262 History of Hingham. 



held Nov. 7, 1871, a committee consisting of Quincy Bicknell,, 

 George P. Hay ward, Alfred Loring, Alden Wilder, and Edmund 

 Horsey, was chosen " to cause a survey of Accord Pond to ascer- 

 tain its capacity for supplying the inhabitants of Hingham with 

 water ; also to cause estimates to he made of the probable cost 

 of laying pipes, &c, and report thereon at some future meeting/' 



Mr. Bicknell, for the committee, presented an able report at the 

 annual town-meeting, March 8, 1875, in which he says : — 



A free and ready supply of pure water has of late years attracted more 

 or less of public attention in our various municipalities, not only as a 

 luxury and comfort, but as an essential element in the maintenance of the 

 public health, and this supply has been sought for and found beyond their 

 own limits. 



It is matter of tradition that the fathers made their first settlement here 

 with reference to a ready supply of pure water, which they found in the 

 springs where the upland met the meadow. But as the town has ex- 

 tended itself by growth in various directions out of this valley, it has 

 been found difficult in many localities to procure a sufficient supply of 

 water, and in seasons of drought serious inconvenience, if not suffering, 

 has attended the scarcity of water. 



The means of supplying the house with water are either the open 

 well or the well furnished with a pump, the tubular well — a late 

 invention — being used to a limited extent. These wells are liable to 

 be affected by the various causes in operation in growing and compact 

 villages, and by the presence of barnyards and stables in close prox- 

 imity to the wells, and by the quite too general neglect of suitable 

 drainage around our houses. The very means we employ to make our 

 homesteads attractive, by enriching the soil, tend to unfit that soil for 

 properly filtrating the surface water which falls upon it, and which finally, 

 permeating the earth, finds passage to the well. 



That the scarcity of water, and at times its impurity, affect and often 

 determine the condition of the health of a community, and affect the 

 longevity of the people, have beeu made so apparent as to remain unques- 

 tioned ; but whether our condition is very much as yet affected by these 

 circumstances cannot so readily be determined. We cannot, however, 

 take ourselves out of the operation of general laws, and so long as any 

 of the causes exist which are detrimental to health and longevity, we must 

 either endure the penalty or remove the cause. No one doubts that in 

 cities and compact villages the introduction of pure and abundant water 

 has tended to add to the length of human life, and to make that lite 

 more efficient during its existence ; but what the exact money value of 

 the added and more efficient years may be is not so readily determined. 



We may, however, suppose for illustration that in an average life of 

 fortv years one year may be added to each life, and that added year 

 would be the most efficient one of the whole life ; and taking the average 

 production of men and women at the most efficient year of a life of labor, 

 we may assume that this year is worth in productive capacity at least five 

 hundred dollars to each one. Apply the result to a community of four 

 thousand and five hundred lives, and you have a gain in a period of forty 

 years of $2,225,000, — more than sufficient to pay the cost of our pro- 

 posed water-works, with all the interest thereon compounded for the whole 

 forty years. 



