USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Town of Newton annual report 1890 > Part 21
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96
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
The location of this sewer through West Newton and Auburndale admits of a choice of routes presenting nearly equal advantages, but one the suggested seems to best fulfil the requirements, if not too expensive to procure the rights of way.
A large amount can be saved in the construction of this sewer by placing the invert slightly above the level of Charles river at Lexington street, and rising with a uniform grade to the level of the water above the upper dam at the Lower Falls. This requires the providing for a small section by pumping, but the saving would be very decided and it might not be necessary to install the pumping plant for a number of years after the sewer was needed. In the same way the portion between the Lower Falls and Upper Falls can be placed above the river without impairing the efficiency of the system.
The portion of the city near Dedham will probably not require sewerage for many years, and the mains as constructed can receive this section by either gravity or pumping as found desirable, depending upon the route adopted.
In connection with the construction of the sewerage system, provision should be made for the removal of the sub- soil water by means of pipes placed in the trench below the sewers and laid with open joints for collecting ground water as already described.
Estimate of Cost.
An Act of the Legislature creating the Metropolitan Drainage Commission provides that the payment of the cost of constructing the Metropolitan Sewers be made by the is- suance of State Metropolitan Sewerage bonds, payable in forty years, bearing interest at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum.
The first issue of these bonds have been sold at a prem- ium, which makes the net interest 2 7-8 per cent. per annum.
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SEWERS.
The part of the interest, sinking fund, and cost of main- tenance which each city and town will bear, will be deter- mined by a Commission appointed by the Supreme Court. A new Commission will be appointed every five years, when a new apportionment will be made according to the relative increase in population of the various cities and towns of the district.
It is generally conceded that the equitable method of paying the interest, sinking fund and cost of maintenance will be in proportion to the population, and that the cost of pumping be in proportion to the amount of sewage discharged for each municipality into the sewer.
Upon a basis of population as returned by the United States census for 1890, and upon a daily discharge of thirty gallons per person per day into the sewers, and assuming the estimated cost for constructing the Metropolitan sewers from Camden street to the Waltham line to be correct, the City of Newton would be assessed interest and sinking fund upon about $204,000.
If the Metropolitan Drainage Commissioners decide to include in the Metropolitan District so much of the area of the City of Boston as contributes its drainage to the inter- cepting sewer discharging at Moon island, and assumes the cost of so much of the Boston system as would be used, the cost to be assessed upon the City of Newton would be con- siderably increased, but I have not the data upon which to base an estimate.
The annual cost of disposal upon the above basis would be as follows :
For interest and sinking fund at 412 per cent. on $204,000.00, $9,180.00
For maintenance,
1,800.00
For pumping the sewage,
2,730.00
Total,
$13,210.00
If paid for by an annual tax levy this would represent a tax of $0.36 1-2 per thousand dollars, based upon the pres- 7
98
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
ent valuation of the city. The above estimate of the amount of sewerage (thirty gallons per day per person) is the esti- mate of the State Board of Health.
From the experience of many cities and towns I feel that it would be safer to estimate for providing for at least fifty gallons per person per day. This would make the cost of pumping the sewerage $4,550.00, or the total annual cost $15,030.09, or about $0.40 per $1000.00 valuation.
Should the various cities and towns in the Metropolitan District increase in population proportionally, the first two items will remain unchanged, but the cost of pumping the sewage upon the basis of thirty gallons per day per person will increase about $110.00 per year for each thousand in- crease in population.
The estimates of the cost of the sewer system are based upon the daily wages being paid the same as at present by the city, but applied to nine hours services. The price of materials being the same as during the past year, excepting for pipe, which has been sold at prices below what may be expected during the next few years, a strong combination usually controlling the price. I have not felt justified in estimating pipe at less than 55 per cent. off the list price.
The plan submitted provides for sewers in about 130 miles of streets, which are at the present time laid out, or planned, and are estimated to cost about $1,755,000.
It is not expected that sewers will be required in the whole district for a period of from fifteen to twenty years.
The districts which require immediate relief are a larger portion of Wards One and Seven, and a portion of Wards Two, Three, Four, Five and Six.
The portions of Wards One and Seven designed to be sewered through the Hyde brook outlet and apparently re- quiring immediate attention, comprises the accompanying schedule of streets having a total mileage of 15 36-100, rang-
99
SEWERS.
ing in size from six inches to twenty inches in diameter, estimated to cost with land damages $185,000.
As a measure of economy arrangements should be made with the authorities of the Town of Watertown for taking the drainage from the estates abutting on Boyd, Maple, Williams and Galen streets from Maple street to the town line.
To sewer the portion of Ward Two apparently needing sewers most will necessitate the construction of the twenty- four inch main sewer from California street to Mill street, and comprises the accompanying schedule of streets having a total mileage of 10 32-100, ranging in size from six inches to twenty-four inches in diameter, and estimated to cost with land damages $165,000.
