So far in the Newton Photo Scavenger Hunt, the most elusive photo to be identified has been #9 No Trespassing. It turns out it’s one of several warning signs (“Trespassers Will Be Met With Armed Response”) on the innermost of two layers of barbed-wire security fencing surrounding the Newton Reservoir — the covered reservoir that’s uphill from the much-better-known Waban Hill Reservoir. This covered reservoir sits at the highest point in Newton, and about 130 years ago it was built there to improve both water pressure and water quality in Newton’s municipal water system. Back then, the vistas from the top of that hill included Mt. Monadnock and Mt. Wachusett and were considered “the finest of all the suburbs of Boston” [King’s Handbook of Newton].
According to this history by the Newton Conservators, Newton sold the Waban Hill Reservoir in 1900 to the Metropolitan Water District, which used it for emergency backup until the 1970s, when the MWRA (successor to the Metropolitan Water District) determined that reservoir was no longer needed for emergency use and returned it to Newton for public open space, no longer fenced-in. Throughout this time, however, Newton has retained ownership of the lesser known, covered, and fenced-in Newton Reservoir, hidden in the woods at the top of the hill. Perhaps it’s kept available for emergency water use, but as far as I know, it connects only through the no-longer-used Waban Hill Reservoir, and the MWRA has since developed newer capacity for emergency water supply.
The Newton Reservoir is big: The overall parcel is 8.5 acres. Most of that is wooded (so the once-famous views from there are gone), but it has a fenced-in, mowed field of about 2.5 acres. (Hmmm… I think the City has been looking for a 2.5-acre site for NewCAL.) This field would be a great location for a solar farm, as it is owned by the City, has unobstructed sunlight, and is about 2.5 times the size of the solar farm destined for the Library parking lot. This reservoir is also big underground: 175’ x 125’ x 15’ deep, covered by 2.5’ of dirt and holding 10 million gallons of water in the dark. Here’s how it looked when it was under construction.
Bruce, great idea on solar; also, this facility has potential for energy storage using the gravitational potential energy of water, aka “pumped hydro”. When grid energy is cheap/clean, you use it to pump water from the Chestnut Hill Reservoir to the Waban Hill Reservoir; when electricity gets expensive and dirtier, you let that water run back downhill and generate clean electricity.
I did a calculation which shows that when the electrical grid consumption spikes during short term demand, the reservoir could offset at least 25% of the price spike.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1exArxvXNMxLJC6HDDh64vlH8Cb-zxkjbSNfeAAqkoh4/edit?usp=sharing
Love that idea, Nathan!
I’m more curious about whether that sign is for real: does security there truly have that authority? I have only ever encountered similar signs on military bases. It sounds beyond what would be reasonably authorized in Newton.
@Nathan: A terrific idea, and thanks for your thoughtful analysis to confirm its worth.
@gorelowell: The sign is for real. As Michael pointed out, a sign with the same wording is on the fence surrounding the water tower on Ober Rd., and it appears such wording is used around at least some public water-supply facilities. I’m not aware of any separate security force; the response would likely come from the Newton Police, who are indeed armed.
If the reservoir is indeed unused and if Nathan’s pumped hydro plan doesn’t work out, may I propose that some lighting and architectural flourishes be added to transform it into a spelunking-type tourist attraction à la the Basilica Cistern in Istanbul.
@Bruce, thanks for this article – there’s very little information about the covered reservoir anywhere else, and I’m very intrigued by it after poking around Waban Hill for the scavenger hunt. One book I’d like to get my hands on is “Walks and rides in the country round about Boston; covering thirty-six cities and towns, parks and public reservations, within a radius of twelve miles from the State house,” which was published in 1897, a few years after the King’s Handbook – it reiterates that the covered reservoir’s views of the Blue Hills, Worcester County, and New Hampshire were not to be missed. More recently, page 8 of this RFP implies that the covered reservoir may still be in use.
Regardless, while I was visiting some of the water infrastructure sites for the scavenger hunt, I was thinking how lucky you Newtonites are to get your water from the Quabbin. It’s much more delicious (and I would wager, healthier) than our Needham water, which is mostly pumped from town wells that probably end up being catchment for the lawn-chemical runoff from Needham, Dover, and Wellesley. And check out this
reassuring description of the inflows into the reservoir on Route 128 supplying drinking water to Cambridge, which gets my vote for the region’s most awful-tasting water –
It’s too bad that after all the effort and foresight that went into creating and protecting the Quabbin watershed, some cities and towns would still opt out, but I guess that’s the way it’s always been.
I’ve wandered all over Newton taking photos and writing about the cool stuff I find on my blog, The Backside of America. I’ve never dared to venture up to that reservoir, and certainly won’t be in a rush to do so now!
The reservoir is in my neighborhood. It gets traffic from city trucks often. My wife tells me that is the primary source for Newton’s water.
Update: I’ve since learned that the covered Newton Reservoir is still very much an active part of Newton’s public water system, as mentioned in the RFP that Michael cited, which notes that a contractor inspects it weekly. While the water for Newton’s water supply is provided by the MWRA, the covered reservoir provides pressure sufficient pressure for it across much of the city, and water flows in and out of the reservoir every day. I’ve also learned that the possibility of hosting a solar farm on the site of the covered reservoir was examined by a team of engineers, and they determined it was too dangerous to have this on the roof of an active reservoir.