piano music) (thunder rumbling) (upbeat rock music) - [Evan] When the sky opens, runoff accumulates in several unnamed brooks in the northwestern parts of the state of Rhode Island.
These waters flow into and form the Ponaganset Reservoir in the town of Glocester and Moswansicut Lake a few miles east on the Johnston-Scituate border.
From there, these headwaters continue on a southbound course, now as rivers, each carrying the names of their tributaries.
The Moswansicut River is regulated at what is known as the Horseshoe Dam in North Scituate before flowing onward under the Ashland Causeway and forming the distinct Y shape at the confluence of the Ponaganset to create the Scituate Reservoir.
A 100-year-old earthen dam then determines the water's fate.
The unneeded excess falls over a spillway under Scituate Avenue before joining the north branch of the Pawtuxet River.
The lucky H2O enters a gatehouse in the center of the dam before being conveyed through dual 60-inch steel pipes, which converge at the nearby filtration plant operated by Providence Water.
Here the water is aerated, treated with lime, coagulant, fluoride, and other chemicals before entering the delivery system through massive transmission aqueducts.
A newer southern aqueduct travels through Kent County, Rhode Island servicing three municipal water providers before meandering back towards the Providence supply.
The original aqueduct from the 1920s surges water underground for seven miles due east, utilizing gravity from the rise of the western hills in the city of Cranston, splitting off to supply sub-reservoirs and a network of feeder mains before crossing under the Pocasset River and joining a distribution system originally laid in 1870 under Reservoir Avenue.
From there, a pair of 30-inch mains use gravity from Cranston's higher elevation to twist and turn to the taps of the homes and businesses of two-thirds of the state of Rhode Island.
This is made possible through 12, 10, 8, and 6-inch mains that are linked to small service lines, many of which contain lead.
(gentle piano music) (birds chirping) My students call me Professor Villari, but really it's just Evan.
I'm a fifth generation Italian-American whose people first came to Providence in the 1890s.
I'm a curious fellow, a filmmaker, a father of three, and a professor of media, right in Downcity, Providence.
In addition to teaching, I'm the founding director of a recording studio space called the Center for Media Production.
When I'm not home, this is where I spend most of my time, contemplating the past.
Let me get somethin' to cut it open with.
(tape ripping) (box flaps snapping) Ah ho ho, she's got nice writing.
(paper tearing) Oh, my gosh.
"Hi, Evan.
"I finally organized and packed up "the watershed documents that I believe you may find useful.
"In December and January of last year, "I took slides of some of the many "black and white photographs which were taken in Scituate "before the condemnation of the land "and during construction.
"The Reservoir Project had such an impact "on everyone who was displaced, "lost their livelihood, or in some cases lost their lives.
"And the social, political, economic, "and environmental history of this "extreme intervention must still play out today.
"All best wishes in your work, "for the health and happiness of your family, Gail."
Wow, that's really nice.
Wow, it's heavy.
And she did this.
She just called me up, and she's just like, "Look, do you want this stuff?"
(paper crinkling) Wow, would you look at this.
I'm like shaking.
It's so ridiculous.
Wow.
It's her writing.
Here we go.
Slides.
Under construction, Gainer Dam, 1924 to 1925.
Wow.
There it is.
That's the condemnation area.
Nails and hook found by divers in the Scituate Reservoir 1978 to 1980.
Divers were given permission by the Water Supply Board to explore the locations of one of the old mill villages.
Look at this.
I can't believe it.
This is so crazy.
Look at those nails.
Growing up, at least I was told that people were still, like their homes were still there, and they just flooded the entire area.
And then, the water levels, they rose.
And they say like when the water levels get low, it used to be this saying that you could see the steeple of the churches.
The reality is, they didn't find anything.
They found streets and cobblestone and some foundations and apparently the old nails.
(birds chirping) When I was a kid, my grandfather used to take me wild blueberry picking within the protected watershed of the Scituate Reservoir.
While we were out there, my papa would point out to the shimmering expanse and say, "People used to live under there."
Ready?
Sound.
You recording?
Hit the record button.
30 years later, my fascination with the Scituate Reservoir and the people who once occupied the five villages now inundated by it has only grown.
As a rate payer and a father of kids who rely on Providence Water to provide us with a truly clean supply, my interests in the Reservoir have evolved over the years.
And cut.
What remains clear is that everything, including the privilege to use this water, comes at a price.
