the investigations 145 biological and 117 chemical analyses were made, and all the work was done between April 1 and May 15.
The method employed in the biological examinations was the well-known gelatine plate-culture method of Koch. The usual accessory apparatus was employed, and need not be described. The principle underlying the method is this :
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By mixing a known volume of the water under examination with a much larger volume of so-called "sterilized nutrient gelatine," the germs in the water are first separated some- what widely from each other in the melted gelatine; and afterward, when the gelatine has been poured out on a cool plate carefully levelled, are kept separate and isolated by the stiffened mass. They are thus held securely apart, but may still easily grow and multiply in the nutrient mass, enriched as it is by meat extract, peptone, etc. At first the gelatine appears perfectly clear and pure ; but after a day or two, comparatively opaque whitish or yellowish dots or islands may be detected, due to the rapid, though localized, increase of the germs. Each of these dots, if caused by bacteria, is called a "colony," and is taken to represent one "germ " in the original water, provided the gelatine used was properly sterilized, i.e., freed from all living germs. Moulds have an equally characteristic, though different appearance, and thus both may be recognized after a time, and the total number of living " germs " in the original sample readily and accu- rately estimated.
The water brought in for examination was collected and transported with great care in small glass-stoppered bottles holding about 60 c.c. These were carefully cleaned, and enclosed in tin canisters made to fit them rather tightly, and all were thoroughly sterilized at 160° C. in the hot-air sterilizer. The tin covering prevented any accumulation of dust around the stopper, and allowed, without injury, con- siderable knocking about in transportation. In getting the sample of water desired, the bottle was taken from its case, rinsed in the water to be collected, held well under, and filled by lifting the stopper. It was then returned to its tin
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case, and thus conveyed to the laboratory, where the culture was made, usually within three hours from the time of collection.
Some of the more important results are indicated in the following tables : -
NUMBER OF BACTERIA PER CUBIC CENTIMETER OF WATER.
1887.
Charles River.
Filter Basin.
Waban Hill Reservoir.
A Tap in Newton.
April 1 .
315
15
-
6.
267
80
Apr. 11, 18
8
18.
220
48
48
6
27.
175
40
20
0
May 1.
200
15
10
4
9.
150
64
18
Apr. 29, 12
Averages . .
221
43
23
6
BACTERIOLOGICAL COMPARISON OF THE TAP WATER OF NEWTON AND BOSTON (BACK BAY) DURING ONE WEEK.
COLONIES PER C.C., NEWTON.
COLONIES PER C.C., BOSTON.
DATE.
A
B
A
B
May 6
0
4
48
60
7
6
12
30
8
Sunday.
Sunday.
Sunday.
44 Sunday.
9
8
14
40
52
10
0
4
24
60
11
2
4
28
32
12
0
S
25
35
13
12
15
55
65
Averages .
6
43
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Average number of bacteria per c.c. found in the water from
Newton (tap) . 6
Boston (tap on the Back Bay)
43
Mystic (tap in Charlestown) 204
Spot Pond (pond)
38
Spot Pond (tap in Medford)
10
Jamaica Plain (Boston High Service) 52
The first table shows a considerable and constant differ- ence in the abundance of living bacteria in the several waters examined, and indicates a progressive purity, in this respect, as the water nears the point of consumption. The largest difference between successive samples is that between the river water and that in the filter-basin, and this is easily explained by a consideration of the conditions prevailing in each. The river is an ordinary stream, draining a rather thickly inhabited country, and hence is more or less polluted. The filter-basin, on the contrary, although dug parallel to the river and near it, probably gets from it little or no water. This comes instead from the other direction, owing to the slope of the adjacent country ; and especially from eight artesian wells driven in its bottom to a depth of thirty feet, where they penetrate a quicksand and a gravel overlying bed-rock inclined toward the river. Thus it comes about that the water in the filter-basin is sometimes higher than that in the river, and always far more constant in temperature; and thus, too, it happens that the water of the river contained 221 germs per cubic centimeter in April and May, 1887, while that in the filter-basin showed only 43. The filter- basin, even to the naked eye, was much cleaner and purer than the river, although it contained a very considerable amount of filamentous algæ, - principally Zygnema. It is
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less easy to explain the progressive decrease of bacteria from the filter-basin to the tap, but it is perhaps not unreasonable to suppose that the stock of organic matter, i.e., of food for the germs, in this (principally) artesian water was originally small, and gradually fell short.
The Newton water supply is generally regarded as very superior ; and, as will be seen by inspection of the above tables, the biological examination, as far as it goes, abun- dantly confirms this view.
CHEMICAL EXAMINATION.1
While the biological analyses just described were going on, a considerable number of chemical analyses of the Newton water was carried out in the Institute Laboratory of Sanitary Chemistry.
These chemical analyses of the water were likewise all made between the first of April and the middle of May, 1887, - a season which presumably would give as widely varying results as any season of the year.
From the accompanying table it will be seen that the amount of free ammonia was found to be more variable than that of the albuminoid ammonia. It seems to be also defi- nitely established that the analysis of one sample of water, taken on a certain day at a certain season of the year, ordinarily gives no correct indication of the condition of the water the year round, since certain local causes may, for a few days, exercise a marked influence.
It will further be seen that the water was chemically (as well as bacteriologically) better when drawn from the tap than when taken from the reservoir or the filter-basin. This may perhaps be accounted for by assuming that some of the
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