Page:Brunswick 100 Years of Memories.pdf/20

1922 for a three-million gallon reservoir that was completed on Souder Road. This was the last leg in building a gravity water system which included the development of Cool, Stevens, and Painter Springs in Virginia and the construction of a collector-pipeline from the springs to and across the Potomac River at Knoxville and then to Brunswick and into the Reservoir. In 1932 the system was expanded by developing the Yourtee Springs in Washington

County, Maryland. Dependence on the four springs continued until 1966 when it became evident that an additional water supply was needed. The logical source was the Potomac River. Fortunately, the Raw Water Pumping Station, owned by the B&O RR, was available and on July 1, 1967, it was transferred to the Mayor and Council of Brunswick. The second feature in the creation of a new potable water supply was the Water Treatment Plant which was built on the South side of Potomac Street. The raw water is furnished by the Raw Water Pumping Station on the banks of the Potomac River, and potable water from the Water Treatment Plant is pumped into the system and to the existing 3million gallon reservoir where it serves both the gravity zone and the suction chamber for the Souder Road Pumping Station.

In September 1988, the town received a $1.3 million loan from the Farmers Home Administration for water system improvements; the 40-year loan was set up on a 7.5 percent interest rate. In October 1987, the town received a $250,000 Community Development Block Grant, just about half the amount requested. The water system, which had originally been installed in the 1930's without a comprehensive plan, was in dire need of repair and modernization. So, in June of 1989 the improvements to the water system continued. The reservoir on Souder Road had been drained and cracks repaired, but the new cover is credited for saving the town approximately $400 a month as well as enhancing water quality.

Cleaning, repairing, and covering the reservoir was the first part of a multi-phased plan to improve the water in Brunswick. Draining, sandblasting and painting the elevated tank is next on the agenda reservoir and tank could not be done at the same time. The tank had not been refurbished since it was constructed in the 1960's. A new intake system allowing Brunswick to pump more river water went on stream in June 1989 and will provide a more efficient system.

Earlier in the twentieth century John Sennett was in charge of streets and water, as John Mills, Casey Wynkoop, and Jack Brawner, who followed Sennett, have been. Today David Moler is in charge of Streets and Parks Department and Water and Sewer Distribution; Kevin Brawner is Supervisor of Water and Waste Water Operations (manager of the water and waste water plants). The headquarters for this phase of city business has been at the Municipal storage building on Petersville Road below Wenner's Hill, where vehicles and heavy supplies are stored and the pump used to operate.

S - Kevin Brawner W-BLC

SEWER SYSTEM

The minutes of Brunswick Council meetings indicate that an application was first introduced in September 1935 and a motion to employ Whitman, Reckard and Smith of Baltimore at a cost of $150,000 was adopted.

The town would file an application with the Works Progress Administration for funds for the project; Brunswick's contribution was not to exceed $45,000.

The B&O granted permission for sewer lines to be placed along its right of way. Sewer bonds to cover Brunswick's share were to carry an interest rate of 41/% and were to be dated March 1, 1937. Life of the bond was to be decided by City AttorneyRohrback according to the ordinance.

Ordinance No. 151 was the original ordinance and Ordinance No. 152, known as Brunswick Sewer Bonds of 1937, covered issuance and sale of Sewer Bonds, May 4, 1937. Maturity date was set at May 1, 1957.

Eventually the town acquired a "ditch digger" which was about the size of a large power shovel but with the bucket turned toward the operator, like today's backhoes. "Sonny" Cannon learned the intricacies of operating the machine and dug the trenches for the sewer lines throughout the city.

S - Ernestine Phillips W-BLC

STREET NAMES

Street names in Brunswick seem to have changed as much as the names of the town itself: Berlin, Barry, Brunswick. Names given below may pertain to only a segment of the street in a sub-division. In other cases the entire street's name changed.

For more detail, see subdivision map of 1915 by William C. Humm or Arthur Lutman's map of

21