Documentary History of American Water-works

Alton

Alton, New Hampshire

Alton was settled in 1770.

The Alton Aqueduct Company was incorporated in 1830 by William Emerson, James Jewett and Joshua A. Varney. No evidence has been found that this company built a system.

The Alton and Alton Bay Water Company was incorporated in Maine in 1892, and built a water works. The Alton Water Works was purchased by the town in 1921 for $17,500.

Water is supplied by the Town of Alton.

References
1830 An act to incorporate the Alton Aqueduct Company. June 29, 1830.

1892 The Engineering Record 26:254 (September 17, 1892)
Alton, Me.--The Alton and Alton Bay Water Company has been incorporated with a capital of $50,000: President, F. J. Cushing, Lynn, Mass.; Treasurer, Charles H. Downing.

1897 "Alton," from Manual of American Water Works, Volume 4.

1905 An act to protect the waters of Alton Bay from pollution by sawdust and other waste. February 9, 1905.

1907 Report of the State Board of Health of the State of New Hampshire for the Two Years Ending November 1, 1906
Page 9: The Alton & Alton Bay Water Works Company, established in 1892-'93, supplies about 100 families (90 percent. of the population), with water from a spring, except in dry weather, when it is pumped from Lake Winnepesaukee to a reservoir of 150,000 gallons capacity.
Pages 101-109: Alton and Alton Bay Sewerage and Water Supply.

1922 Annual Report of the State Board of Health of the State of New Hampshire for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1922.
Page 27: ALTON.
During the summer of 1921 the supply as operated for many years by the Alton and Alton Bay Water Company was taken over by the town with a view to securing better service, there having been some complaint based upon inadequacy and a rundown condition.
The chief source consists of a circular open well fifty feet in diameter situated at a considerable elevation above town and a mile or more above the east shore of Alton Bay. Water from a springy area above, conducted into the well, serves to augment this supply and it is probable that by suitable development the yield from this source might be materially increased.
Although rather poorly cared for, this source represents water of excellent quality. An auxiliary supply has been provided by pumping from the lake, the intake being forty feet off shore at a point on the east side of the Bay about a quarter of a mile from the mouth of Merrymeeting river. While the physical character of this water is generally very good, yet in addition to some obvious contamination of the Bay at this point, recent investigations have indicated that a material degree of pollution is being carried in by the river.
The town has accordingly been advised that if resort to this source is continued, chlorination will have to be installed. Thus far no action has been taken, largely in view of the local expectation that with development of the main source the utilization of this auxiliary will be no longer necessary.