BOSTON’S WATER SUPPLY

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BOSTON’S WATER SUPPLY

City Engineer Jackson’s report of the Boston engineering department for 1894 thus adverts to the water supply. An estimate for draining the Charles river watershed in West. Boxbury is placed at $624,712 The rainfall in 1894 was 39.74 inches on the Sudbury, 39.24 inches on the Mystic watersheds, and the reservoir accumulations had a daily average yield of 57,937,800 gallons of Sudbury, 11,674,000 Cochituate, and 18,429,500 gallons of Mystic. The daily average consumption for the year was: Sudbury and Cochituate, 46,500,000 gallaris; Mystic, 10,282,100 gallons; total 56,842,100 gallons, a decrease of 2.3 per cent, from that of the previous year. Under the head of “General Condition of the Works.” City Engineer Jackson state*: The completion of reservoir six ha* increased the daily capacity of the Sudbury and Cochituate supply about 4,000,000 gallons, and the safe capacity of the works in a year of extreme drought is now about 41,500.000 gallons. Although the completion of reservoir five will raise the safe total capacity of all the sources of supply to 01,500.000 gallons per day, It is evident that the daily consumption. which is now about 57,000,000 gallons, will soon be in excess of the yield of our sources of supply. At the East Boston station all of the pump arc in need of repairs, and a new pumps should lie purchased for the use of the Breed’s island service.

During a recent fire in the. factory of the California Powder Company, Hercules Point, Cal., the flames licked up the sulphur house and were rapidly spreading toward the storage house, which was filled with nitroglycerine and giant powder. The employees never flinched from their work, but kept hard at it, and by their heroic exertions saved the neighborhood from a disastrous explosion Two or three of these amateur firemen were badly burned. Had the content* of the storage house caught fire,the adjacent city of Oakland would have suffered a fearful loss.

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Boston’s Water Supply.

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Boston’s Water Supply.

The annual report of the water supply department of the city of Boston for the year of 1892 has just been ismed, and contains detailed reports of the superintendents of each of the three divisions, together with the reports and comments of city Engineer Jackson and the board of commissioners.

The investigations which have been made by the members of the board during the year are prominent features of the report, as are also comparative tables of consumption of water per capita, expenses for maintenance, purity of supply and thoroughness of service, and serve to show the citizens how well off Boston is in the matter of water service, and the general superiority of the same in comparison to that of other large cities in the country.

The following is a comprehensive summary of the disbursements by the departments for the fiscal year ending January 3t, 1892. The total expenditures on the Cochituate system were $947,842.39; on the Mystic water works, $118,949.83 ; total for department, $1,066,792.22. The total receipts of the Cochituate works from all sources for the twelve months have been $1,457,936.37, of which amount $1,433,413.78 was received from sales of water. The total receipts of the Mystic water works from all sources for the same period have been $395.79¾-47. of which $394,008.75 was from sales of water. Water has been furnished for street sprinkling without charge to the street deparment, and the charge for hydrants to the fire department has been reduced from $15 to $2 per hydrant or fire reservoir, a reduction in Cochituate and Mystic revenue from the fire department equal to $63,371.

The rainfall during the year was the smallest since 1883, and the statistics show a large increase in the amount of water consumed. The daily average consumption on the Cochituate was 41,312 400 gallons and on the Mystic 9,810,800 gallons. A new high service pumping engine is now in the course of construction at Chestnut hill at a cost of $120,500. Basin six of the Cochituate system is nearly completed, and the commissioners recommend the building of an additional one on the Sudbury watershed. A new loan is asked that the work may be pushed farward as rapidly as possible. During the year the total Cochituate debt has increased some $300,000, and now stands as $16,758,773.98. In the Mystic division there has been paid $42,000, reducing the total debt to $440,000, which is all secured by city of Boston water loan bonds which run for many years yet.

Superintendents Desmond F’itz Gerald, William J. Welch and Eugene S. Sullivan, in their respective reports, make statements of the amount of pipe laid and abandoned, together with accurate statements of the condition of their divisions. Chemists’ analytical reports of the purity of water are also contained in the document and illustrated by magnified photographs, showing the condition of the supply. On the whole, the water has been remarkably free from taint, owing to the great care taken by the commissions.

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