Quabbin Reservoir

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The Quabbin Reservoir is the largest body of water in the state of Massachusetts. Built between 1930 and 1940, it is the primary water supply for Boston. It has an aggregate capacity of 412 billion U.S. gallons (1.56 km³) and an area of 37 square miles (96 km²). Water from the Quabbin flows to the Wachusett Reservoir by way of the Quabbin Aqueduct. The Quabbin watershed is managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation; the water supply system is operated by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority.

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History

Boston began to outstrip its local water supplies in the early part of the nineteenth century. Many possible sources of water were explored, including groundwater and rivers, but none were considered adequate in quantity and cleanliness to meet the needs of the rapidly growing city. After several years of controversy, the Massachusetts General Court authorized the construction of the Cochituate Aqueduct to bring water to Boston from Lake Cochituate in Wayland. This established three important policies which still remain in force today:

Public, rather than private, ownership of the public water supply system.
Use of upland reservoirs, with gravity-fed rather than pumped supply systems.
Watershed protection, rather than filtration, as the primary mechanism of ensuring wholesome supplies.

By 1875, with demand again on the verge of exceeding supply, the Boston Water Board was established to take over the operations of the Cochituate Water Board, construct five new reservoirs on the Sudbury River in Framingham, Massachusetts, and a new Sudbury Aqueduct to deliver that water to the city. In 1895, the Massachusetts Board of Health issued a report analyzing population and water-use trends, and recommended the creation of a Metropolitan Water District, serving several suburban communities in addition to Boston, and the construction of two new reservoirs: one on the Nashua River northeast of Worcester, and one in the Swift River Valley.

The General Court acted to establish the Metropolitan Water District, including 26 communities within ten miles of the Massachusetts State House, later in 1895. Wachusett Reservoir was completed in 1908. The Board of Health study had anticipated that Swift River water would be required by 1915, but this prediction had proven overly pessimistic. The introduction of mandatory water metering in Water District communities, and other efforts to reduce waste and inefficient uses, made it possible to delay construction of new water sources until the 1930s. A 1922 study officially endorsed the Swift River Valley as the next extension of the water system, now under the auspices of the Metropolitan District Commission.

In 1926, construction began on the first stage of the project, a tunnel connecting Wachusett Reservoir with the Ware River. During the 1930s, this tunnel was extended to the Swift River; the complete tunnel is now known as the Quabbin Tunnel.

The project was enthusiastically supported by lawmakers in the Boston area, but bitterly opposed by residents of the affected towns, who took their case all the way to the Massachusetts Supreme Court, but lost. The state of Connecticut also unsuccessfully sued Massachusetts, claiming waters that were rightfully meant to flow into the Connecticut River and subsequenely through their state, were being illegally diverted.

The Quabbin was formed by inundating the Swift River Valley, a drainage basin lying entirely within the state, by damming the river and a col that would otherwise have provided another outlet for its water. Construction began in 1936.

The Quabbin's creation required the depopulation and thus the disincorporation, in April of 1938, of four towns: Dana, Enfield, Greenwich, and Prescott. (The latter three are the namesakes of housing complexes at nearby Hampshire College.) Their land was annexed to surrounding municipalities. Thirty-six miles of the Boston and Albany Railroad's Athol Branch, originally the Springfield, Athol and Northeastern Railroad was abandoned. Route 21, formerly reaching Athol, was truncated to the south side of the reservoir, and new roads - now US 202 and Route 32A - were built on each side.

Although many people assume that the buildings remained intact (though submerged), in fact all buildings inside the shoreline were razed, and their flammable debris was burned nearby. However, some submerged roads are visible from overhead. The vegetation of the now submerged area was clear-cut and likewise burned. The outflow from the valley was stopped in 1939, and the reservoir filled and began supplying water in 1946. Areas within the watershed but not inundated were likewise cleared of structures and depopulated, for water-quality protection.

In 1947, the Massachusetts Legislature authorized the construction of the Chicopee Valley Aqueduct, to deliver Quabbin water to three communities in Western Massachusetts: Chicopee, South Hadley, and Wilbraham. In 1951, with the Quabbin-Wachusett system sufficient to meet foreseeable needs, the Cochituate Aqueduct was abandoned, and the Framingham reservoir system was placed on emergency stand-by.

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Present day

Large portions of Dana are on higher ground, and its remains, predominantly cellar holes, can be visited as of 2005. Much of Prescott is also above water, on what is now known as the Prescott Peninsula, but it cannot be visited because of state restrictions. The center of what was once Prescott has been further leveled, for instance refilling cellar holes, to accommodate the Five College Radio Astronomy Telescope operated by the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

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