When I look out there today, I think about the price of progress and how my bloodline has been impacted by what we so often take for granted.
How's that?
(traffic noise) (playful orchestral music) - [Dad] Where's my flashlights?
- [Mom] Hold on, I've got one more place to look.
- [Evan] My father served in Vietnam from 1966 through '67 as a mortarman in the Fourth Battalion, 31st Infantry, or as they called themselves the Polar Bears.
As a kid, I can remember my father would set up his projector in the basement and run through these very slides, always in silence.
Over the years, he never spoke a word of his time.
It wasn't until he started group therapy that he began coming to terms with what he saw and what he was a part of in Southeast Asia.
As he opened up in these sessions with other veterans, he and I slowly became closer to the point he would overshare details that fathers don't usually reveal, to their sons.
20 years after successfully defeating cancer caused by his exposure to Agent Orange, the federal government finally recognized his other long-standing ailment.
In 2020, my dad was awarded full disability for his post-traumatic stress.
Although his ability to cope has gotten much better, he still gets a little cranky.
(playful orchestral music) - Where's the other one?
- It's probably under the stand upstairs.
You can use that one.
- I got it.
(flashlight clattering) They will tell you what state it's in.
Right here, see?
See that little dot?
There's the state.
That's no good.
What's this one?
North Kingston.
Bristol.
- [Evan] These look pretty good.
- [Dad] Yeah.
- [Evan] Hope Valley, that's nice.
Oh no, that's south.
- [Dad] Yeah.
Here we go.
Scituate runs along.
You want this?
- I'll take it.
(gentle piano music) (birds chirping) Welcome to my home.
I've been meaning to write, I guess the Preservation Society.
You know they have those nice ones that are like white with the blue lettering as opposed to just a piece of wood.
It's charming, but I don't know.
I think maybe I should at least take it down or repaint it.
I don't know if you can see.
You see that tan structure?
See there's like that red shed right there?
See that big hill?
That's referred to as the Aqueduct Reservoir.
There's water in there, right?
So, that's Providence Water right there.
Come on in.
This is what's referred to as the summer kitchen.
I think this was the first part of the house that was built 'cause it has a separate chimney and fireplace, and there's a well right here.
And so what are the two things that you need?
You need to stay warm.
You need water, and I think this was originally built and then the rest of the house was built.
I purchased it off of my kindergarten teacher.
So, welcome to my study.
This is like all of my research contained right in here.
Books about Providence, Code of Ordinances, "A Modern City," 1909, I think that was published.
Cranston Directory from 1913, Dow's Blue Book from 1913.
City manuals, state manuals.
Picture of my grandfather.
Up there on the wall is an old water loan from the 1890s.
I think it was paid off in the '20s.
What also informed my research is this row here.
These are all water supply books, many of which are from the era.
Water supply utilization, sewage, public water supplies, public supply problems.
This is the most damning document, very rare book.
Providence Water Works 1869 to 1969.
All types of references to lead in the pipes, pipes that many of which have not yet been replaced.
(book banging) Yeah, so good stuff here.
So this is my favorite thing that I own at the present time.
Again, period.
I love the detail on it.
It has these little stoppers.
So, this is where I put all my maps.
This is the city of Cranston.
And so I like looking at things and thinking about who used to be here, especially as it relates to Providence Water.
Early part of the last century, there was a reservoir here.
It's not shown, and that's the reason why this is called Reservoir Ave.
So, the same water distribution system, which includes two 30-inch mains, then it went down through gravity to the city of Providence.
Now what I find interesting, all this land, what would be referred to as nine, this, this, this, this, this, that as well as this property from the corner of Reservoir and Park all the way up to pretty much where Twin Oaks is.
And Knightsville, where all the Italian-Americans lived were all owned by the same person.
These were all owned by the chairman of the Providence Water Supply Board.
So in essence, the board that he worked on, he sold his land to connect the water from the aqueduct to the delivery system.
And that's how he made his fortune.
In the spring of 2019, in an effort to plug up the holes of an ever-growing budget deficit, the mayor of Providence decided it would be a good idea to relinquish control of the water used by 66% of the state of Rhode Island over to a private entity.
At Providence City Hall, in the former aldermen's chambers, the mayor's office gave a public presentation in support of privatization during a water supply board meeting.
Members of the community showed up in force to voice their concerns.
