Norwich bulletin., 1910-10-19

& Allen, civil engineers, who recon-
mended the Pease brook watershed ten
years ago for Norwich, the October
meeting of the board of trade, held on
Tuesday evening at the Buckingham
Memorial, discussed the question of
increased water supply for this city,
after Mr.. Quick had given in detail
his reasons for advocating Pease
brook. The discussion lasted for
about two hours and q half and there
were about rs members of the board
in attendance, including members of
the common council and water board.
President Edwin A. Tracy called
the meeting to order and the minutes
of Secretary Henry w Tibbits were
read and approved. Four new names
S. Mikolasi, Don Houghton DR.. E. P.
Brewer and Dr.. Vernon Hiscox-were
offered for membership and voted up
on favorably. which President Tracy
said raised the boards membership to
31S, the largest in its history.
Report on Charities.
The chairman of the special commit
tee on charities, Gen. William A. Ak
en-, made a report of progress, saying
that they had expectation of meeting
soon with the board of selectmen, but
SO far the selectmen had not been able
to make a date for the meeting which
the committee had requested.
President Tracy stated tina. the
transportation committee had not been
able to induce the Consolidated road
to get the Portland express to stop
here, although the chairman had made
a personal appeal by a trip to the
New Haven Offices
Want to Combine Offers.
The president also called attention
to the fact that New London had vo-
ted the sum of $4,000 in the effort to
secure the location of the Connecticut
woman's college in that city, while a
member of this board of trade had Of
fered a site at Riverview on the
Thames. He suggested that it would
be a good thing if New London's mon
ey and our site could be combined,
and Frederic w. Cary offered the mo-
ton, which was passed, that the COM
mittee on education and the public i'm
provement committee be a joint COM
mittee to confer with the New Lon
don authorities on this subject
On the suggestion of President Trs
cy that the boards delegates to the
meeting of the state board next month
should be named it was voted on mo-
ton of Charles E. Chandler that the
president appoint the five delegates
himself being. chairman of the delega-
ton.
Water Question Taken Up.
The water matter was then intro
L
advised that it ought to be treated
with an open mind, without considera-
ton of who proposed any particular
site, but for the citizens to decide with
only the best interests of Norwich in
view. He presented Mayor Charles
f. Thayer to open the subject.
Mayor Thayer's Attitude.
The mayor affirmed that this was
just his attitude in recommending
Pease brook and he felt the response
bility of facing this grave condition,
for something must be done very soon
or we shall soon be out of water. He
appealed to the board of trade to use
its influence to get the citizens to
raise the money to do the best thing.
The water board and the court of COM
mon council have decided upon Pease
brook as the best proposition and now
it is UP to the citizens to say whether
they shall have the sum needed for the
work. At one time this expense for
the Pease brook site had been placed
at 100000 for a watershed of about
Il miles, which will furnish water
enough for years to come. At Peas e
brook today there is a stream running
sufficient to supply the city at the rate
water is used today. AS others in the
past have taken care of US, We have
got to look out for the future, and the
board of trade has brought here a dis
interested and highly competent man,
who has no interest in telling anything
that isn't true, but can be depended
upon to tell what is best for the in
terests of the city.
Engineer Quick's Views.
Following applause which greeted
the mayors words President Tracy
gineer of the city of Baltimore, who,
he said. was now engaged in project
involving the expenditure of eight
million dollars to give Baltimore an
adequate water supply.
In beginning his talk, Engineer
Quick said that Baltimore was not as
badly off as Norwich, and he went on
to review the reasons for choosing
Pease brook when this question was
considered ten years ago. His two
partners at that time are now in i'm
portant posts in the New York city
government, but he said he was the
man who did most of the work on the
ground in considering the Norwich wa
ter question. 1t was the aim to secure
more than a temporary supply, one
that at least should suffice for the
length of time for the bond issue
which would pay for it, say % years.
Of the ten or fifteen sources under
consideration, the Yantic river pump
ing project, Broad brook and Peck
Hollow brook. fulfilled the conditions
as to adequateness of supply, but these
two brooks were dismissed as too ex-
pensive because of their distance from
the city, and the pumping project was
not considered likely to meet the IA
vor of the citizens who would perfer
gravity supply. Pease brook was
found to offer possibilities within the
amount of money supposed to, be avail
able for expenditure.
The maximum storage for the drain
age area Of Fairyiew and Meadow
brook was worked out and it Kas
found that in a series of dry years
these two basins would not give a de-
pendaole yield in excess of the one and
half million gallons Norwich is
using daily now, and the present use
of water in the city is beyond any
possible dependable supply from Fair
view and Meadow brooks entire stor
age capacity.
Real Measure Is tho Cost.
The real measure of the value of any
scheme to add to the dependable sup
ply is the cost, said Mr.. Quick, and
he offered some comparisons along that
line. On an area of IL $40 miles