City Document No. 3.

THE SEWERAGE OF BOSTON.

A REPORT BY A COMMISSION CONSISTING OF E. S. CHESBROUGH, C. E., MOSES LANE, C. E., AND CHARLES F. FOLSOM, M. D.

TO HIS HONOR SAMUEL C. Cовв, Mayor of Boston:

COBB,

The Commission appointed in pursuance of the following orders,

CITY OF BOSTON, IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, February 23, 1875. Ordered: - That His Honor the Mayor be hereby authorized to appoint a commission of three civil engineers of experience in the subject, to report upon the present sewerage of the city; the discharge of sewers into Charles river, Stony brook, South bay, or Dorchester bay; the necessity of any high-water basin on the site of the present full basin, for flushing purposes; the' expediency of relieving the sewers at the South End by pumping; and to present a plan for the outlets and main lines of sewers for the future wants of the city; and report, if it is expedient, in connection with the proposed works, to provide for any water basins, or marginal driveways, as ornamental and sanitary features of the city, the expenses to be paid from the appropriation for sewers.

CITY OF BOSTON, IN BOARD OF ALDERMEN, March 1, 1875. Ordered: That the order passed by this board, February 23, 1875, authorizing the Mayor to appoint a commission to report upon the present sewerage of the city, be so far modified, in case His Honor the Mayor should deem it expedient, as to make the said commission consist of two civil engineers, and one competent person skilled in the subject of sanitary science, instead of three civil engineers, as provided in the order quoted above; and that the said commission shall, in addition to investigating and reporting upon the several subjects recited in the original order, report an approximate estimate of the expense of any plan, or plans, for a system of sewerage submitted by them— has the honor to submit the following report:

INTRODUCTION.

For many years past there has been a growing feeling among the more intelligent of our community, and particularly among physicians, whose habits of study lead

them especially to watch the public health, that our high death-rates * are connected more or less directly with the defects and evils of our sewerage-system, more especially in the low-lying and originally tidal districts, evils which are increasing from year to year, and which have been and are so manifest to the senses that it is not necessary here to more than allude to their existence.

* The following table will give, at a glance, the death-rates from all causes, and the total numbers of deaths from some of the principal diseases for all the years since the new registration laws came into effect. In 1874, the rate, excluding Charlestown, West Roxbury, and Brighton, was 24.9. In 1872 and in 1873 the rate was 27.6, excluding small-pox. In 1861 no registrar's report was published.

The annual death-rate for the ten months to November 1st, 1875, in Boston has been 26.73 per 1,000. The absolute number of deaths in that time from the followingnamed diseases have been:

The deaths from typhoid fever, cholera infantum, and consumption remain at about the same rates as last year, while the numbers from scarlet fever and diphtheria have been very much increased. The figures for cholera infantum and small-pox will represent very nearly the mortality for the year from those diseases, but the others will be much larger after the deaths for November and December shall have been added. From 1870 to 1875 inclusive the mortality from infantile cholera and consumption have been simply enormous, and there has been no decrease from year to year, although Boston has now the best sanitary care of all the American cities.

The subject has been referred to in no doubtful terms in every one of the reports of the State Board of Health.* In their Fifth Report, they say: "We regard this question of drainage for Boston and its immediate surroundings as of an importance which there is no danger of overstating;" also: "The death-rate" (in 1873) "of the City of Boston is so high as to make its discovery a matter of the deepest interest to every citizen.” In the fourth report of the same board it was urged that a competent engineer be appointed to survey the metropolitan district and suggest "a comprehensive and harmonious" system of drainage and sewerage; and in their third report the State Board of Health urged, as one of the strongest reasons for the appointment of a City Board of Health for Boston, that they could take steps to establish plans of drainage adequate for our whole territory and harmonious in all their parts,"-a promise which that board has fully justified, for, since their appointment in January, 1873, they have constantly urged the matter upon the attention of the authorities.

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On the 14th of April, 1870, the consulting physicians of the City of Boston† addressed to the authorities a remonstrance as to the then existing sanitary condition of the city, in which they declared the urgent necessity of a better system of sewerage, stating that it would be "a work of time, of great cost, and the highest engineering skill.”

Of such great importance has the matter been considered by our State Legislature that, in the special session of 1872, they passed an act‡ authorizing the appointment of a Commission, to be paid by the City of Boston, to investigate and report upon a comprehensive plan for a thorough system of drainage for the metropolitan district. This was not accepted, on the ground that the expense should be shared by the other cities, and no Commission was appointed.

In their fourth communication (December 28th, 1874) to the City Council upon the necessity of improved sewerage, the City Board of Health pointed out clearly the evils of our present system, and strongly urged that a radical change should be made, whereupon this Commission was appointed.

*First Report, p. 56.

Second Report, pp. 14, 57, and 352.

Third Report, pp. 307 and 309.
Fourth Report, p. 6.

Fifth Report, p. 6.

Sixth Report, pp. 5, 6, and 334.

† Henry Bartlett, M. D.; George Derby, M. D.; James C. White, M. D.; William Read, M. D.; Paschal P. Ingalls, M. D.

An act to provide for a Commission on the subject of drainage and water-supply for the City of Boston and vicinity [chap. 366].