The chairman of the Providence Water Supply Board, Zicom Com Zavoravong, had met with me previously and promised to assist with the film.
While there, I connected with the chairman who reassured me Prov Water was committed to being a story-telling partner.
This of course, only led to more calls, more emails, and even more waiting.
In the meantime, I found ways to continue my work.
- Then you got 1905 to '49, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s.
Trucks, 1979.
- [Evan] Ray Wolf is a prolific author, a direct descendant of displaced Scituate residents, and the defacto local expert on the history of the Reservoir.
(gentle piano music) Every year he hosts a bus tour where he highlights various points of interest from his many books about the condemnation of properties in Scituate.
- [Dad] Let's go.
- My dad is particularly intrigued by what Ray calls the lost villages.
- If you're looking at your map, R in red for roads, B in blue for rivers, G in green for villages.
So if you look at the map, you got Kent down here.
Then you come up the river, you got Richmond, South Scituate, and Ashland.
And then if you come up over to your left, you got Rockland, and to the left of Rockland, that's where they moved a thousand of the graves into the new Rockland Cemetery.
My mom used to tell stories of families moving, friends that she played with never to be seen again in her lifetime.
I have 1700 of her poems, by the way.
My mom wrote a poem one time, and she tells in the poem, "All the houses were painted white.
"And as you drove by, they were a beautiful site.
"One sad day, they were all sold then, "and you can never drive by the beautiful houses again.
"Only to make a reservoir, they were all torn down.
"I go back now and then, "but all you see are foundations sinking into the ground.
"Our neighbors moved one by one.
"Yes, the sorrow and tears had just begun.
"I can picture in my mind the way they were then, "but you can never drive by them again.
"All the sorrow and heartache we had to face "for all the houses are gone "now only water in their place."
Since they took the original 18,000 acres, they've gained another 2000 that they've bought up, or taken over, or whatever, and they're still doing it.
Remember my mom said all the white houses were lined up along the road?
Well, this is the Rockland to Richmond Road, and you're not really gonna see foundations.
You're gonna see where foundations were.
Here's one right here up on top of the hill with the orange tag on the tree.
There's one there.
Whoops, we're into somebody else's property here.
Here's another one right up on top of this hill.
These were all lined up all the way down the road.
Every time we come to a stone wall, we're coming into someone else's property.
(solemn piano music) - [Evan] If they weren't farmers, most of the residents in Scituate worked in one of the factories owned by the Joslin Manufacturing Company.
Rockland Mill, Richmond Mill, Ponaganset, and two in Clayville.
- [Ray] This is the mill pond that fed the powerhouse down below that sent the power back to the two mills, the upper mill and the lower mill.
- [Evan] The Joslins also owned Remington Mill, which underwent improvements subsequent to the taking of land by the city of Providence.
- [Ray] Most of the mills made cloth.
During the war, a lot of the mills turned over to making camouflage cloth for the army and rubber boots.
Richmond Mill, they were the largest manufacturer of shoelaces in the world at that time.
(projector clicking) - [Evan] Although the workers did not receive any compensation for their moving expenses, the dead were transported to a new resting place free of charge.
Mr. Sam Tortola oversaw this operation.
- My original involvement of it was I was appointed undertaker by virtue of being superintendent of this cemetery for the purpose of moving the remains from 113 different burial grounds that were within the area that was gonna be submerged by the Reservoir, which was then in the process of being constructed.
There are roughly some 4,000 bodies already interred in these 113 cemeteries.
- Rockland had the largest graveyard, but every village had a cemetery, and they had to move them all over here.
Now, not only that, but farms had their own personal family cemetery.
They had to take them and bring 'em over here 'cause they were gonna be under the reservoir.
What they did was they made a map of the family plot.
Dad's here, mom's here, Mary's here, John's there.
When they come over here, dad's there, mom's here, Mary's there, John's there.
So they put 'em back in the same order, which I thought was really, really great.
- [Evan] 1,500 exhumed bodies were transplanted from family plots and community grave sites to the rolling landscape of the new Rockland Cemetery.
Here is where many of the stories of the displaced are kept, amongst the tombstones.
They read the names of Scituate past and present.
Hopkins, Rounds, Bowen.
These are just some of the families who tried to fight back and whose lack of political influence caused many of them to simply give up, like Fred Sales Hill.
Mr. Hill owned considerable acreage containing a farmhouse and a few barns on either side of what is now the bypass of Plainfield Pike.
