off j||jK»adtnsclfe. 
OFFICE OF THE STATE BOARD OF HEALTH, 
State House, Boston, May, 1877. 
Dear Sir, 
I have taken the liberty to send you a Draft 
of a proposed Bill on the Pollution of Streams, which I hope 
you will be kind enough to look over, criticise, and return 
at your convenience. 
In behalf of the State Board of Health, 
Very respectfully yours,x 
CHARLES F. FOLSOM, M.D., 
Secretary. 2 
Section 1. No individual or corporation, and no authorities of 
any city or town, or public institution, shall discharge, or cause to 
be discharged, or knowingly permit to be discharged into any 
stream, pond or lake in this Commonwealth any solid refuse, 
including saw-dust, ashes, cinders, etc., or any solid polluting 
substance, so as either singly or in combination with other similar 
acts of the same party or of any other party to interfere with its 
volume, or flow, or pollute its waters; provided, that such interfer- 
ence with the volume or flow of any body of water be not for the 
purpose of permanently narrowing or filling channels, streams or 
ponds with a view of making sanitary or other improvements. But 
this prohibition shall not apply to liquids containing not more than 
one per cent of solid matter in suspension. 
Section 2. No stream or pond shall be wholly or in part filled 
with solid matter for the purpose of making improvements, or for 
any other reason, in any city or town, without the written authority 
or permission of the mayor and aldermen or of the selectmen of said 
city or town, approved by the State Board of Health, excepting in 
such cases as are already provided for by existing laws. 3 
Section 3. No individual or corporation or authorities of any city 
or town or public institution shall discharge or cause to he discharged 
or knowingly permit to be discharged into any stream, pond or lake 
in this Commonwealth now used as a source of domestic water 
supply, any sewage or liquid refuse containing excrement, or any 
soiled water which has been used in or about dwellings, over and 
above what is so discharged at the time of the passage of this act; 
provided, such discharge in the case of running streams, used as 
water supplies, or emptying into streams or ponds used as water 
supplies, be within fifteen miles of and above the point at which 
such water supply is taken. 
Section 4. No individual or corporation or authorities of any 
city or town or public institution shall add or cause to be added, 
or knowingly permit to be added to the quantity of refuse organic 
matter discharged into any stream or pond in this Commonwealth 
now used for drinking purposes, within ten miles above the point 
where such supply is taken, or of refuse mineral matter within five 
miles above said point. 4 
Section 5. No individual or corporation and no authority of any 
city or town or public institution situated on or near any pond or 
stream in this Commonwealth hereafter used as a source of domestic 
water supply, shall, from that time forth, increase or cause to be 
increased or knowingly permit to be increased the amount of refuse 
of any kind, including effluent water from manufactories, towns, 
sewage-works, etc., discharged into such pond or stream, unless 
with the approval of, and in the manner prescribed by the State 
Board of Health. 
Section 6. No individual or corporation and no authority of any 
city, town or public institution shall discharge or cause to be dis- 
charged or knowingly permit to be discharged from any manufac- 
tory, house, or buildings of any kind established or built after the 
adoption of any pond or stream in this Commonwealth as a source 
of domestic water supply, any refuse organic matter into said pond 
or stream within twenty miles above such point of water supply, 
and no mineral refuse matter within ten miles above said point. 
This prohibition, so far as is not provided for in preceding sections, 
shall not apply to present sources of water supply. Section 7. No individual or corporation and no authorities of any 
city or town or public institution shall add or cause to be added, or 
knowingly permit to be added to the amount of refuse or polluting 
substance dischai'ged into any pond or stream in this Commonwealth 
not used as a source of domestic water supply, without the written 
permission of the mayor and aldermen or of the selectmen of the 
city or town in which said discharge is intended, and with the 
approval of the State Board of Health; and it shall be in the power 
of said mayor and aldermen or selectmen, with the approval of the 
State Board of Health, to prescribe under what conditions, where 
such are deemed by them necessary, any polluting substances may 
be allowed, in any given case, to enter a pond or stream. 
Section 8. In cities and towns supplied with sewers, said cities 
and towns shall allow the sewage of manufactories to be discharged 
through the public sewers: 'provided, such sewage contain no poi- 
sonous chemicals, and no substances injurious to the structure of said 
sewers, or causing such obstructions in them as can be remedied 
only by means not necessary for ordinary sewage. 6 
Section 9. Whenever any serious offence exists from the pollu- 
tion of any pond or stream within the State, the State Board of 
Health may, if in their judgment the public health or the public 
comfort and convenience shall require, order any person or persons, 
or authorities of any city or town to cease and desist from such pol- 
lution, or to cleanse or purify, by means satisfactory to said Board 
of Health, the polluting substances before being cast into said pond 
or stream ; provided, that on any application to said Board to exercise 
the powers in this section conferred upon them, a time and place for 
hearing the parties shall be assigned by said Board, and due notice 
thereof given to the party against whom the application is made; 
and the order hereinbefore provided shall only be issued after such 
notice and hearing. 7 
Section 10. Any party feeling aggrieved by any decision of the 
State Board of Health in accordance with the provisions of the 
preceding sections, may petition the legislature for the reversal or 
modification of such decision. 
Section 11. Any person or persons violating any of the pro- 
visions of this law shall forfeit a sum not exceeding two hundred 
dollars for every month he or they continue to act in violation of 
said law. 
Section 12. The supreme judicial comd, or any one of the 
justices thereof in time of vacation, shall have power to enforce the 
provisions of this act. 8 
Section 18. His excellency the governor, with the advice and 
consent of the council, shall appoint a State Engineer, to be ex officio 
a member of the State Board of Health, to serve seven years, and to 
be paid from the state treasury the sum of three thousand dollars 
per year, and all necessary travelling expenses; and no plans for 
water supply or sewerage shall be adopted by any city or town or 
public institution until they shall have been examined and approved 
by said Engineer. Every city or town consulting said State Engi- 
neer, shall pay therefor to the treasury of the Commonwealth, 
a sum assessed and deemed to be due by the treasurer of the State 
upon consultation with the State Board of Health. Said State Engi- 
neer shall be liable to. removal from office at any time by his excel- 
lency the governor, and council, for cause shown. 
Section 14. This act shall take effect on the first day of January, 
1879, and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent therewith are 
hereby from that date repealed.