The Sudbury Aqueduct is an aqueduct in

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

. It runs for from Farm Pond at Waverly Street in Framingham to

Chestnut Hill Reservoir Chestnut Hill Reservoir is a reservoir located in the Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, Chestnut Hill section of Boston, Massachusetts. It was created in 1870 on existing marshes and meadowland to supplement the city’s water needs. A 1.56 mile jogg ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

’s Chestnut Hill neighborhood. A later built extension main runs from the Farm Pond gatehouse to the gatehouse at the Stearns Reservoir (Framingham Reservoir #1) where additional mains connect to the Brackett and Foss Reservoirs (Framingham #2 and #3.) Going east from Framingham, it runs through Sherborn before entering Natick. From Natick it runs east through Wellesley and Needham to the

Charles River The Charles River (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ), sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles, is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Hopkinton to Boston along a highly me ...

, which it crosses on the

Echo Bridge Echo Bridge is a historic masonry bridge spanning the Charles River between Needham to Newton Upper Falls, Massachusetts, and Ellis Street in Newton. The bridge carries the Sudbury Aqueduct and foot traffic, and is located in the Hemlock G ...

into Newton. It ends at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir on the Newton side of the Newton-Boston line. The

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) is a public authority in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts that provides wholesale drinking water and sewage services to 3.1 million people in sixty-one municipalities and more than 5,500 large ...

(MWRA) operates the aqueduct.

Construction

The Sudbury Aqueduct was constructed between 1875 and 1878, and was in use for almost 100 years. It was designed to carry water from the watershed of the

Sudbury River The Sudbury River is a tributary of the Concord River in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States.U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 Origin ...

to Boston and its surrounding communities. Reservoirs in Framingham and Southborough were constructed to impound this water at the time of the aqueduct's development, and additional reservoirs in Ashland and Hopkinton were constructed in the 1880s in an attempt to meet increased demand. Finally in the 1890s the Sudbury Reservoir was created in 1898, significantly increasing the amount of water available for distribution. For most of the Sudbury Aqueduct's history after the Sudbury Reservoir was built the water was primarily sourced from the Foss Reservoir which the Sudbury Reservoir feeds with Reservoirs #1 and #2 serving as reserve supply due to the Sudbury Reservoir's superior water quality over the Reservoir #2 system. The aqueduct consists primarily of a horseshoe-shaped brick lining that is in diameter and high. The bricks are set in concrete atop a foundation of concrete and stone rubble. The aqueduct is covered by an arch built of brick. The aqueduct was initially designed to carry 80 million gallons of water per day, limited by the Rosemary Brook Siphon. An additional barrel was later added to the Rosemary Brook Siphon increasing the design capacity to 110 mgd. The main conduit from Farm Pond to Chestnut Hill Reservoir is inclined one foot per mile. At a number of places on the aqueduct small buildings were built to house control equipment of various sorts. These include a gate house at Farm Pond (abandoned after a channel was constructed feeding the aqueduct from Framingham Reservoirs #1-3 due to poor water quality at Farm Pond), a metering house in southeastern Framingham, and control houses over

weir A weir or low-head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the water level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

s where the aqueduct crosses over other bodies of water. These control points allow water from the aqueduct to be diverted into the watersheds it crosses. There are also control houses on either end of the Rosemary Brook

siphon A siphon (; also spelled syphon) is any of a wide variety of devices that involve the flow of liquids through tubes. In a narrower sense, the word refers particularly to a tube in an inverted "U" shape, which causes a liquid to flow upward, abo ...

in Wellesley, where the water is sent through cast iron pipes to traverse an extended low spot on the route. This stretch of the aqueduct illustrates a number of the techniques used in its construction: parts of the aqueduct here are raised on an embankment, while others are in a

cut Cut or CUT may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** ...

, due to significant changes in local topography. Portions of the aqueduct in Natick and Newton were created by tunneling, the longest being a tunnel in Newton. In addition to the Echo Bridge, the aqueduct also passes over the "Waban Arches" bridge. Located in Wellesley near the Elm Bank Reservation, this nine-arch bridge carries the aqueduct across a valley containing Waban Brook near its mouth at the

. The aqueduct formally ends at a terminal house just above the Chestnut Hill Reservoir in Newton.

Relegation to backup service

In the 20th century the aqueduct's functions were first augmented and then replaced by the Weston Aqueduct, the

Hultman Aqueduct The Hultman Aqueduct forms part of the water supply system of eastern Massachusetts, managed by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). The aqueduct extends from Southborough to Weston, connecting the Cosgrove Tunnel to the distribut ...

, and the

MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel The MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel (MWWST) is an advanced underground aqueduct that supplies potable water to residents of much of Greater Boston. It is part of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) water supply system, having entered ...

. The aqueduct was taken out of regular service in 1978, and now forms part of the MWRA's emergency backup systems. Along with the Weston Aqueduct it is one of two emergency backup transmission aqueducts to carry water from the Sudbury and Foss reservoirs, MWRA's backup sources. If brought online water would enter the Sudbury aqueduct at its gatehouse at the Stearns Reservoir (Framingham #1) from two 48 inch pipes from the Foss Reservoir (Framingham #3) which is in turn fed by an open channel from the Sudbury Reservoir. The water would then pass through the aqueduct and enter Chestnut Hill Reservoir where it could then be taken into the water system. The aqueduct formerly could also be fed directly by the Stearns and Brackett reservoirs (Framingham #1 and #2) and Farm Pond as well as indirectly by Whitehall Pond, Ashland Reservoir, and Hopkinton Reservoir which discharge into the Bracket Reservoir; for water quality reasons generally only the Foss Reservoir was regularly used for most of the aqueduct's history and is the only one of the reservoirs that is still maintained as an emergency water source. It was put into emergency use on May 1, 2010, when a wide supply pipe (only seven years old) broke in

Weston Weston may refer to: Places Australia * Weston, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Weston, New South Wales * Weston Creek, a residential district of Canberra * Weston Park, Canberra, a park Canada * Weston, Nova Scotia * W ...

. Clean water was directed through alternate pipelines to bypass the break, but to provide all the water needed, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority supplemented the water supply by tapping the Chestnut Hill Reservoir; water from the Sudbury Reservoir and Foss Reservoir was sent through the Sudbury Aqueduct to Chestnut Hill to keep that supply going. The Chestnut Hill water was untreated, so about 2 million residents in about 30 communities in the Boston area were under orders for about three days to disinfect tap water by boiling. Later testing showed that the water was of good quality and safe to drink. On January 18, 1990, the route, buildings and structures associated with the aqueduct were added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

as the Sudbury Aqueduct Linear District. Much of the aqueduct's route is open to the public as an unimproved walking trail.

References

External links

Images of the Sudbury Aqueduct

Newton Conservators

{{Framingham, MA National Register of Historic Places in Newton, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, Massachusetts National Register of Historic Places in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Historic districts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Historic districts in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Bodies of water of Middlesex County, Massachusetts Bodies of water of Norfolk County, Massachusetts Aqueducts in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Transportation buildings and structures in Norfolk County, Massachusetts Aqueducts in Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Framingham, Massachusetts Sherborn, Massachusetts Natick, Massachusetts Wellesley, Massachusetts Buildings and structures in Needham, Massachusetts Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Aqueducts on the National Register of Historic Places Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts Crossings of the Charles River 1878 establishments in Massachusetts