Just as the Reservoir was inching to full capacity, and while his former farm was overtaken in the process, Fred Hill passed away on February 10th, 1926.
He was laid to rest next to his parents, who were relocated from the old Rockland Cemetery to the base of the hill in the new one.
His official cause of death, suicide by cutting throat.
- [Ray] So when the Moswansicut River comes down from North Scituate, and it used to flow right through here.
And actually it's flowing right underneath this conduit right here.
So we're 45 feet up on the top of it.
Pretty awesome.
- [Evan] The building of the main dam and containment dike were engineering feats.
Located on the site of what was once Kent Village, the project known as Contract Eight was built by laborers, teamsters, and mule skinners from Providence as far away as South Carolina.
Camps were set up for the workers, with both blacks and Italians segregated from the others.
It is said their barracks were surrounded by barbed wire, and there are accounts of the Italians and blacks having been shot by armed guards.
(gunshot sounding) (shotgun loading) (gunshot sounding) - I will always call it Kent Dam because Kent is right over there, 87 feet under the water.
In 1924, they renamed it.
They dedicated it to Mayor Joseph Gainer.
That's what this big monument is right here.
The gatehouse is halfway across the 3200-foot dam.
The gatehouse regulates how much water goes down the Pawtuxet River, which begins right there now.
So it flows over there, right back into the Pocasset River.
No way we can hold it back.
See the big hump right here?
That's the pipeline that comes out from the bottom of the dam.
It's going right underneath our bus right now.
They'll probably be drinking it tomorrow.
This Reservoir was designed to meet our needs for 50 years.
In 1926, the demand of this Reservoir was 22.7 million gallons a day, and it covered parts of Providence, Cranston, Johnston, North Providence, and Warwick.
I'm not gonna go through all the charts.
I'm gonna go through the last one that I have, which is 1985, which is 66.3 million gallons a day, and it now includes East Smithfield, Kent County, Smithfield, East Providence, Greenville, and Lincoln.
That's 1985.
I don't know what they've added on since then.
That's what, almost 35 years ago.
So how much they think this thing can feed is beyond me.
Right now, it's supplying 63% of Rhode Islanders.
My mom wrote a poem on the blackboard of her school as they were tearing it down.
The workers couldn't believe this 12-year-old girl was writing this poem on this blackboard.
"It was a very sad day when we were told "they were building a reservoir, "and our school would be sold.
"A man came one day, nailed up a sign for all to see, "and the side read condemned.
"It meant heartbreak for me.
"It was then we were told an auctioneer would come one day (clearing throat) "to auction off the old school house "to be torn down and taken away.
"Then the day arrived.
"The auction took place, and people began to bid.
"Tears rolled down my face.
"Going, going, gone, the auctioneer cried, "and on that fateful day, something within me died.
"The old school house at Rockland now is used no more.
"We heard no more footsteps walk across the floor.
"I'll come back now and then to reminisce and see, "but the old school house at Rockland "will be just a memory."
Sorry about that.
- [Evan] Ray and his mother were not the only writers impacted by the taking of land and whose work has been inspired by the creation of the Reservoir.
The now famous author and Providence native H.P.
Lovecraft was a contemporary of the happenings in Scituate, residing only 10 miles away on Providence's historic College Hill.
In 1927, Lovecraft wrote "The Colour Out of Space," which many believe reflected the hostile takeovers happening all throughout New England cities at the time.
In it, his main character is a surveyor who relays a terrifyingly supernatural story validated by the strange observations he made while out surveying land condemned for the creation of a reservoir.
As Lovecraft wrote, "There was once a road over the hills "and through the valleys that ran straight where "the blasted heath is now.
"But people ceased to use it, and a new road was laid "curving far toward the south.
"Traces of the old one can still be found "amidst the weeds of a returning wilderness.
"And some of them will doubtless linger, "even when half the hollows "are flooded for the new reservoir.
"Then the dark woods will be cut down, "and the blasted heath will slumber "far below blue waters whose surface "will mirror the sky and ripple in the sun.
"On the gentle slopes, there are farms, ancient and rocky, "with squat, moss-coated cottages, "brooding eternally over old New England secrets.
"But these are all vacant now.
"The wide chimneys crumbling "and the shingled sides bulging perilously "beneath low gambrel roofs."
(wind howling) (mellow big band music) - [Dad] Come on, let's go.
- [Evan] What's the matter?
