BWSC owns and operates a system for the distribution of drinkable water throughout the City of Boston. 这包括居民, 学校和大学, 医院, 企业, 行业, 以及私人和公共机构.
历史
早期移民
Boston's early settlers relied on cisterns, wells, and a spring on Boston Common for their water. 然而, as the city grew, this supply was inadequate and the quality often poor. 第一次提供替代方案的尝试来自私人供应商, in 1796, 开始通过木管系统从牙买加池塘输水. The City continued to grow in size as well as in population and city planners began to look towards the western part of the state for a more abundant water supply.
1848 - 1900
In 1848, 该市从长池获得了第一次市政供水, 现在被称为科奇图特湖, 波士顿以西约19英里. 水通过考奇塔渡槽流入布鲁克林水库. 当时, 波士顿的人口约为127人,从1860年到1900年, 人口增加了两倍,达到550人,000. To meet the increasing water needs, several construction projects were initiated. Beginning in 1866, construction of several reservoirs and related aqueducts were completed. These additions, however, still did not meet the needs of the growing population. 作为对此的回应, in 1895, 城市形成了大都会水区(MWD), 那就是为城市寻找额外的水源.
1900 - 1970
再往西看, 城市规划者在马萨诸塞州中部找到了一个区域, 波士顿以西35英里, 叫招收. 1908年,伍斯特水坝、水库和渡槽完工. In 1919, 监督复杂的供水系统(及雨水/污水系统), the Massachusetts Legislature created the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC), 现在是保护和娱乐部.
The MDC developed a large-scale plan for expanding the water supply so that it would meet future growth. The results of this plan were to augment 伍斯特水库 by impounding the Swift River with the construction of the Quabbin Reservoir, 波士顿以西65英里. 1939年建成, 夸宾水库的储水量为4120亿加仑, 使其成为世界上最大的人工供水水库. To this day, the Quabbin still serves as the major source of water for metropolitan Boston.
1970年至今
By the 1970s, years of deferred maintenance began to take their toll on the water system. 水需求, 再一次, was beginning to stretch a supply that had not increased significantly in forty years. 除了, water was being lost from leaking pipes before it ever reached the consumer and water pressures were low in many parts of the City.
1977年,BWSC成立,负责监督和更新波士顿市的交通系统. In 1985, 马萨诸塞州立法将财产转移, 控制, and operation of the MDC Water and Sewerage Divisions to the newly created 马萨诸塞州水资源管理局(MWRA). This included the reservoirs and major transmission lines throughout the metropolitan area.
今天
马萨诸塞州水资源管理局(MWRA)
Boston is one of 51 member communities that purchase water (fluoridated and disinfected) from the 马萨诸塞州水资源管理局(MWRA) 通过位于不同交付点的29个有效仪表连接. 水利部从夸宾水库获得供水, 伍斯特水库, 和威尔河, 它们的总容量约为4770亿加仑. 夸宾水库, 位于波士顿以西65英里处, has an elevation of approximately 530 feet above the mean elevation of the City. This elevation differential creates a natural gravitational flow through most of the MWRA's waterworks system and thereby eliminates the need to pump water to BWSC's system.
夸宾和伍斯特水库
Boston's drinking water comes from two source reservoirs in central and western Massachusetts, 夸宾和伍斯特水库. 除了水库, 该系统包括地面渡槽, 有盖储罐, 处理设施, 还有深深的岩石隧道. 这个系统被称为波士顿大都会供水系统. The 马萨诸塞州水资源管理局(MWRA) and the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) jointly manage the Metropolitan Boston 水系统. The MWRA provides treatment and distribution of drinking water to 48 communities in the metropolitan area, 包括波士顿. The DCR manages the lands adjacent to the source reservoirs and is responsible for keeping the reservoirs free from water quality contamination to the greatest extent possible. And finally, BWSC delivers the water to homes and 企业 throughout the City of Boston.
Metrowest隧道
Water distributed to the Boston metropolitan area is conveyed from the reservoirs through the Cosgrove or Wachusett Aqueducts and treated at the MWRA's John J. 位于马尔堡核桃山的卡罗尔水处理厂. 处理包括臭氧消毒, 用碳酸氢钠调节pH值, 氯胺和氟化物的加入. Water leaves the plant through the Metrowest Water Supply Tunnel and is stored in 有盖储罐 at Norumbega Reservoir and the Loring Road Tanks in Weston, 在哪里保存,以便交付给BWSC服务网络. MWRA mains distribute water to the BWSC system at 29 metered delivery points.
基础设施
Boston’s water system has been designed with a redundant capacity to support most of the major distribution lines. This redundancy permits required maintenance work on discrete parts of the system without interrupting continuous service throughout the City.
水系统由大约1,018英里的管道,尺寸从4英寸到48英寸不等, 其中包括12,758个消防栓和17个,725年阀门. 除了, 有四个主要的服务网络:南方低服务, 北部低空服务, 南方高等学校, 和南方超高压服务. Approximately 90% of the water consumed in the City is delivered through the Southern Low and 南方高等学校s.
BWSC follows a systematic renewal and replacement program by replacing older cast iron water pipe and rehabilitating pipe through a process of cleaning and cement lining. 每年的资本计划中至少包括8英里的管道.
通过积极的泄漏检测和修复, 以及累进计量程序, BWSC继续减少其未计费和未计算的水. These programs have resulted in a reduction in unbilled water from 70 MGD (millions of gallons a day) in 1977 to 9.2017年为26mgd. Unbilled water is the difference between water purchased from MWRA and water sold to customers. Much of the unbilled water is used for public purposes, such as for firefighting and street sweeping. BWSC继续每年对整个系统进行泄漏调查. 泄漏立即修复.
水的质量
The BWSC and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority monitor the quality of Boston's drinking water to ensure that it is safe to drink and complies with Federal and State drinking water quality requirements. 阅读BWSC的年度报告 食水质素报告.
MWRA测试超过1,每月抽取600个水质样本, 从水库一直到家庭水龙头. 年度和月度测试结果由水务局在其网站上公布 网站.
BWSC关注饮用水中的铅. 饮用水中的铅很少是铅中毒的唯一原因. 然而, 它可以增加一个人的铅暴露总量, particularly the exposure to infants who drink baby formulas and concentrated juices that are mixed with water. 铅进入饮用水的主要原因是腐蚀, 或者磨损, of materials containing lead in the water distribution system and household plumbing.