The sewering of these two districts is as much as should be undertaken during the coming year.
The adjustment of land damages for the laying of the trunk sewer from the Cheese Cake brook outlet will affect somewhat its final location and take considerable time.
I would recommend that steps be taken the coming year to adjust them so that work upon this outlet can begin in the Spring of 1892. The main to Newton Centre cannot be made available until the Newtonville end has been con- structed, which will not probably be until the Fall of 1891. I would call special attention to the importance of having streets located where it is necessary to go through private property. By this course the full value of the sewer would ordinarily be received in return for its construction and val- uable tracts of land developed.
I would recommend that action be taken under authority given by the Statutes, chapter 69 of the Acts of 1878, it being " An Act to Authorize the City of Newton to establish grades for drainage and sewerage in said city." See Ap- pendix B, and would suggest that the following section be incorporated in the sewer ordinance.
100
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
SECT .-. 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 basement cellar shall have a fall of at least one in fifty to the crown of the main drain or common sewer, unless the Board of Aldermen shall otherwise permit. If any person constructs or attempts to construct or use any cellar or base- ment cellar in violation of this section, the Board of Alder- men may order the owner or occupant of such cellar or base- ment cellar so to alter and construct the same as to conform to the requirements hereof ; and if such owner and occupant fails to comply with such order within ten days after service thereof according to law, said Board may cause the required alterations to be made therein, the expense whereof shall constitute a lien upon the land wherein such cellar or base- ment cellar shall be constructed, and upon the building or buildings thereon erected, and may be collected in the man- ner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon real estate.
Respectfully submitted,
ALBERT F. NOYES, City Engineer.
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SEWERS.
APPENDIX A. (CHAP. 439, AcTs 1889.)
An Act to provide for the building, maintenance and operation of a system of sewage disposal for the Mystic and Charles river valleys.
Be it enacted, etc., as follows :
SECTION 1. The Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the council, shall appoint three able and discreet men, inhabitants of the Commonwealth, who shall constitute a board to be known as the Metropolitan Sewerage Commis- sioners, and who shall hold office, one for the term of five years, one for the term of four years and one for the term of three years, beginning with the first Monday in January in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-nine; and in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-two and annually thereafter the Governor shall appoint, as aforesaid, one such commis- sioner to hold office for the term of three years, beginning with the first Monday in January in the year of his appoint- ment, and in case of any vacancy occurring in such board by resignation or otherwise, shall in the same manner appoint a commissioner for the residue of the terin, and may in the same manner remove any commissioner. The members of said board shall receive the salary of three thousand dollars per year.
SECT. 2. Said board shall, as soon as may be after its appointment, and annually thereafter on the first Monday of February of each year, organize by the choice of one of its members as chairman, and shall at the same meeting elect a clerk, who shall not be a member of said board, and may from time to time appoint such agents, officers and servants as it may deem necessary to carry out the purposes of this act, and may determine their duties and compensation and remove the same at pleasure. Said board shall be furnished
102
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
with an office in some suitable place in the City of Boston, in which the maps, plans and documents relating to its busi- ness, and to the sewers, land and other property in its charge, and records of all doings shall be kept.
SECT. 3. Said board shall construct, maintain and operate for the cities of Boston, Cambridge, Somerville, Mal- den, Chelsea, Woburn, and the towns of Stoneham, Melrose, Winchester, Arlington, Belmont, Medford, Everett and Winthrop such main sewers and other works as shall be re- quired for a system of sewage disposal for said cities and towns, and for the cities of Boston, Waltham and Newton, and the towns of Watertown and Brookline another such system, both of which systems shall be in substantial accord- ance with the plans reported and recommended by the State Board of Health in its report to the Legislature of eighteen hundred and eighty-nine ; and for that purpose may make all contracts necessary for the construction of the sewers and works aforesaid, or may, where deemed advisable carry on such construction by day labor. Said board may from time to time contract with any other city of town for the exten- sion thereto of either of said systems of sewage disposal, and for the reception and disposal of sewage therefrom.
SECT. 4. Said board acting on behalf of the Common- wealth may take by purchase or otherwise any lands, water- courses, rights of way or easements, and may take by pur- chase or otherwise, or enter and use any existing sewers or parts of sewers necessary for the carrying out under the pro- visions of this act of the recommendations and plans of said State Board of Health contained in its said report. When any lands, water-courses, rights of way or easements, or any sewers or parts of sewers are so taken or entered and used in any manner other than by purchase or agreement, said board shall within thirty days of said taking or entering and using, cause to be recorded in the registry of deeds for the county or district in which such lands, water-courses, rights of way
103
SEWERS.
