REPORT OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH UPON THE SANITARY CONDITION AND IMPROVEMENT OF THE NEPONSET MEADOWS. To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth in General Court assembled. The State Board of Health, acting under chapter 83 of the Resolves of 1895, has investigated the sanitary condition of the meadows on the Neponset River in the towns of Canton, Sharon, Norwood, Dedham, Milton and Hyde Park, and herewith submits the results of that examination, together with recommendations for the improvement of the sanitary condition of these meadows and the removal of nuisance therefrom. These meadows cover an area of 3,662 acres. Of this surface hardly more than 600 acres appear to be in a condition adapted to profitable agriculture. From the remaining territory crops of hay are obtained occasionally, or not at all. The condition of the meadows seems to have grown worse in recent years, and many of the larger owners have abandoned the attempt to secure some degree of drainage by the maintenance of open ditches, on account of the steadily diminishing returns from the crops. At an earlier day and for a succession of years a grass known as the fowl meadow or false redtop grew on these meadows, the first name still is used to designate the locality,—and, proving to be a valuable forage plant, gave a high value to the lands upon which it flourished. The present condition of the territory, however, is evidently not so favorable as it once was to the growth or preservation of this grass, and it is also probable that cheaper transportation has brought into this market hay of a better quality at a price lower than that at which this marsh grass could be profitably sold. As a result of either or both of these conditions, the value of these lands has steadily fallen. While it might be expected that the meadows should be uninhabited, as they are, it is not at first so easy to understand why the higher grounds in the vicinity should be still unoccupied by the rapidly increasing suburban population which seeks and finds acceptable building sites at distances from the business centre of Boston more considerable than any portion of the area in question. The facilities for transportation by convenient railroads are at least as good as can be found in other directions from Boston, and the towns which make up the district appear to be desirable places of residence. There has, however, for years existed a popular belief that the meadows have become a source of sickness, and this feeling seems recently to have increased. Intelligent observers report that these meadows are at times the source of disagreeable odors and the direct cause of much sickness. The examinations by this Board have shown that the upper portion of the stream was very seriously polluted, and the opinions of the physicians residing and practising in the valley, which have been from time to time collected, indicate a general belief on the part of the medical profession that the conditions affecting health here are more unfavorable than they formerly were. The valley of the Neponset River has twice before been the subject of extended examinations by the State authorities, first by the State Board of Health in 1875, and subsequently by the Massachusetts Drainage Commission in 1885. In addition to these examinations, a description of the Neponset River basin, with statistics. relating to its pollution and analyses of its waters, may be found in the special report of the State Board of Health on the examination of water supplies, 1890, and in the twenty-second annual report of the Board. So much of the great body of facts collected by the Board as may be necessary for the purposes of this report will be found in the report of the engineer, contained in the special report presented to the Legislature. The earliest notices of these meadows give evidence that even then there were prolonged periods of flooding, and that it was found necessary to clear the bed of the stream from time to time of its obstructions, consisting of fallen trees and shrubs with the entangled rubbish. With the increasing pollution of the stream, however, another and more persistent interference with the current became operative. The waste matters of human life and the refuse of manufactories, when added to the waters of the stream, became efficient fertilizers for the vegetable substances that find a home there, and their increased quantity became a mechanical hindrance to the current, promoted deposits in the bed of the stream, and finally, by their decay, gave to the atmosphere odors which common experience as well as scientific knowledge declare to be injurious to health. An accurate estimate of the amount of sickness produced by the condition of these meadows, founded upon statistical inquiry, is almost impossible, and largely for the reason that the common-sense of the people and their freedom to select more salubrious locations have prevented settlements in the immediate vicinity of these low lands. We find here, at an average distance of thirteen miles from the State House, an area of more than eleven square miles which is uninhabited. The people have not had the same objections to residence near the great salt marshes which line our coast, where the conditions of flooding and soil moisture are apparently as serious as they can be in the Neponset valley, but are not associated with a seriously polluted water or excessive growth and decay of vegetable matters. We are of the opinion that the condition of these meadows and of the beds, shores and waters of the Neponset River is injurious to the public health. The opinions of the physicians of this district, as ascertained by an inquiry instituted by the Board, are also distinctly to the effect that the conditions which now exist here are unfavorable to health and that the unhealthful conditions are increasing in amount from year to year. One disease