USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1890 > Part 20
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REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
SECT. 13. The crown of each sewer laid out by the City Council shall be established as the grade for drainage and sewerage for the territory for which such sewer is so laid out. The bottom of the cellar or basement cellar of every building shall be constructed at such an elevation that the private drain or private sewer from said cellar or base- ment cellar shall have a fall of at least one in fifty to the crown of the main drain or common sewer, unless the City Council shall otherwise permit. If any person constructs or attempts to construct or use any cellar or basement cellar in violation of this section, the City Council may order the owner or occupant of such cellar or basement cellar, so to alter and construct the same, as to conform to the require- ments hereof; and if such owner or occupant fails to comply with such order within ten days after service thereof accord- ing to law, said City Council may cause the required alter- ations to be made therein, the expense whereof shall consti- tute a lien upon the land wherein such cellar or basement cellar shall be constructed, and upon the building or build- ings thereon erected, and may be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon real estate.
SECT. 14. Section (4) four of ordinance (XVI) six- teen, relating to highway department, streets and ways, of the Municipal Register of 1883, is hereby repealed.
SEWERS.
REPORT OF THE CITY ENGINEER.
WEST NEWTON, MASS., Dec. 6, 1890.
To the Joint Special Committee on Sewerage.
GENTLEMEN :
In accordance with the orders of the City Government, I herewith respectfully submit plans and profiles for the drainage system of the City of Newton.
Topographical maps of the city, showing the elevation and change in the levels of all the streets, streams, brooks, etc., were made in the summer and fall of 1889, and a study for a system of sewerage and drainage was begun.
The order of the City Government directing the mak- ing of surveys, plans of land and the examination of the titles of the various estates seized in Needham and Newton, from which to obtain an additional water supply; the order for plans, contracts and specifications for extending and im- proving the water supply of the city; a block system for the Assessors, necessitating a complete survey of Wards Three and Four, and the current engineering work of the city, demanded all the office room, and services of such help as was available, and finding I could obtain the services of Mr. Edward A. Buss, of Boston, who was an assistant in
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this office in 1874 and 1875, and assistant in charge of the pipe laying, during the construction of the water works in 1876 and 1877, and afterwards as assistant for Mr. Edward Sawyer, performing work upon the plans for the system of sewerage for the city, as reported upon by the Sewerage Commissioners in 1878, I deemed the best interests of the city could be served by placing a portion of the work in his hands. He being thoroughly familiar with the topography of the city, an engineer of excellent judgment and a rapid workman, I feel that better results have been thus obtained than in any other way available.
Profiles of all the streets and brooks have been made on a reducted scale and compiled in a compact form for ready reference. The lines for the routes of the sewers and drains have been laid down on the plans, their grades shown on the profiles, and their proper size has been estimated.
In order to get the best results I have from time to time consulted with Mr. Rudolph Hering, civil engineer of New York, and Mr. Eliot C. Clarke of Boston, upon certain initial points upon which the engineering profession still differ in opinion as to the best practice.
Before describing the system proposed, I take the liberty to refer to the methods of drainage usually adopted ; which may be sub-divided, or classed as surface, house and sub-soil drainage. Surface drainage should provide ample channels for taking the water, which falls upon the surface of the ground, thereby preventing the flooding of land upon which dwellings have been built, and for draining lands which would otherwise be wet and unhealthy. It should also provide for taking the water by under ground channels, from the streets at frequent intervals, thereby preventing the excessive washing of the surface and effecting a saving in the cost of their maintenance.
House drainage, or what is commonly spoken of as sewerage, should provide for taking all waste or drainage
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from the buildings and conveying it rapidly to some point of discharge before putrifaction has taken place.
Sub-soil drainage should provide channels for convey- ing and lowering the level of the ground water, below that of the basement of the buildings, thereby preventing the annoyance of wet basements, and by the presence of air in the soil accomplishing its purification, and increasing the healthfulness of the dwelling houses.
In compactly built cities, located near large bodies of water into which the sewage can be discharged by gravity and without being treated, all three methods of drainage can usually be best accomplished by one set of covered channels or sewers. In sparsely populated districts, where the volume of sewage to be provided for is small, or where it has to be treated or purified before its final discharge, or where the surface water can be readily discharged into local streams, the house sewage should usually be taken in sewers separate from the surface drains.
The question of the method of disposal and collection of the house sewage of the City of Newton has been settled by the passage of the chapter 430 of the Acts of the State Legislature of 1889, (see Appendix A), which created the Metropolitan Drainage Commission and provides for the construction of an intercepting sewer, to be known as the Metropolitan sewer, from the Waltham line through Newton nearly parallel with the Charles river, and connecting with the main intercepting sewer of the City of Boston.