or easements, or sewers or parts of sewers lie, a description of the same as certain as is required in a common conveyance of land, with a statement of the purpose for which the same is taken or entered and used, which description shall . be signed by a majority of said board ; and the fee of the lands, water-courses, rights of way or easements, or sewers or parts of sewers so taken or purchased shall vest in the Common- wealth, which shall pay, in the manner hereinafter described, all damages that shall be sustained by any person or corpor- ation by reason of such taking or entering as aforesaid. Such damages to be agreed upon by said board and the per- son or corporation injured; and if the parties cannot agree a jury in the superior court of the county in which the property taken or damaged is situated may be had to determine the same in the same manner as a jury is had and damages are determined in the case of persons dissatisfied with the esti- mate of damages sustained by the laying out of ways in the City of Boston ; provided, however, that no suit for such damages shall be brought after the expiration of two years from the date of the recording of the taking or entering as herein required.
SECT. 5. Said board may, for the purposes aforesaid, carry and conduct any sewer by it to be made and con- structed under or over any water-course, or any street, turn- pike road, railroad, highway or other way in such manner as not unnecessarily to obstruct or impede travel thereon; and may enter upon and dig up any such road, street or way for the purposes of laying down sewers beneath the surface thereof and for maintaining and repairing the same; and in general may do any other acts and things necessary or con- venient and proper for the purposes of this act. In entering upon and digging up any such road, street or way of public travel it shall be subject to such reasonable regulation as may be made by the mayor and aldermen, or selectmen of the cities and towns respectively wherein such works ahall be performed.
104
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
SECT. 6. Whenever said board shall dig up any road, street or way, as aforesaid, it shall so far as practicable re- store the same to as good order and condition as the same was in when such digging commenced. And the Common- wealth shall at all times idemnify and save harmless the several cities and towns within which such roads, streets or ways may be against all damages which may be recovered against them respectively, and shall reimburse to them all expenses which they shall incur by reason of any defect or want of repair in any road, street or way caused by the con- struction of any of said sewers, or by the maintaining or re- pairing of the same; provided, that said board shall have due and reasonable notice of all claims for such damages or injury, and opportunity to make a legal defense thereto.
SECT. 7. Said board may also alter or change the course of direction of any water-course, or may with the con- sent of the mayor and aldermen of the cities or selectmen of towns, alter or change the location or grade of any highway, townway, public street or way of travel crossed by any sewers constructed under the provisions of this act, or in which such sewers may be located.
SECT. 8. Said board shall at all times keep for each of said systems, full, accurate and separate accounts of its re- ceipts, expenditures, disbursements, assets and liabilities, and shall include an abstract of the same in its annual report to the General Court.
SECT. 9. Any city or town, within whose limits any main sewer shall have been constructed under the provisions of this act, shall connect its local sewers with such main sewer, subject to the direction and control of said board, and any person, firm or corporation may, subject to the direction, control and regulation from time to time of said board, and subject to such terms, conditions and regulations as each city or town may prescribe, connect private drains with said main sewer.
105
SEWERS.
SECT. 10. Any person or persons who shall wantonly or maliciously destroy or injure any sewer or other property, held or used by said board, by the authority and for the pur- poses of this act, shall forfeit and pay to the Commonwealth three times the amount of the damages that shall be assessed therefor, to be recovered by any proper action. And every such person or persons may, on indictment and conviction of either of the wanton or malicious acts aforesaid, be punished by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars and imprison- ment not exceeding one year.
SECT. 11. The State Board of Health shall, on the organization of the board created by this aet, transfer and deliver over to said board all books, plans, maps, engineers' reports, instruments and other property acquired during the surveys and investigations relating to the systems of sewage disposal for the Mystic and Charles river valleys, on which the report of the said Board of Health, hereinbefore referred to, was founded.
SECT. 12. To meet the expenses incurred under the provisions of this act, the treasurer and receiver-general shall with the approval of the Governor and council issue from time to time serip or certificates of debt, in the name and be- half of the Commonwealth and under its seal, to an amount not exceeding five million dollars, for a term not exceeding forty years. Said scrip or certificate of debt shall be issued as registered bonds or with interest coupons attached, and shall bear interest not exceeding four per cent. per annum, payable semi-annually, on the first days of March and Sep- tember in each year. Such scrip or certificates of debt shall be designated on the face as the Metropolitan Sewerage Loan : shall be countersigned by the Governor, and shall be deemed a pledge of the faith and credit of the Common- wealth, redeemable at the time specified therein in the law- ful money of the United States, and shall be sold and dis- posed of at public auction, or in such other mode, and at
FREE
NOLIEY
.ETON,
LIBRA !!.
