Mr. EVANSON. Prescott lies opposite Ogdensburg on the Canadian side
of the St. Lawrence River, and the river at this point is about 1¼
miles in width. We have a splendid water system in Prescott for a
town of its size. We obtain the water in the St. Lawrence River. We
have three outlets for our sewers. We discharge our sewage into the
river in a raw condition.
Mr. GARDNER. Have you ever contemplated the purification of your
sewage in any way?
Mr. EVANSON. We have never considered it.
Mr. GARDNER. You have never had it under consideration?
Mr. EVANSON. No.
Mr. GARDNER. In your opinion, would it be a difficult thing to do?
Mr. EVANSON. No; I think we could treat it all right. Prescott has
been most fortunate in that we have not had any experience of an
epidemic of any kind. Brockville has been troubled with typhoid for
some years, but we have been free from it. We never attempted to
chlorinate the water until Brockville had an epidemic a few years
ago, and we chlorinated the water as a precaution. At present we have
not a case of fever in Prescott. You will find that the fever cases
in Prescott are much below the average.
Mr. MAGRATH. You are satisfied?
Mr. EVANSON. We are satisfied with the conditions as they exist at
present.
Mr. GARDNER. How long have you been treating your water?
Mr. EVANSON. Since the epidemic in Brockville we have been treating
it most of the time. I regret that the medical health officer of
the municipality could not come here to-day. I may state that the
quantity of chlorine we put into the water is lowered at certain
seasons of the year.
Mr. GARDNER. Did you have anything of the nature of an epidemic in
your town before you commenced to treat the water?
Mr. EVANSON. We never had. I was mayor of the town in 1910 and 1911
and during that time I asked the medical health officer frequently to
send in samples of our water, and he did so. He took the water from
the taps in the town, and not from the river, and it was rarely shown
that it was contaminated in any way. I can only remember one occasion
on which there was slight contamination.
Mr. GARDNER. At what point in the river is your intake?
Mr. EVANSON. The intake pipe is at the most westerly point in the
town and it runs into the river for 400 feet.
Mr. GARDNER. Do you find the channel within that distance?
Mr. EVANSON. No; we would not be out in the channel at that distance.
The nearest sewer pipe is 1,500 feet from the intake pipe.
Mr. GARDNER. That would be down the river.
Mr. EVANSON. Yes. Of course I think the current of the river at
Prescott improves the conditions there. It is said that the water
flows by there at about 4 miles an hour. We have no eddies at all
such as they have at Brockville. At Brockville there is a point that
juts out and obstructs the flow of the river at the west side, and
that is the cause of the eddy there, but we have no eddy whatever at
Prescott.
Mr. GARDNER. Is the river narrower opposite Prescott than it is
opposite Brockville?
Mr. EVANSON. I think it is about the same width as at Brockville; we
are about a mile and a quarter across here.
Dr. MCCULLOUGH. The river is one mile and three-quarters wide at
Brockville.
Mr. GARDNER. What is the average depth of the river here from shore
to shore?
Mr. EVANSON. I can not say as to that. Of course, along our docks at
Prescott, the river is 14 or 15 feet, and the two Richelieu boats are
in there every morning, the one from the west coming in at 7 o’clock,
and it remains there until 10 o’clock or half past 10, and the boat
from the west comes in at 10 o’clock and remains there until noon.
The sewage would not contaminate our water because the sewage outlets
are at least half a mile east of our intake pipe.
Mr. GARDNER. Did you notice any disturbance of the river bottom when
these steamboats are leaving or arriving at the wharf?
Mr. EVANSON. No. Of course the town owns the western wharf where our
water system is and no boats tie up there at all; the only boat that
comes there is an occasional boat with coal.
Mr. POWELL. Have the town authorities at Prescott ever considered the
advisability of purifying or sterilizing the sewage?
Mr. EVANSON. In 1911 we put in a further sewerage extension in the
east end of the town. We had two outlets then. We extended the sewer
in the east end of the town, and in order to get an outlet for that
extension we had to put the east one farther west, and the question
was considered then, but it was decided that it was useless to purify
the sewage at one small outlet and let the two larger outlets go
without purification. The question received some consideration then.
It was suggested that we could put in a plant which would take care
of the purification of the sewage.
Mr. POWELL. Have you the same rock formation at Prescott as at
Brockville?
Mr. EVANSON. I do not know of any harder rock than we have at
Prescott; you are liable to run into it at any place in the town.
Mr. MAGRATH. What is the assessed value of the property in your
municipality?
Mr. EVANSON. A little over $2,000,000.
Mr. MAGRATH. What is your rate of taxation?
Mr. EVANSON. The rate of taxation varies from 25 to 27 mills.
Mr. MAGRATH. Is the water supply of your town satisfactory to the
public health authorities of Ontario?
Mr. EVANSON. I think so.
Mr. GARDNER. What is the basis of taxation; is it the full value of
the property?
Mr. EVANSON. No; I think it is about 75 per cent of the value of the
property, I think that is the way the assessor places it.
Mr. POWELL. What is the rate of taxation?
Mr. EVANSON. Twenty-seven mills on the dollar last year; that is $27
on the thousand.
Mr. POWELL. Does that cover everything?
Mr. EVANSON. Yes; of course it does not cover the water and light
rate; it covers the general taxes of the town and the school rate;
the school rate is about 11 mills.
Mr. POWELL. The individuals who consume the water pay for it?
Mr. EVANSON. Yes; and the municipality owns it.
Mr. GARDNER. What is your indebtedness?
Mr. EVANSON. Our indebtedness would run about $170,000. I should say
that in the neighborhood of $100,000 of that covers the water and
light system. Of course, the water and the light take care of their
own departments. We own the water and the light plants.
Mr. GARDNER. And a proportion of your indebtedness is because of your
ownership of these utilities?
Mr. EVANSON. Yes. When we put in the water and light systems in 1900
we issued debentures for $120,000 at that time to take care of it.
We have extended the sewerage system since at a cost of $25,000 or
$30,000.
Mr. POWELL. If the purification of sewage is made obligatory along
the river here I suppose that your town would have no objection to
comply with the general rule?
Mr. EVANSON. Certainly not.
Mr. POWELL. But you would have objection to be singled out and
compelled to do that if other people were allowed to go free?
Mr. EVANSON. Yes. Prescott is most fortunate in having first-class
water in the river here, and that has been the condition for a number
of years. I think it proves that flowing water will purify itself
in a distance of 12 miles, because there must be a great amount of
sewage flowing into the river at Brockville, which is 12 miles above
us.
Mr. GARDNER. Unless you have some general statement to make to the
commission I think that is all we want to hear from you, Mr. Evanson.
Mr. EVANSON. I have nothing further to say. I say that the
municipality of Prescott will be glad to carry out the wishes of this
commission and of the United States and Canada if a means can be
devised to purify sewage.