The Sudbury Aqueduct is an aqueduct in

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. It runs for from Farm Pond at Waverly Street in

Framingham Framingham () is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. Incorporated in 1700, it is located in Middlesex County and the MetroWest subregion of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The city proper covers with a popul ...

Chestnut Hill Reservoir Chestnut Hill Reservoir is a reservoir created in 1870 on existing marshes and meadowland to supplement the city of Boston's water needs, located in its namesake neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. A 1.56 mile jogging loop abuts the reservoir. Chestnu ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

’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 Natick ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is near the center of the MetroWest region of Massachusetts, with a population of 37,006 at the 2020 census. west of Boston, Natick is part of the Greater Boston area. ...

. From Natick it runs east through Wellesley and Needham to the

Charles River The Charles River ( Massachusett: ''Quinobequin)'' (sometimes called the River Charles or simply the Charles) is an river in eastern Massachusetts. It flows northeast from Hopkinton to Boston along a highly meandering route, that doubles b ...

, 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 Gorge R ...

into

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * 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 certain municipalities and industrial users in the state, primarily in th ...

(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 Originati ...

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 The Sudbury Reservoir (2.02 square miles) is an emergency backup Boston metropolitan water reservoir in Massachusetts, located predominantly in Southborough and Marlborough, with small sections in Westborough and Framingham. It was created when t ...

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 river 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 (from grc, σίφων, síphōn, "pipe, tube", also spelled nonetymologically 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 a ...

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 Embankment may refer to: Geology and geography * A levee, an artificial bank raised above the immediately surrounding land to redirect or prevent flooding by a river, lake or sea * Embankment (earthworks), a raised bank to carry a road, railwa ...

, while others are in a

cut 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 ** Cut (ea ...

, 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 The Gardens at Elm Bank, home of Massachusetts Horticultural Society, occupies of Elm Bank Reservation, a recreational area of woodlands, fields, and former estate property on the Charles River managed by the Massachusetts Department of Conservat ...

, 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 Weston Aqueduct is an aqueduct operated by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA). Now part of the MWRA backup systems, it was designed to deliver water from the Sudbury Reservoir in Framingham to the Weston Reservoir in Weston. ...

, 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 distributi ...

, and the MetroWest Water Supply Tunnel. 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 in the end 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 United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

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