106
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
such times and prices, and in such amounts and at such rate of interest not exceeding four per centum per annum as the Governor and council shall deem for the best interest of the State. The treasurer and receiver-general shall on issuing any of said scrip or certificates of debt establish a sinking fund, and apportion thereto from year to year an amount sufficient with its accumulations to extinguish the debt at maturity. But in such apportionment of a sinking fund the assessment shall be at the rate of one-eightieth part of the whole amount in each of the first ten years, one-sixtieth part in each of the second ten years, one-thirtieth part in each of the third ten years, and the remainder equally divided in the next ten years. Any premium realized in the sale of said scrip or certificates of debt shall be applied to the payment of the interest on said loan as it accrues.
SECT. 13. The supreme judicial court, sitting in equity, shall, on the application of said board after notice to each of the cities and towns hereinbefore named, appoint three com- missioners, who shall not be residents of any of the cities or towns mentioned in this act, who shall, after due notice and hearing, and in such manner as they shall deem just and equitable, determine for each system the proportion in which each of the cities and towns hereinbefore named, shall an- nually pay money into the treasury of the Commonwealth, for the term of five years next following the year of the issue of said scrip or certificates, to meet the interest and sinking fund requirements for each of said years, as estimated by said treasurer, and to meet the cost of maintenance and operation of said system for each of said years, as estimated by the said board and certified to said treasurer, and any deficiency in the amount previously paid in, as found by said treasurer, and shall return their award into said court; and when said award shall have been accepted by said court the same shall be a final and conclusive adjudication of all the matters herein referred to said commissioners, and shall be binding on all parties.
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SEWERS.
SECT. 14. Before the expiration of said term of five years, and every five years thereafter, other commissioners, who shall not be residents of any of the cities or towns mentioned in this act, shall be appointed as aforesaid, who shall in such manner as they deem just and equitable, deter- mine the proportion in which each of said cities and towns in each of said systems shall annually pay money into the treasury of the Commonwealth as aforesaid for the next suc- ceeding term of five years, and shall return their award into said court, and when said award shall have been accepted by said court, the same shall be a final and conclusive adjudica- tion of all the matters herein referred to said commissioners, and shall be binding on all parties.
SECT. 15. The amount of money required each year from each such city and town to meet the interest, sinking fund requirements and cost aforesaid for that system in which it is included for each year, and deficiency, if any, shall be estimated by said treasurer, in accordance with the propor- tion determined as aforesaid, and shall be included in and made a part of the sum charged to such city or town, and be assessed upon it in the apportionment and assessment of its annual state tax, and said treasurer shall in each year notify each such city and town of the amount of such assessment, which amount shall be paid by the city or town into the treasury of the Commonwealth at the time required for the payment and as a part of its state tax.
SECT. 16. The supreme judicial court shall have juris- diction in equity to enforce the provisions of this act, and shall fix and determine the compensation of all commissioners appointed by said court under the provisions hereof.
SECT. 17. This act shall take effect upon its passage. (Approved June 7, 1889.)
108
REPORT OF CITY ENGINEER.
APPENDIX B.
(CHAP. 69 OF THE ACTS OF 1878.)
An act to authorize the City of Newton to establish grades for drainage and sewerage in said city.
SECTION 1. The board of aldermen of the City of New- ton may from time to time establish grades for drainage and sewerage in any designated territory within said city, and after a grade has been so established no person shall construct in such territory any cellar or basement cellar of any build- ing below such established grade, or use or occupy any cellar or basement cellar so constructed; provided, that said board may by license, subject to revocation at any time by them, authorize cellars to be constructed in buildings used exclu- sively for storage or business purposes, so much below said grade as they shall designate in said license.
SECT. 2. Said board, whenever they see cause, may change any grade already established; but such change shall not affect the right to maintain and use any cellar or base- ment cellar previously constructed.
SECT. 3. If any person constructs or attempts to con- struct or use any cellar or basement cellar in violation of the provisions of this act, said board may order the owner or oc- cupant of such cellar or basement cellar so to alter and con- struct the same as to conform to the requirements hereof; and if such owner or occupant fails to comply with such order within ten days after service thereof, as is hereinafter provided, said board may cause the required alterations to be made therein, the expense whereof shall constitute a lien upon the land wherein such cellar or basement cellar shall be constructed, and upon the building or buildings thereon erected, and may be collected in the manner provided by law for the collection of taxes upon real estate. The city treas- urer, in behalf of said city, may purchase such land, or such land and buildings, at any sale thereof for the enforcement of such lien.
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SEWERS.
SECT. 4. All orders under the preceding section shall be made in writing, and served upon the owners or occupants or their authorized agents as prescribed by section nine of chapter twenty-six of the General Statutes, for the service of orders of boards of health; except that the advertisement provided for in said section shall be made in one or more public newspapers, in such a manner and for such length of time as said board of aldermen may direct ; and the supreme judicial court or any justice thereof, in term time or vacation, may, by injunction or other suitable process in equity, re- strain any person or corporation from using or constructing any cellar or basement cellar in violation of the provisions of this act, and may enforce such provisions.
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