Norwich bulletin., 1910-08-17
History of Norwich Water Schemes
Many Plans Have Been Presented But Have Not Ma teriazed Because of Frequent Changes in Political Offices-Merts of the Different Propositions


 question of Norwich cannot be assum-.
 ed to be permanently settled. Several | times before in this decade plans for l a new reservoir have been consider ] ably further advanced than at pres
 ent, only to be upset by the votes of the citizens or the shifting of political | scenery. From the present temper of
 mind of the inhabitants of the city 1t | would seem as though nothing could | impede the e establishment of a new | water supply n the immediate future; | if not at Pease brook. then at some
 other more desirable point
 | It Is the belief of many who are close to the present city administra- ticn that the plan to approve the | Pease brook watershed was a strateg-
 ic move. The effect was to crystalline | the public attention in an extraordi- l nary way upon the water question as
 no modified or inexpensive proposition could have done. The realization that l the city was almost if not quite corn- nritted to the outlay of s1.000,000 for 1 a new reservoir has focused attention l on the alarming conditions at present existing and has paved the way for favorable and united action on any plan that promises adequate sup l ply at the expenditure that the city can | afford.
 If the Pease brook plan is voted | down by the citizens. it need not take I ecutive committee of the court of 1 common council to have another plan ready for the city meeting and it is the general belief that this will be the mode of procedure.
 Cost of Fairview Exceeded Estimates.
 The. history of the Norwich water
 works is one of great financial suc- cess coupled with equal uncertainty. 1 If the same clements should enter into | private transactions they would be | termed speculation. The original Fairview reservoir was completed Oc- I &lFzo a4 n
 The estimate was $1S5.000. The res
 ervoir was capable of holding 33.000,-
 000 gallons of water supplied from watershed of hree-quarters of a | square mile The rated average of wa l ter to be obtained from this water
 shed was estimated at 720.000 gallons | daily. F'airview did not fill for some
 fifteen months after the gates were | closed. For twelve years the reser- | voir was only full four times. and re- mained full less than two months dur | ing the whole period.
 Meadow Brook Development. | In 1881 a. low dam was built at | Meadow brook and the brook connect ! ed with Fairview by a pipe line. The | right to use Meadow brook when the | water was running six inches over the l Falls company's dam was obtained. In l October, 1892, the water was so low in | the reservoir that the board of wa ! ter commissioners purchased of the | EallS company the r1gnI 10 use all the l water of Meadow brook until January i l. 1893, thus giving us three times the | old watershed. The fashboards were
 raised fifteen inches, making the ca l pacity of the reservoir 350,000.000 gall | Ions. No increase has since been made to the watershed, although all the rights of the Falls company have | been purchased
 Move for Additional Supply. In March, 1899. the board of water 1 commissioners made report to the | court of common council calling at l tention to the great increase in the | use of city water and stating that | many available sites had been consid- cred. They announced that they had concluded to purchase lands necessary for the development of a water sup 1 ply on Stony brook. The estimate for | land, water rights and rights of way
 for building such reservoir and
 suitable line to Washington square l was $297, ,000. The board of water commissions. with the approval of the court of common council, immediate 1 sary for the Stony brook plan. This l was two- thirds of the land required.
 In undertaking this project the water | commissioners took the ground that the extension could be made at that | time without increasing the total ex- penditure chargeable to the water 1 works or decreasing the total amount l paid to the city treasurer yearly, inas- much as S10,00o had annually been ex- pended in replacing the cement mains, | which work was nearing completion. and the s10,000 could be used to pay
 interest on the cost of the new reser- voir.
 Various Plans Considered. Messrs. Chandler and Palmer at | that time presented to the water com 1 missIoners a complete report on all 1 the available watersheds about Nor
 wich. They made surveys for another r1er71 hafn E-uf "A and for raising the dam at Fairview
 ten feet, at a cost of $70,000,. and for 1 establishing a reservoir at Meadow
 brook 25 feet deep, at a cost of SEA- | inexpedient for various reasons. but | principally because there would not l be added any additional area of water shed.
 Gardner Lake was estimated to hold
 about 1000,000,0o0 gallons. It would
 require pipe line 8 1-2 miles long.
 with a mile of deep cutting if the line | was laid by way of Stony brook Tak-
 en together with the expense of ob- | taining the mill rights and the neces-
 sary policing of the lake, on account of its being summer resort. the
 Gardner Lake plan was declared too l expensive.
 Peck Hollow brook was found to 1 have a watershed of 12 square miles, | sparseley settled. The site for the res | ervoir would be swamp A railroad l passes through the site, and there are | valuable water rights to be reckoned | with.
 Pease brook was found to have am- 1 pie watershed, but was too thickly in l habited The Yantic river near the | old paper meI was of sufficient eleva- tion, but raised the objection, as did
 several other tributary brooks, that l water rights would be very high. | The Stony Brook Plan.
 At Stony brook Chandler and Pal mer reported watershed equal to | Fairyiew and Meadow brook combin- ed, or about 2.3 square miles. There are practically no inhabited houses on the watershed. The anaylsis of the water is favorable. There are 27
 acres of swampy land in the site, but so interspersed with hard land that the removal or covering of the mud is comparatively easy. A branch of Stony brook having a watershed of 1 1-2 square miles could be utilized at a later date if necessary. There is but one mill from which power would be diverted The pipe hne would be five miles long. The expense would be in ff. ff