A.Richard Miller
Joined: Oct 2005
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Oct 25, 2005 00:00
Thank you for today's good tribute to the 1848 "Introduction of Pure Water into the City of Boston".
The Cochituate Reservoir was the first step in metropolitan Boston's now-vast public water supply, and established a local commitment to reach westward to pure water resources rather than to improve water from more populated watersheds.
In only 2-1/2 years, all land and water rights were acquired, Long Lake was raised 9 feet, the 17-miles-long aqueduct to Boston was completed (it was double-walled brick, and large enough to drive a jeep through), and smaller reservoirs were constructed along the way to Boston.
Cochituate Reservoir went on stand-by status in 1931 (by which time it furnished the most challenging 2% of Boston's water), and became Cochituate State Park in 1947. The Cochituate Aqueduct remains intact as far as the Charles River; the Snake Brook Trail (Cochituate State Park, in Wayland) tops a portion of it, as does a trail in Wellesley.
More good resources for this topic:
http://www.millermicro.com/csp.html
http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/04water/html/hist2.htm
"History of the introduction of pure water into the city of Boston, with a description of its Cochituate water works", by Nathaniel JeremiahBradlee, 1868.
"Great Waters: A Brief History of Boston's Water Supply", by Fern L. Nesson, 1983.
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