- [Dad] There's nothin' here to to work with.
- [Evan] Yeah, we're gonna do it today.
- All right, let's go.
- [Evan] We got all the time in the world.
- No, we don't.
Could have told me they were diggin' up the street.
- [Evan] I had.
I had no idea.
They don't tell us.
- Okay, come on.
(upbeat singing in Italian) - [Evan] (laughing) You act like a child sometimes.
- [Dad] Oh yeah, all right, put the pole in.
- [Evan] More precise.
- [Dad] Yeah, okay.
- [Evan] No, but, Dad.
- [Dad] You've gotta go on this side.
- No, but now it's skewed that way.
We need to get it.
- No it isn't.
- Dad.
- Look at that.
Stand at that end.
With these, here.
You look down here.
- No.
- [Dad] You see what I'm sayin'?
- Yeah, I see what you're sayin'.
It's goin' like this.
- [Dad] It's not goin'.
- Dad, come over here and look at it.
Just look at it.
- [Dad] It doesn't go from there.
- [Evan] You need to stand over there and then look down.
- [Dad] No, here.
This is the first pole we put in.
- [Evan] You see the top of the uprights?
- Yeah.
- [Evan] See how it's flush across?
- I don't know what you mean.
- [Evan] Those two by fours.
- Yeah.
- [Evan] What if I dropped?
What if we dropped the two by fours about a foot?
- Yeah, and?
- [Evan] What if we dropped them about a foot?
Are we notchin' 'em?
- [Dad] No.
- [Evan] Why?
- What do you mean why?
Do you realize how long we'll be here if we're notchin' 'em?
And it's gotta be precise.
- [Evan] We'll put 'em and then, do it, do it.
- [Dad] No.
(upbeat singing in Italian) - [Evan] This project with my dad was pretty expensive, and it really got me thinking about why the cost of lumber was so high.
Around the same time I noticed some stacked logs on an old road leading down to the Reservoir.
(phone dial tone) (phone buttons beeping) So, I thought I might investigate.
- [Recorded Voice] Thank you for calling Providence Water.
This call is being recorded for quality assurance purposes.
Please listen to the following menu choices.
To report.
(phone buttons beeping) Please wait.
(phone ringing) - [Woman] Good afternoon.
- [Evan] Hi, it's Evan Vilarri.
How are you?
- [Woman] Oh, I'm good.
How are you?
- Oh good, thank you.
I do have a general request.
There's a post within the watershed that I'd like to try to get into with the camera.
I don't believe it poses any immediate threat from like just a national security standpoint to shoot some video at the end of Byron Randall off of 116.
- [Woman] Oh, one second, let me get something.
Byron Randall, Byron Randall Road at 116?
- [Evan] Yeah.
- [Woman] Okay, and you want to shoot at that access point, or you wanna go into it?
- [Evan] I'd like to ideally go into it because it has a nice view of the Reservoir.
It's like water either way.
- [Woman] Okay, so right now what you're looking for is to get into the watershed beyond, I wanna say, the public access point.
- [Evan] That is correct.
- [Woman] So I will put that out there.
- Okay.
- [Woman] Okay?
- [Evan] I really appreciate that.
- [Woman] Okay, let me make some calls.
- [Evan] All right, thank you.
My request was denied.
It would've been nice if I could have honored the Randall family and shown what, if anything, remained of their homes, but clearly Providence Waters' timber harvests are much more important.
This didn't stop me from wanting to get closer.
So, I reached out to the author, Ray Wolf, for a personal tour.
- [Ray] I used to go to Scituate High School and used to travel this road every day.
This here was called the Kent to Hope Road.
- [Evan] Kent to Hope, okay.
- [Ray] People couldn't comprehend how somebody could come in and say, you gotta go.
- Discussing with Ray what was lost, all the homes taken, the churches, schools, small businesses, and even cemeteries dismantled not only validated my research, but made clear there remained two sides, those that wanna talk about how our water came to be and those who don't.
- [Ray] The city of Providence Water Supply Board was not only taking their house or their farm, they were taking their employment because most of 'em worked in the mills.
They were taking their friends.
And back then it was like, my grandfather built this place.
You can't take it.
- [Evan] Seven men in suits and hats would send their real estate people to come in, measure the property without the property owner's knowledge, and be like, this is what we are going to pay you.
Not what it's worth.
This is what we're gonna pay.
Take it or leave it.
