XII. SEWERAGE AND WATER ASSESSMENTS.

The sums necessary to meet the expenses of the maintenance and operation of the Sewerage Works, the payments of interest on the bond indebtedness, and the requirements of the sinking funds, have but gradually changed from year to year. The assessments actually levied upon the municipalities have, however, for certain reasons, greatly varied in recent years.

Prior to the year 1907 premiums received from the sale of bonds were applied to the reduction of the assessments. In one year, 1903, for instance, the premiums from bond sales reduced the assessments in the South Metropolitan Sewerage District to three-fifths of what they otherwise would have been. The Statute of 1906, chapter 338, however, provided that premiums thereafter so received should be paid into the sinking fund and not be applied to the reduction of the yearly assessments.

It was recently determined by the Treasurer of the Commonwealth to be desirable to have the State books of accounts dealing with the various Metropolitan districts examined in order "to make sure that no errors had occurred in the accounting between the State and the districts up to the present time." A careful examination of all the accounts with the Treasurer's department relating to the districts was accordingly made, and, in compliance with the report of the accountant and his recommendations, it was found necessary to make certain adjustments in the various funds. The Treasurer accordingly caused additions to be made to some funds and reductions from others. Under these adjustments by the Treasurer the assessments of the North Metropolitan Sewerage District for the year 1907 were reduced by $114,446.52, or about 32 per cent., from what they otherwise would have been; while in the same way the assessments of the South Metropolitan District were increased by $91,997.34, or more than 22 per cent., above what they otherwise would have been for that year. These exceptional variations in the assessments for the year 1907 must necessarily be taken into account by the cities and towns in the two districts in making up their estimates of the amount of the assessment which will be levied for the current year in their respective municipalities.

Sums received from sales of bonds and also sums paid by municipalities on admission into the Metropolitan Water District have in a similar manner been applied to reducing the amounts of the assessments made upon the cities and towns in the Water District for the years of their receipt. These also, in accordance with the Statute of 1906, will hereafter be paid into the sinking fund.

The adjustments of accounts made by the Treasurer, above referred to, caused a deduction in the total assessments upon the cities and towns in the Metropolitan Water District of $75,509.80 from the amount which otherwise would have been payable to meet the requirements of maintenance, interest and sinking funds. This exceptional reduction in the assessments for the year 1907 will also have to be considered by the cities and towns in the Water District when estimates are made of the sums which will be required for the current year.

XIII. FUTURE WORK.

The Board has estimated that the total amount of $684,000 will be required during the coming year for the maintenance and operation of the various works for water supply and distribution of water to the cities and towns of the Metropolitan Water District, and of the works constructed for the collection and disposal of the sewage of the municipalities of the Metropolitan Sewerage District.

There was comparatively little additional construction in connection with the Water Works carried on during the past year, although considerable was required to be done in the finishing up of the Wachusett Dam and Reservoir and other works which had been begun, and in meeting the most pressing demands which arose for the sanitary improvements upon the watersheds and for the protection of various sources of water supply against pollution.

There are still important works remaining to be built under the requirements placed upon the Board by the Metropolitan Water Acts, which, in the original scheme of the State Board of Health, were for the most part deemed necessary to be supplied in the second period of ten years succeeding the year 1895. There are also additional requirements made necessary by the growth of districts or by special local circumstances. It has been the policy of the Board to defer the beginning of the construction of such works until the necessity for them becomes demonstrated and urgent.

It is at the same timé made the duty of the Board to represent the existing conditions, and to ask for the necessary appropriations required to supply the needs and to "provide a sufficient supply of pure water" for the various cities and towns constituting the Metropolitan Water District and for the inhabitants thereof.

The Board, in its abstract of the Annual Report, which was laid before the Legislature on the third Wednesday in January, enumerated the various objects of construction for which it deemed necessary to make provision during the current year. These, as set forth upon a preceding page, included the construction of a new 48-inch main from Chestnut Hill Reservoir to the Boston line, more especially for the relief of the low-service district of the city of Boston. The Board also stated that it was believed that the time had come when it should take measures to utilize the opportunities for generating power at the Wachusett Dam, as contemplated by the Metropolitan Water Act.

If the present rate of water consumption continues unchecked for one or two years longer, it will undoubtedly be necessary to proceed to lay a second 48-inch main from the terminus of the Weston Aqueduct into the Metropolitan District, and to make extensive additions to the pumping plant at Chestnut Hill. In like manner further pipe lines will be absolutely required in the northern part of the Metropolitan District.

It is hoped that the Board will be able during the coming year to effect a settlement, through the courts or otherwise, of the various suits and claims brought in connection with the Water Works for damages still unadjusted on account of the construction of the Wachusett Dam and Reservoir, and on account of alleged depreciation in value of property not taken and injuries caused by the operations of the Board to estates and to established business in towns where the reservoir is located.

It is expected that the construction of the extension of the Highlevel Sewer in the South Metropolitan Sewerage District will ap proach completion during the coming year. The further extension of the sewer through the city of Newton will probably not be required for a few years to come, unless additions are made to the District.

The construction of the North Metropolitan System was begun about nineteen years ago, and, on account of the large increase in the population and business of the territory constituting the District

and the still greater increase in the amount of sewage which must be received, it is becoming necessary to make considerable enlargements and extensions and to renew some of the works which have reached the limit of their capacity or period of safe operation. The Board has accordingly in its recommendations to the Legislature asked for authority to make additions to the East Boston and Deer Island sewerage pumping stations, and to install and equip additional plants in them. The situation at these pumping stations seems to call most urgently for relief.

There are other parts of the system to which relief must be extended in a comparatively short period of time. This is particularly the case with the portion of the Mystic valley main sewer, which receives the sewage of the city of Woburn and town of Winchester. This main sewer has so nearly reached the limit of its capacity that it is inadequate in times of heavy rains to dispose of all the contents of the local sewers, and as a result considerable quantities of the sewage and manufacturing wastes diluted with storm water overflow in different localities through the manholes. The situation is such that a new main sewer in this district will probably soon be called for.

The detailed reports of the Chief Engineer of the Water Works and of the Chief Engineer of the Sewerage Works, with various tables and statistics, are herewith presented.

Respectfully submitted,

HENRY H. SPRAGUE.

HENRY P. WALCOTT.

JAMES A. BAILEY, JR.

BOSTON, February 26, 1908.