Excavating the Roslindale Main Sewer, c. 1890 (Image copyright the City Record and Boston News-Letter, all rights reserved)
After paying your taxes, you might want to get a little something back from the government. I ran across "Water Resources and the Urban Environment, Lower Charles River Watershed, Massachusetts, 1630-2005" by Peter K. Weiskel, Lora K. Barlow, and Tomas Smieszek while doing some research for a post on Boston's sewers. This report, a joint production of the United States Geological Survey and the Department of the Interior, covers the geology of the Boston area, the history of water resources like Stony Brook and the Muddy River, and a includes a chapter on Water and the Urban Environment which focuses on the history of Boston's water supply. You'll also learn a lot about sewers. While some parts of the report are highly technical, it also has wonderful rarely seen illustrations and maps, and a bibliography for further research. It is well worth an afternoon's read and I know I will be using it to explore the Boston area.
See a picture of the Stony Brook Gate House during a flood here.
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