1938-05-13 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

148 more than one-third of it, so he thought it would affect the ground water travel over 3£0 acres. There is a great deal of evaporation, some water will run to the Shawsheen, and some is used up by vegetation. Mr. Raymond said that he would not be surprised to see the vegetation in that gravel pit die. He said that he would not be surprised if wells five hundred feet away were affected, but he did not think that one could notice any material change in the Shawsheen River. If there is any polluted water travelling toward the river, and they start pumping at these wells, the flow will be reversed and the polluted water will travel to whatever stream the house wells are being drawn from. He said that one of the logs gave the time, and the draw -down was 314' during a pumping period of 32 hours. They are going to pump possibly five to fifteen times that rate, and Mr. Raymond said he would not be surprised if they drew the water level down ten to twelve feet while they were pumping. He thought their reservoir was limited to the sand pit and the immediate surrounding territory. Mr. Raymond said that if there was a heavy rainfall in the spring and fall, probably the underground reservoir would recover, but if not, it would not. He said that as far as the pump house being only eleven feet from the street line went, he believed it would be possible for the corpora- tion to build an underground pump house. When asked what kind of a satisfactory arrangement the corporation could make by putting the pump house back and using a shaft, Mr. Raymond said that an arrangement could be made, but he did not believe any pump man would recommend it. When asked by the Chairman if there was any doubt but that the wells would be detrimental to the neighborhood, Mr. Raymond said that he did not want to predict it, but he thought that there was an even chance that vegetation would be dried up, and that any wells in the area would be affected. He brouLht up the fact that there were no sewers in this area, and he thought that any development by residents within a conservative radius of these wells, perhaps 1,0001, would be seriously objected to by the Federal Government after it had been using the wells for a period. He thought that sewage might be found in the water from these wells after they had been using them for a while. He said that this was rather far-fetched, but should be considered. He also brought out the fact that the Town of Lexington owned Cemetery land to within 1,000 feet of the wells. When the time comes that bodies are put in said land, they will not be beneficial to the water supply. The Cemetery land is higher. Mr. Raymond retired. z 0.4zti 1