- [Ray] And nobody thought they got what they should've got, and there were seven recorded suicides.
One guy went to the city hall in Providence and tried to fight it.
And he came home, and his wife said, "How'd you make out Joe?"
And he said, "We're gonna have to move.
"They're gonna take it."
And he says, "I'm gonna go out and tend to the cows," he said.
So, she goes out to the barn, and he's hanging from one of the beams.
(mellow bluegrass music) This is George P. King Road.
- [Evan] Ray has a special arrangement with Providence Water, which allows him to visit the site of his mother's former home in the condemned village of Rockland.
- [Ray] That's my mom's farm right there.
- [Evan] Oh, okay.
- [Ray] Okay, so the barn was right here.
- [Evan] Wow, yeah.
- [Ray] You got a chicken coop over here in the back.
The rock is over here.
That's in 1916.
And then 90 years later, I took my daughter back, and I stood on the same rock.
- [Evan] (laughing) That's great.
- [Ray] But that was my mom's farm.
- [Evan] Yes, amazing.
So in the 1800s, Scituate was industrial.
It was mills.
- [Ray] Yep.
- [Evan] A hundred years before that farms.
- [Ray] Yep.
- [Evan] And now a hundred years after, it's just water and not water for the people of Scituate.
- [Ray] Right.
- [Evan] It's the ultimate irony.
- [Ray] Yeah.
(birds chirping) - [Evan] In true Rhode Island fashion, like Ray, I too have relatives within the watershed, except my family's story is a bit more complicated.
(mellow blues music) Not far from the Reservoir, my cousin, well, my grandmother's cousin, operates a vineyard on a very large plot of land.
My parents have long been fixtures on the property, always showing up to lend a hand, especially at the annual grape harvest, like this one from back in 2008.
For many years my mother worked in the vineyard's tasting room, selling countless bottles to eager locavores, but never, not once, just like all these harvest volunteers, was she ever paid for her time.
My father, on the other hand, he takes care of entertainment, a personal jester to the prince's court called upon to fill the lonely days.
When my dad's services are needed, he can be found just about as close to the prince as the vineyard is to a primary tributary of the Scituate Reservoir.
The sprawling acreage of the estate once surveyed by the vintner's father, is very valuable, protected watershed land.
Given the lifetime of companionship, the countless hours of free labor, and the unending kindness my parents have provided, I thought my many requests to have my relative, my blood relative, appear on camera to discuss the property's 100-year relationship to our water supply were reasonable requests.
With respect to those who don't wanna talk, it does, however, make me curious.
Is this really the price of progress, or is it the result of having been given everything by your father?
Byron Thomas Potter was the son of a commercial arborist, Ferdinand Potter, who owned a large homestead with greenhouse and nursery operations in the Arlington section of Cranston.
In 1896, after inheriting their father's land, Tom, along with his younger brother Charles, formed the Providence Real Estate Improvement Company.
The Potters spent the next three decades purchasing and developing massive tracks of land throughout the city of Providence and in nearby Cranston.
The Potters also extended their enterprise internationally, registering patents like this one in Germany for a steam-driven pipe system.
In 1908, B. Thomas Potter was elected to city council, representing his constituents in Ward 2 on the affluent east side of Providence.
In other parts of the city, hoards of immigrants were arriving each day, many from southern Italy.
As the tenements in the Federal Hill neighborhood continued to overcrowd, the Providence Real Estate Improvement Company was quick to adapt to the needs of the Italians offering tiny properties on the outskirts with streets bearing the names of heroes from the old country, such as Dante, Girabaldi, and Victor Emanuel.
In "A Modern City," a 1909 handbook on Providence, the editors observe quote "Of the real estate transfers noted in the newspapers, "considerably more than half are to Italians.
"Most of these properties are small and cheap, "many of them extremely undesirable locations.
"The houses are small and poor with untidy surroundings "and an appreciable percentage of disease, "notably, typhoid, scarlet fever, "and diptheria is always lurking in the Italian quarter."
The Potters understood with the continued influx of immigrants came an increased demand for public amenities.
The water utility at the time provided by the Pettaconset system consisted of sand filtration beds and pumping station, which fed water from the Pawtuxet River in Cranston to an open air reservoir a short distance away atop Sockanosset Hill.
The mill communities clustered upstream created heavy pollution with domestic waste and toxins produced by the factories operating on its banks dumping directly into the river.
