The wachusett reservoir

The wachusett reservoir – The wachusett aqueduct was completed, and the Nashua river 37.5 miles long, a tributary of the Merrimack River in Massachusetts and New Hampshire in the United States, was taken for the metropolitan water supply in 1898, and the Wachusett dam, and the wachusett reservoir were completed in 1906.

At the time of its completion, it was the largest public water supply in the world, and today, it remains part of the greater Boston’s water supply.

The dam is maintained by the (MWRA) Massachusetts Water Resource Authority.

Source

Elevation/Yield

Transmission
Means

Storage
Destination

Water Mains

Wachusett
Reservoir

395’/118 mgd*

65 billion gallons

Wachusett
Aqueduct

Weston
Reservoir

Weston Aqueduct Supply Mains

The 10 years project brought thousands of Italians and Poles immigrant workers, Clinton already had a large Irish population.

The construction included removing many churches, factories, homes, and 3,816 bodies from a catholic cemetery, and moved to St. John’s Cemetery in Lancaster, MA.

Source	Height	Lenght	Average Dept	Max. Dept
Wachusett Reservoir	205 ft.	965 ft.	48 ft.	120 ft.

The walkway on top of the dam has been closed since the 1970’s, and after September 11, the military was stationed at the dam for several years, in 2005 the walkway was opened for the 100 anniversary of the dam, but it remains closed as of today.

The Clinton dam is a marvelous architecture and achievement of engineers, built at a time where the main source of power was steam, today it stands as a beautiful man made structure.

A great place for a walk, for a picnic, and to admire the gracious construction.

Images of the Clinton dam: