by Barbara Rimkunas
This "Historically Speaking" column was published in the Exeter News-Letter on Friday, November 10, 2023.
In the mid-1880s, the direst issue in the town of Exeter was water. “Those whose business it is to understand this matter have told us that the water in the wells throughout our village is more or less contaminated with impurities and unfit and unsafe for drinking purposes,” commented a writer to the Exeter News-Letter. Indeed, 1886 proved to be a year rife with water-borne diseases. Eight people in town, mostly infants, died of cholera infantum, diarrhea, and typhoid fever. The drinking water system was piecemeal. The business district, clustered around Water Street, still used an old system of hollowed out wooden logs that connected taps with lead pipes. Most homes had wells that were dug perilously close to the family outhouse. Sure, it was possible to survive these water sources, a point made by the letter writer. “Because persons have drunk questionable water and still live is no sign that they would not have lived better on pure water. How much poison is taken into the system from impure water it is difficult to say, but it is certain that experience and science again and again have traced sickness and death to this source.”
The other water issue that was critical was the lack of enough water for fire suppression. The two main sources in town were the river and Seminary Pond. When the American House, a large hotel and livery stable on Water Street, caught fire, there wasn’t enough water pressure to soak down all the wood shingle roofs surrounding the actual fire. The downtown was saved by an unexpected rain shower at just the right moment. “Had the proposed water works been built and water pipes been laid through the principal streets with hydrants every two or three hundred feet, every part of our village would have been protected and all danger of a large conflagration removed.” After that close call, it was time to upgrade the town.
The Exeter Water Works Company was incorporated in 1885 – the same year the American House burned. Town approval was needed before it could start laying pipes. To ensure coverage, a new reservoir needed to be dug. Work began in the summer of 1886. Nancy Merrill reported, “developing the little stream off Portsmouth Avenue that eventually runs into Wheelwright’s Creek for the town’s water system was a large undertaking. To complete the basin, more formerly known as Water Works Pond, on schedule, the company had to hire an extra 100 Italian laborers.” These immigrant workers arrived in town from independent contractors. Most spoke no English and stayed only long enough to complete the work. By October, the system was on-line to many in town. The concept of fresh water tapped into the house was exciting to most people – the bills were not.
Water metering was expensive, so it was offered, “for mechanical or manufacturing purposes only, and at the discretion of the company.” Most homes were billed based on the number of faucets, water-closets, and bathtubs. A faucet rate was set at $6.00per year. Additional faucets cost $2.00. One bathtub cost $5.00, additional bathtubs added $3.00 each to the bill. Stables could be supplied for $3.00 per year. Applications for service had to be submitted to the Water Works Company before the ground froze in December and would cost 25 cents per lineal foot with an additional $1.25 for the stop and waste cock.
The company was not owned by the town. It was a private company with Edwin Eastman as president, Elbert Wheeler serving as treasurer and Arthur Fuller as clerk. As early as 1890, the Exeter Agricultural, Industrial and Town Improvement Association recommended that the town purchase the Waterworks. Three years later, they very nearly did – the waterworks pond needed some repairs, but the will to purchase was strong. A study commissioned to determine the water quality found a lot of deficiencies. For one, the water tasted terrible due to the bottom of the pond. “a great amount of swamp muck, and of soil charged with decaying vegetable matter which act as constant sources of pollution to water which naturally is good. To remove the impurities, confessedly existing in the water, the company has introduced a system of filtration. This system is inadequate and in its operation imperfect and the water is not essentially improved.” The odor of the water was described as “vegetable, very faintly mouldy.” The cost of improvements and the slow economy of 1893 deferred the decision to purchase the company.
A new filtering plant was installed in 1906 to great fanfare, but by 1913 the water quality was again quite poor. The problems continued and again in 1926 the proposal was made (and defeated) to purchase the plant for the town. Instead, the company was sold to New England Water, Light & Power Association based in Rhode Island. They reamed out the pipes, which greatly improved flow rates, but the bad taste and odor remained. In 1938, another town study was commissioned to consider purchasing the water works. The report was accepted, but no action was taken. Water usage increased tremendously during and just after the war years. In 1941, the town needed 95 million gallons per year, by 1946 it had risen to 150 million gallons. The Water Works was sold again in 1946, this time to A.L. McDougal, Jr. of Chicago. He acknowledged the need for more water and the Public Utilities Commission approved an increase in rates, but not enough to cover the increased need. In June of 1950, the town finally passed a measure to purchase the Water Works, issuing a $400,000.00 bond to cover purchase and improvements. The water tower on Epping Road, capable of holding one million gallons of water, was erected to solve the problem of availability in the western part of town. The old tower on Prospect hill was cleaned and repainted. A new gravel packed well was dug at Gilman Park. New water mains were dug, old mains were carefully flushed. And, at long last, Exeter had a municipal water system.