THE CAMBRIDGE WATER DEPARTMENT
Its History Traced From Small Beginning as a Water Company—Originally Chartered in 1837, and Became a Municipal Department in 1865 by Purchase—A Twenty Million Gallon Filtration Plant Under Consideration
THE Cambridge, Mass., water works originally was chartered in 1837 as the Cambridge Aqueduct Company, a private corporation, supplying water from springs located in Somerville, Mass. In 1852 the Cambridge Water Works were incorporated, but it was not until 1856 that this company was authorized by legislative authority to take the waters of Fresh Pond, and the surplus waters (lowing over dams to be erected at Little Pond and Spy Pond, to supply the city of Cambridge. In 1861 this company was authorized to purchase the Cambridge Aqueduct Company, which was done. The legislature authorized the city of Cambridge to purchase the Cambridge Water Works in 1865, and the municipal water system was acquired at a cost of $291,400.
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