Excerpt from Fresh Pond Water: Measures Proposed for the Protection of the Purity of the Water-Supply of the City of Cambridge; Report of a Public Hearing Before a Joint Convention of the City Council of Cambridge They are consumers of it, as we are. They have investigated the borders of Fresh Pond; and I suppose' that their reports, in their own language, speak stronger sentiments than any of us, as citi zens, can express, and. I would present to you from their own reports to the city government their very language. I have before me some of their reports. In the first place, by authority of the legislature of this Commonwealth, by an act approved May 1, 1875, the city of Cambridge has the right to take and hold, by purchase or otherwise, such land on and around the margin of the ponds, including Fresh Pond, not exceeding five rods in width, as may be necessary for the preservation and purity of their waters. On that question a petition was ably presented before the legisla ture, which granted the city of Cambridge authority to take that quantity of land around Fresh Pond. Since 1875 no action has been taken to any extent; but, when the city asked for that action, they believed it was necessary for the preservation and purity of our water. In the report of the Water Board for the year 1876, which was signed by George P. Carter, J. Warren Merrill, H. L. Eustis, C. W. Kingsley, and F A. Allen, they remarked that there has been dissatisfaction in relation to the purity of the water, the principal reasons for which they think are, First, In the use of Fresh Pond for boating, by which more or less per sons have been drowned; and in some case, the bodies have been in the pond several days before they were recovered. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.