It is intended to take merely the domestic sewage which will be discharged in deep water off Moon island, in Boston harbor, and is designed of a size to provide for a maximum discharge of 15 96-100 cubic feet per second from the City of Newton.
On account of the probability of having to pay for the maintenance of said intercepting sewer in proportion to the amount of sewage discharged into it, and of the liability of
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reaching the limit of the capacity of the sewer at an earlier date than it was designed for, it is desirable to prevent any excess of water from entering the sewer, beyond what is necessary for flushing it.
In many portions of the city the water is retained in the ground at so high a level as to cause inconvenience and render many of the houses unhealthy and damp from the presence of several inches of feet of water in their cellar. In order to get the full benefit of the sewerage system it is imperative that this ground water should be taken away. This is usually accomplished by building the storm water or surface water sewers at a depth below the level of the bot- tom of the cellar to be drained, or by laying tile pipe parallel with the house sewers and connecting them with it at con- venient points. Allowing the ground water to enter direct into the house sewer would tend at times to surcharge it, or render necessary the construction of a larger sewer than would be otherwise required. It would not serve to flush it at such times as would be necessary, and would largely in- crease the cost of pumping the sewage, which would be an element of cost annually assessed upon the city.
The extra cost of constructing a storm water or surface drain in all of the streets and at such a depth as would be necessary to drain the basement of all of the houses, would be in excess of the benefit thereby derived.
The plan which I herewith submit provides for the con- struction of a sub-soil drain immediately below the proposed house sewer which will have branches from which a sub-soil drain can be laid to the house at the same time the connec- tion with the sewer is made. These sub-soil drains being laid with open joints will take the ground water along the line of the sewer, and will reduce to a certain extent the cost of the construction of said sewer, rendering possible the construction of a smaller sewer by preventing the infiltration of ground water. They can be brought to the surface and
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connected with the surface drain or discharged into brooks at such points as the slope will warrant.
The outlet provided for the sewage by the Metropolitan Commission will meet the requirements of the city for many years, but must ultimately be supplemented by the high level system (see report of Eliot C. Clarke on main drainage works of the City of Boston, page 23,) or a secondary low level intercepting sewer.
Anticipating the possible construction of a high level intercepting sewer at some future date, the plan proposed shows the sewer pipes in two colors. The blue color indi- cating the low level system and the red color the high level system.
The two systems have cross connections of a size large enough for the flow, until the high level system is needed, when an intercepting sewer to be constructed near the main line of the Boston & Albany railroad, and through Washing- ton street and Church street will relieve the low level system and carry the sewage to the high level intercepting sewer.
Except in the districts which must be immediately sewered the plan shows the proper size of the sewers in each street by full red or blue lines, and their connections with other portions of the system through the valleys, by dotted lines as indicating the most desirable route and locations for new streets. In the districts which must be immediately sewered the locations are fixed upon subject possibly to such slight modifications as the settlement for land damages may justify.
While the plan herewith submitted provides for sewers in nearly all of the streets within the drainage limits, it will undoubtedly be a number of years before it will be necessary to construct many portions of the system. The growth of the city is so rapid that new routes are being opened up, so that the system should be constantly studied and revised as
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the work progresses, in order to obtain the most satisfactory results with the least expenditure of money.
The value obtained by such a study will be greatest in the final selection of the routes of the sewers connecting the various populated areas, but the territory between these, being for the most part only partially improved, the most desirable routes for the sewers are often through private property, and if constructed at once the land damages for right of way might be greater than the saving in excavation and other expenses through the existing streets. This choice of route can best be decided when the date of construction is determined.
A study of the topography of the city shows that practi- cable routes can be obtained, by which the sewage can be conveyed by gravity to the Metropolitan intercepting sewer from nearly the whole area, with the exception of from a portion of land south of Kenrick street, east of Waverley avenue and South street, and the lower portion of the north- east slope of Chestnut Hill, which can be more economically drained into sewers laid through the City of Boston. A small section of the southeast part of the Oak Hill district, can be best drained through either Brookline or West Rox- bury.
There are also a few sections of very small area where the removal of the sewage by gravity would involve the lowering of a long and expensive main line, which would be below the permanent level of the ground water, and it will be more economical to install and maintain an electric motor or small water motor which can be so constructed that by a loss of pressure in the city main the water used can pump the sewage into the main sewer. This is the method of treatment recommended for the section west of the railroad at Concord street and Pine Grove station at Newton Lower Falls, and may be adopted to advantage in one or two other places,
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SEWERS.
