P.D. 123. 29 



culveits in highway embankments are set too high to carry off anj^ water except 

 flood or surface water, and are of no value for removing ground water. In such 

 cases the highway embankment acts as a dam, and sometimes aggravates the 

 marshy condition of land through which it runs. Discussion of this condition 

 with the Department of Public Works led to a request by the Commissioner of 

 that Department that the Board would examine the locations decided upon each 

 year for new highway construction, and report and recommend proper measures 

 for taking care of the flow of water from tracts lying near the locations in 

 question. This the Board has undertaken to do. A list of the State Highway 

 projects for 1924 was submitted to the Board in November, 1923, and was exam- 

 ined by the consulting engineer for the Board before January 1, 1924. A similar 

 list covering State Highway projects for 1925 was submitted early in November 

 of the i^resent year and was examined by the consulting engineer before the end 

 of that month. A report on the 1924 projects was submitted to the Department 

 of Public Works before construction began and a report on the 1925 projects 

 will be prepared and submitted during the coming winter. It is expected that 

 the examination of these projects before construction will enable the Board to 

 bring about proper attention to drainage requirements in highway undertakings. 

 In order to make this service fully effective the Board should also have informa- 

 tion about projected County and Town highways long enough in advance so 

 that these projects can be examined and recommendations made to cover the 

 drainage features that may be involved. 



During the year the Board held eight meetings, including five hearings on 

 drainage projects. It received petitions for two new projects, and two petitions 

 from old projects whose reorganization under the new form of law was found 

 to be necessary. Hearings were held on all these petitions and all were approved. 

 In each case District Commissioners were appointed. 



Status of Reclamation Projects. 

 - The projects now before the Board are in several different stages. There are 

 three drainage districts organized under the law passed in 1918, and amended in 

 1922. Three districts have been organized since the complete revision of the law 

 in 1923, and two districts formerly organized under the older law have been dis- 

 solved by act of the Legislature, and have been reorganized under the revised 

 statute. The situation of the several projects at the end of the year were as 

 follows : 



AssABET River Reclamation District (Westborough-Northborough) 

 In accordance with the request of the Commissioners of the old drainage dis- 

 trict, that district was dissolved by act of the Legislature during the session of 

 the present year. A new petition for organizing a reclamation district under 

 the revised form of the law received sufficient signatures to be presented to the 

 Board in October. A hearing was held at Westborough on November 3d, and 

 the organization of a Reclamation District was approved by the Board imme- 

 diately after the hearing. The same Commissioners who served the drainage 

 district have been appointed commissioners of the Reclamation District. Exami- 

 nation of the district area indicates that a thorough survey should be made be- 

 fore any construction work is undertaken. Arrangement for that survey is con- 

 sequently being made. The situation in this district is complicated, because the 

 Town of Westborough owns land within the district area, while the Common- 

 wealth not only owns part of the land, a tract controlled by the L;^Tnan School 

 for Boys, but also has another institution between North Grafton and West- 

 borough which pours a large quantity of water into the river, which flows 

 through the district. It is not yet wholly clear under the law, how contribution 

 to tlie expense of the district work can be made bv the town and the Common- 

 wealth. This problem will be pressed for solution during the coming winter. 



Bear Meadow Reclamation Project (Whitman) 

 The petition for this project was received just at the end of the year 1923. It 

 covers a rather narrow strip of about 200 acres, extending from the Railroad 

 Station at Whitman to a point near the station at North Hanson. At the lower 