has attracted considerable attention in recent years in many portions of this State,- malarial fever,—and portions of this valley have suffered from it, and severely, when the limited population is taken into account. One farm-house was found not far removed from the meadows, but lying many feet above their level, which, well built and well cared for, had failed to offer adequate protection against an influence which, originating beyond the immediate surroundings of the house itself, was sufficiently potent to affect more than half of the ten occupants of the house. We find that malarial diseases are uniformly prevalent in the Neponset basin, though no distinct concentration of cases has been anywhere observed except in the case of the farm-house above cited. This is a condition of things which points distinctly to some influence which pervades the whole district, and the obvious origin of such an influence is the condition of the Fowl Meadows, with the polluted river and large areas of stagnant water. While the current theories upon the subject of malarial diseases may sufficiently explain the occurrence of these diseases in a marshy region, with stagnating water and the inevitable accompaniment of decaying vegetation, we are well aware that future scientific examination may find the really essential factor in some hitherto unsuspected condition of such territories. But it fortunately is true that malarial diseases where once prevalent have disappeared upon the removal of conditions such as those now found through the Neponset valley, and that the general healthfulness has been distinctly and immediately increased thereby. Attention is also called to the report contained in appendix prepared by the chemist of the Board.* With the co-operation of the owners of the larger manufactories on the river, a very complete examination has been made of methods for diminishing the pollution of the stream by treatment of the effluents from these establishments, and it has been found that these effluents, either by themselves or when mixed with ordinary town sewage, can be satisfactorily purified upon properly prepared sand filters. It is advisable, however, to remove by sedimentation from the factory effluent, before it reaches the filter, so much of the sludge contained therein as is possible. This sludge can be removed from the sewage by means of a settling basin of moderate dimensions, and, as it contains much more nitrogen than ordinary sewage, could probably be readily disposed of. For the present, at least, the sparsely settled districts adjoining the meadows do not appear to be in pressing need of extended systems of sewerage; but the time will come when the same provision which is here recommended for the factory refuse should be made for the collection and purification of domestic sewage. There appear to be in the valley areas of land suited to intermittent filtration, and sufficient in quantity for the needs of the district. Portions of the banks of the stream in the town of Hyde Park are at present in an unsanitary condition; but legislation subsequent to that authorizing this inquiry by the Board has provided a sufficient means for the relief of this state of things, through the construction of a sewer system having an outlet into the metropolitan system of sewerage. This may be found in the special report of the Board upon the Neponset meadows, presented to the Legislature of 1897. The measures which we recommend for the remedy of the conditions injurious to health now existing in the Neponset valley are these: - First. Such additional legislation as will prevent the entrance into this stream of sewage and manufacturing wastes which have not been satisfactorily purified. --- Second. The permanent removal of the flashboards of the dam of the Mattapan Mills, the enlargement of the cross-section of the river, together with a deepening and reconstruction of the channel at such places as may be found necessary for making a channel of such width and grade as will prevent the flooding of the meadows during the times of high flows in late spring and summer. A conservative estimate of the cost of making this improvement, irrespective of land and water damages, is, in round numbers, $125,000. The engineer also presents some figures* to show the increase in the value of meadow lands reclaimed, and to this sum should also be added the enhanced value of the now neglected building sites immediately adjoining the meadows. It can thus be demonstrated, we think, that the work of improvement would be justifiable from a money stand-point alone. We have not considered it within our province to present the agricultural advantages of a drainage of this expanse of meadows. Land so well adapted, as this would be when drained, to the purposes of market gardening must always have a value near a great market far in advance of any price now paid for land in this district. When we limit ourselves, however, to considerations of health, it scarcely seems necessary, now that a considerable portion of the State has acquired a knowledge of the depressing and disabling effects of malarial diseases, to insist upon the economical value of a freedom from the conditions that favor their prevalence. We do not hesitate, therefore, to recommend the improvement of this district, the healthfulness of which is vital to the immediate residents therein, as well as to the occupants, present and future, of the lands lying about it. It will be remembered that, in accordance with the recommendations of the Massachusetts Drainage Commission, legislation was had now embodied in chapter 375 of the Acts of 1888. Under the provisions of this act the State Board of Health has the general oversight and care of all inland waters. The commission which suggested To be found in the report of the engineer, which accompanies the special document on the Neponset meadows, presented to the Legislature of 1897. |