The plan submitted provides for three connections with the Metropolitan intercepting sewer. One near the mouth of Hyde's (sometimes known as Lemons brook), and pro- vides for taking the sewage from that portion of Wards One and Seven, east of Boyd's pond, Jewett street, Walnut park and Bellevue street, and north of Lombard, Sargent, Cotton and Ward streets. The second connection is designed to connect at California street at the intersection of Crescent street, and provides for taking the sewage from the areas drained by Laundry, Cold Spring and Hammonds brooks. The third connection is designed to connect near the mouth of Cheese Cake brook, and provides for taking the sewage from the area drained by Cheese Cake brook, the westerly slope shedding into the Charles river and the drainage of Sucker brook and its branches.
These will be known respectively as the Hyde brook, Crescent street and Cheese Cake brook outlets, and provides for taking the sewage from the following areas :
Hyde brook, low level system, 62 A., high level, 470 A. Crescent street, low level system, 330 A., high level, 2270 A. Cheese Cake brook, low level system, 2000 A., high level, 2970 A.
Making a total area, low level system, 2392 acres, high level, 5710 A.
Or about 8102 acres in the two systems.
Size of the Sewers.
The size of the sewers are determined by estimating the maximum number of population to be provided for within the limits of time for which the sewers are designed, the amount of sewage or waste to be allowed for each person per day, the portion of the day during which the greatest pro- portion of the sewage is discharged, and the proportion of the sewer it is desirable to fill.
At the present time the average number of people in the sewer district is a fraction less than three persons per acre. The maximum number of persons living at the present
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REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
time on any single acre, I estimate to be about thirty, while the average for any considerable area, to be from ten to fifteen per acre. Having the example of the growth of other places to form a basis for estimate, we have assumed for that portion of the city, north of a line one-half of a mile south of the main line, and for the portion one-third of a mile wide on each side of the Highlands and Circuit division of the Boston and Albany railroad, a maximum population of sixty persons per acre, and for the balance of the sewer area a maximum population of forty persons per acre. From gaug- ings made in other cities of the volume of sewage flowing in a sewer at different portions of the day, it has been found that about one-half of the daily discharge is made in six hours. The record of the amount of water used per person, which approximates closely to the amount of sewage to be provided for, has been found to be about fifty gallons, or about seven cubic feet per day.
It has been further found that in order to provide for any unusual conditions of discharge the sewer should be de- signed of a size to take the maximum flow when one-half full.
From the above the following rule would be deduced : Estimate of sufficient size to carry one-half of seven cubie feet of sewage for each person in six hours, with the sewer flowing one half-full.
This rule applied to the whole city would require the construction of trunk sewers to the Cheese Cake brook out- let to provide for a population of 238,000; and the Crescent street outlet for 140,000, which is manifestly far in excess of what the population of the city can be during the life of any sewer system which can be constructed at the present time, although there is little doubt but what certain limited areas will reach the maximum density of population.
Were it not for the loss in the shape of interest upon any expenditure made to-day in excess of the requirements
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for a certain limited number of years, it would be advisable to construct the sewers of the full size once for all time, but when we consider that a dollar saved in the cost of construc- tion, with interest at 4 per cent., will permit the expenditure of $2.00 at the end of 17 67-100 years, $3.00 at the end of 23 years, $4.00 at the end of 33 34-100 years and $5.00 at the end of 41 years, we can see that on the large sizes, true economy requires a temporary construction of small size, so long as provision is made for an ample system in the future without unnecessary changes.
For this reason, after consultation, I would recommend for a most part the construction of the sewers up to the full theoretical size until they reach thirteen inches in diameter, and in a number of cases where the sections are developing rapidly; I have followed the rule even further.
As soon as I have departed from the rule, I have done either one or two things. Either provided a sewer which will meet the requirements for the next forty years, or have put in simply a small line at present, depending upon new constructions through streets which will be laid out in all probability before the demands exceed the capacity of the present construction, so that the plans present incongruities if viewed from a theoretical stand-point, or if regarded as a final layout independent of new lines through new streets.
The minimum size sewer is recommended to be six inches in diameter, to be used only where the grade is four feet or over per one hundred feet.
At points where the proposed sewer crosses the location of the Boston and Albany railroad, an increased slope is allowed so that in case the final plan for abolishing the grade crossings of the streets and the railroad, contemplate the lowering of the track of the railroad below the regular grade of the sewer, the sewage can still be errried across the loca- tion by means of an inverted syphon, a plan often adopted in other cities for meeting similar conditions.
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REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
Depth of Sewers.
Except to meet exceptional cases as noted above, a sewer should be laid on a regular slope, to give a velocity to the sewage flowing through it, sufficient to carry away every- thing entering it.
At the present time there are laid in most of the streets, gas pipes from three to four feet deep and water pipes from five to six and one-half feet deep. In many of the streets a surface drain is either already laid or will soon be required, which, to avoid interference with the water and gas pipes, would ordinarily be laid just below them, or from six to eight feet deep. I have therefore designed the sewers to be about eight and one-half feet from the surface of the street to their crown, except where the gradients determine other- wise or from the slope of abutting property they can be laid at less depth.
