Radio Script #

Little Talks on Common Things

May 5, 1963

This program has often mentioned the Kennebec Water District and its predecessors that first furnished Waterville with a municipal water supply, but I have never told the whole story in consecutive detail. I am able to do that today, thanks to the courtesy of Mrs. Mary Lemelin of Fairfield, who has shown me the first annual report of the Kennebec Water District published in 1906. Besides the customary statistics of such reports, that one contained a comprehensive history of the community’s water supply. Now let us see what that story reveals.

Before 1880 various measures had been taken to supply the Main Street business section with water. As early as 1840 Timothy Boutelle had sunk a deep well on his property near the Congregational Church and had piped it into his Main Street Phoenix Block, the oldest building that was standing on Main Street before Urban Renewal. For more than a hundred years that block housed a drug store in its south side, its last druggist occupant being Bob Dexter before he moved across the river to Winslow.

In the general area now occupied by the American Legion Building on College Avenue there used to be a number of springs with unfailing supply of water. In the 1850’s a pipe line made of hollow logs carried some of that water down to Main Street and there were gradually installed a number of cisterns out of which that water could be pumped. About forty years ago the then City Engineer, Eugene Crawford, opened the cistern that lay under the pavement in Castonguay Square and found it as solid and firm as on the day when it had been built at least 80 years earlier.

In 1881 a group of ten Waterville citizens took out a charter for the Waterville Water Company. Those men were Samuel Appleton, S.I. Abbott, I.S. Bangs, Francis E. Heath, Nathaniel Meader, John Ware, E.F. Webb, Willard B. Arnold, G.A. Phillips, and J.W. Philbrick. The charter granted them two alternative sources of supply — Snow Pond or the Kennebec River. Matters dragged along for five years without any pipes being laid. Part of the difficulty was that the original charter provided that the company should furnish to the town of Waterville free of charge a supply of water for public buildings, school houses, and to extinguish fires. The company insisted such free water would mean bankruptcy, but not until the annual town meeting of 1885 was it able to secure a vote waiving the town’s right to free water.

In January, 1886 the company presented two proposals to the Waterville voters. The first called for the town to contract for 50 hydrants at $50 each for a period of 20 years. The second called for the town to take over the company, build the plant, lay the pipe lines, and run the whole operation as a municipal venture. The first proposal meant that an outside firm would put in the plant and take the proceeds until the cost was paid for. At a town meeting on February 13 the voters turned down that first proposal and accepted the second in principle, appointing a committee to work out details. Those details represented so many snags that the company turned to the 1887 legislature for a new charter. This one extended the company’s franchise to Fairfield and Winslow, repealed the right to take water from Snow Pond, and instead allowed it to be taken from the Messalonskee Stream.

Meantime outside interests had bought control of the water company. They succeeded in getting a further extension of supply, permitting the company to take water from either the Kennebec or the Messalonskee. Then ensued a long fight over the cost of water to the town. The company wanted to supply forty hydrants at $50 each per year, but finally agreed to 50 hydrants at $40 each, and on May 5, 1887 a contract was at last signed between the Town of Waterville and the Waterville Water Company. Soon afterward a similar contract was made with the Fairfield Village Corporation. This historical account published in the 1906 report says rather bitterly of that outcome: “Thus there passed into the hands of a private company, whose active members were all non-residents of the territory served, one of the most valuable franchises which the people of this community ever had at their disposal.”

In the early winter of 1887-88 water was pumped into the pipes and for the next 17 years Waterville and Fairfield were supplied with water taken from the Messalonskee. It was by a narrow squeak that they escaped getting water from the already polluted Kennebec. The company finally decided it would be cheaper to put up a station at Crommett’s Mills and take the water from the stream. In 1889 the whole works came under control of a larger concern, operating water supplies in other Maine communities, and for a time the users of water in Waterville were at the mercy of the Maine Water Company.

The Kennebec Water District was the conception of Waterville attorney Harvey D. Eaton. It was a novel idea in operation of public utilities by a group of municipalities, but has since spread widely over the U.S. Its latest use in Maine has been its application to education whereby, under the Sinclair Law, several towns combine to form an Administrative School District.

The Kennebec Water District was incorporated in 1899 to include Waterville and Fairfield. The district was authorized to operate also in Benton and Winslow, but those towns were not officially parts of the district. Two trustees were to be chosen by Waterville, two by Fairfield, and one for the county commissioners. For the first trustees Waterville chose Dr. F.C. Thayer and Walter Wyman; Fairfield apPointed Stephen Nye and Virgil Connor. The commissioners selected Ira Getchell of Winslow. George K. Boutelle became the district’s first clerk and remained in that office for many years.