Where sub-soil drains are necessary they should be laid from four to six inches below the house sewer.
Construction.
The efficiency of small pipe sewers, designed to take only house sewage, depends upon the care used in their con- struction and maintenance. Every precaution must be taken to insure perfect alignment both vertically and horizontally.
I would recommend in order that the sewer can at all times be readily inspected that manholes be placed at the intersection of all sewers, and at all changes in direction except under certain conditions; in cases where there are sharp grades and large sewers they can at times be omitted with economy.
The ends of all sewers at summits or at all points which would otherwise be ends, should be connected into one man- hole, where the sewer can be flushed in both directions with the same operation.
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SEWERS.
Flushing or Cleaning.
As already stated pipe sewers require constant care, in- spection and cleaning.
One of the best methods of cleaning is by suddenly in- troducing a body of water large enough to nearly fill the same, at one or more points, and by the increased velocity taking away all material which would otherwise become a source of annoyance or an obstruction.
This body of water may be introduced into the sewer from either flush tanks, watering carts or hydrants through a manhole, or connection with some water course. They may be flushed by placing a slide over the lower end of the sewer in a manhole and retain the sewage in the upper por- tion of the sewer until it has accumulated volume enough to fill it.
By the plan proposed of connecting all ends, the flow in one sewer can be turned into another, thereby increasing its volume. The plan contemplates the use of all of these means of flushing, and of taking into the sewer at points where it may be desirable a certain amount of rain water.
Ventilation.
The methods usually adopted for ventilating sewers are through the perforations in the covers of the manholes, by connections with hot air shafts specially constructed for that purpose, and through the open end of the soil pipe or drain connecting the houses with the sewer.
It is necessary in order to prevent the generation of gas in the sewer to an undesirable degree of density, to have a constant current of air passing through them. In order to insure this there should be numerous openings for the admission of fresh air and for its egress after passing through the sewers.
The more frequent these openings, the less distance a given quantity of air will have to pass through the sewer,
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hence the greater its power for maintaining a high degree of cleanliness.
It has been found by experiment that where a constant current of air passes through a soil pipe or sewer, their walls or sides are dry and clean, except immediately after a dis- charge into them, or in the case of a sewer, the section above the flow line.
When they are not well ventilated, it has been found that the walls become covered with a slimy, decomposing substance generating large volumes of sewer gas.
I would recommend therefore that where the plumbing of a house is ventilated by extending the soil pipe above the roof of the building, when the connection is made with the street sewer, the running trap and fresh air inlet be omitted. That connections with any air shaft be made where practic- able, and that manholes be provided with perforated covers.
Description of System.
As already stated the outlet for the sewage of the city is the trunk sewer provided by the Metropolitan Sewer Com- missioners and is indicated on the map by three dotted blue lines. The main is to be four feet and six inches in diameter up to Crescent street and from there to the Waltham line three feet and nine inches.
The future development of the district which will be sewered by the Hyde brook outlet is so fully determined, and the total area being comparatively small, the route and dimensions of the sewer can be designed and the system built to the final diameter required without unreasonable outlay.
The second entrance, that at Crescent street, receives the sewage from Wards Two, Five and Six, and drains an area of about 2500 acres, 2270 of which will finally be di- verted to the high level system. As this area will ultimately require a main of about forty-eight inches in diameter, it was deemed advisable to lay a main twenty-four inches in diame-
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ter, which can be supplemented in the future by a larger main built along some of the streets which will be laid out in this section, their dimensions ranging with the date of their construction.
The routes through the upper portion of the section will depend upon the construction of the streets in the de- velopment of the property, economy calling for following the line of the valleys as closely as the layout of the streets will permit.
The twenty-four inch pipe is indicated as far as Centre street, Ward Six. Above this point a twenty inch pipe is shown which can be placed on a sufficient grade to insure the disposal of the sewage until paralleled through some of the streets that will be laid out.
The route for the Hammonds brook section will depend upon the layout of streets, and the size would be varied to suit the growth of population as determined upon when the sewers are constructed.
The third entrance, at Cheese Cake brook, receives the sewage of Wards Three and Four and parts of Five and Six. The sewage from this section will nearly all remain in the low level system, as it drains the section which is most diffi- cult to reach with a high level sewer.
The thirty inch main shown for this section will deliver sewage equal to the provisions made in the Metropolitan intercepting sewer for the City of Newton, and will cover the requirements of the section until long after the high level sewer is needed for the other parts of the city. The size of the sewer is reduced to twenty-four inches at Wales street, and it is extended of this size to the Upper Falls, where it is available for such portion of the territory south of the railroad as may be found desirable to enter into it. The sewage from this section can be carried through this line along Charles river, or can be syphoned or pumped into the Cold Spring area and carried to the high level system.
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