As the district’s attorney, Mr. Eaton filed a bill in equity against the Maine Water Company, calling for condemnation of their property. rights and franchise. Bitter litigation ensued. The court early established the validity of the new district, but it was not so easy to determine what compensation the Maine Water Company should receive for their condemned property. It was not until October, 1903, four years after the district’s incorporation, that actual appraisal began. By far the most important aspect was the pollution of the Messalonskee.

During the winter of 1902-03 an epidemic of typhoid fever broke out in Waterville, resulting in 726 cases and 74 deaths. Investigation provided undisputed proof that the disease had been spread by water from the Messalonskee. That epidemic prompted t~~ court to appoint appraisers and insist on speedy action. On October 30, 1903 the value of the Maine Water Company’s property and rights was fixed at $503,475. The new district paid the awarded price and took possession in May, 1904.

With keen foresight, the district trustees had begun to seek a new source of supply even before the typhoid epidemic created a crisis. All nearby lakes were considered before a conclusion was reached. The choice finally came between Pattee’s Pond and China Lake. William R. Hill, chief engineer of the New York Aqueduct Commission, was called into consultation, and after thorough study he emphatically recommended China Lake. Meanwhile a movement developed to put in an expensive filtering plant to make the Messalonskee Stream water safe. Trustees visited filtering plants allover the northeastern states. They decided that, despite filtering, it did not make sense to take chances on the increasing sewerage from Oakland and Waterville that emptied into the stream, when pure water from China Lake could be secured for $250,000. The choice for the lake supply was unanimous.

As often happens on large construction projects, the district encountered plenty of trouble before water flowed through the pipes from China Lake. First the company that contracted to supply the pipe had not even begun casting on the date promised for initial delivery. The district insisted that the contractor purchase pipe elsewhere to fulfill the contract. Almost half of the 4,200 tons of 24 and 26 inch cast iron pipe had to be secured in that way. When the district insisted on deducting the extra cost from the contract price, the supplying contractor brought suit, which after long months of litigation the district defeated and secured award of the $25,000 penalty for failure to fulfill the contract.

Next came trouble with the construction contractor. On June 22, 1904 a contract had been signed with Loring N. Farnum to construct the pipe line from China Lake for $76,000. The contract provided that the work should begin within seven days and should be completed by December 15, and a penalty of $50 a day should be exacted for delay beyond that date.

Work began on time, but crews were too small, important parts of the work were delayed,tests of work done were refused by the contractor, and conditions altogether became unsatisfactory. Financial weakness began to appear. Despite advance payments made by the district, Farnum’s crews were not being promptly paid. The contractor struggled on until January 4th, when he informed the trustees that he must abandon the work. The trustees immediately assumed direct supervision of construction. Taking possession of the Farnum tools and equipment, they kept the work going vigorously to its completion. The excess cost over the contract price was considerable, $31.246. Damages for delay in completion, before Farnum abandoned the job, had piled up to $8,000. The district had to bring suit to recover Farnum’s surety bond of $25,000 and fight a counter claim of Farnum for $24,000. The district finally won a substantial court award.

The pipe line was completed early in May, 1905. There was much washing out and flushing of pipes, all the hydrants were blown off, the reservoir was drained and cleaned, and at last, on May 23, 1905 China Lake water was fully turned into the entire system. The intake from Messalonskee Stream was permanently closed and sealed. At the end of the first year of operation, in May, 1906, the district had a bonded debt of $950,000. Net income after expenses for that first year of China Lake water was $35,000, and the district was already on the way to the financial stability it has shown for nearly 60 years.

When the district first turned on the water from China Lake, there were meters only for industrial use. It is interesting to note what people paid for water in that year 1905-06. The first listed category of annual rates was dwelling houses: first faucet $7, each additional faucet $3, water closet $5, bath tub $5, set bowl $3. The second category was boarding houses: $12 for the first faucet (not over 5 boarders), and $4 for each additional boarder. Third on the list came private stables: for the first horse $5 and each additional horse $3, and $2 for each cow. The rate sheet said: “In case there is no stable faucet and no hose used for carriage washing, water carried to stable from other faucet on the premises shall be $3 for each horse and $2 for each cow. Now comes the interesting overall rate for livery stables. It was one cent per day per horse. For outside silcock the rate was $5 for sprinkling lawns, washing windows, not exceeding two hours a day for each season, and with nozzle no larger than 1/8 inch.

Well, that’s the story of the beginning of the Kennebec Water District, the first community utility district in the United States.

Year: 1963