This contaminated water was piped to the residents of Providence, including my great-grandparents, Geneveffa and Francesco Villari.
With demand rising each day, the mayor of Providence, Joseph Gainer, formed a committee on clean water.
As a founding member, B. Thomas Potter was tasked with finding a cleaner and more substantial alternative to the inadequate Pettaconset supply.
In 1913, the committee, with consultants from Boston and New York, identified a location for the new supply.
This decision would forever impact the lives of the residents in the town of Scituate.
Simultaneously in Scituate, while doing business as the Potter Brothers, Tom and his brother Charles A. acquired massive swaths of land, first from blood relatives, then from the politically unconnected residents of the town.
Many of these property transfers were conducted years before the city of Providence had the legal right to occupy the lands in Scituate through their exercise of eminent domain.
Potter used his real estate prowess along with his position in City Hall to not only determine where the water would flow from but also dictated where it would flow to.
It all had to terminate at Reservoir Avenue in Cranston.
The new supply from the Situate Reservoir was connected by seven miles of aqueduct that ran right through Potter's land to the existing water delivery system.
The Potters' Providence Real Estate Improvement Company was able to develop thousands of residential properties and establish a commercial district along the water delivery system on both sides of Reservoir Avenue.
In April 1915, with the passing of public law 1278, the committee on Clean Water officially became the Providence Water Supply Board.
Potter sat on this board until it was disbanded in 1930 and for the duration of his tenure served as its chairman.
Look how pretty the water.
Hi, where you expecting me?
Evan Villari?
- [Attendant] Yep, you can go ahead right up.
- Right to the top?
- [Attendant] You can head up right to the front of the building.
- [Evan] Awesome.
- [Attendant] Yeah, and park right up in the front.
- [Evan] Thank you.
- [Attendant] You're all set, thank you.
- All right.
(gentle symphony music) (door creaking) - Hi.
- Nice to meet you.
- [Evan] I think we've met before.
No, I know we've met before.
We met last year.
Hi, I'm Evan.
- Steve Sargon.
- [Evan] Nice to see you again.
Rich, how are you?
- How are you?
- Good, nice to see you again.
- [Evan] Nice to see you.
- Hi, nice to see you.
- Lauren, how are you?
- Lauren, yeah.
- Good to see you.
- How are you?
- Chairman.
- Thanks for coming.
Call me Zi.
You know that, my name (laughing).
- I do know that.
- The name's long enough to start throwin' on titles.
- But I thought we could keep with the formality, chairman, professor.
- That sounds great to me, Professor.
- Are you yourself a rate payer/consumer of Providence Water's product?
- Absolutely, every day, whether it's directly from the tap or coming in in the tea that I drink every day.
I'm absolutely a consumer.
I'm absolutely a rate payer.
I was born and raised in the city of Providence.
To that extent, I don't think I fully understood the true breadth of what's actually going on at Providence Water, what goes into, you know, rain dropping out of a cloud, and that water actually getting to your tap.
I think most of us think about a utility in terms of the hard infrastructure of a utility.
The chemists, the engineers, the construction workers who go into making sure that the water gets from point A to point B.
But what I think people don't realize is that, you know, if you think about the team that's responsible for getting your drinking water as a barbell, the actual utility itself is just that bar that crosses through the middle.
You have two very other important teams that are absolutely essential to ensuring the quality of the drinking water and that that drinking water is doing what it's supposed to be doing, which is getting to consumers.
On one end of that, you have, you know, the watershed itself, which is primarily comprised of the communities of Scituate and Foster.
On the other end of that spectrum, you have the rate payers themselves, or the consumers as a whole.
Scituate and Foster made a huge sacrifice and a handful of other communities encompassed within that to build this watershed.
And they have been phenomenal stewards of ensuring that the watershed today is as pristine as it's ever been.
Nobody knows that watershed better than the people who have, who've lived up here and been raised up here for generations.
Nobody understands the burden of sacrifice that was made as heavily as those communities.
So, ensuring that they continue to have the tools they need to continue that tradition of stewardship is really important to us.
- Will you do a tap shot with me?
- Yeah, absolutely.
- [Evan] Let's do it.
Let's do a couple of taps.
(Zi speaking in a foreign language) - A hundred years of good luck.
- Cheers.
It just tastes good.
- It's a phenomenal product.
(gentle piano music) Way before there were issues in Flint, we started working on what the issues might be within Providence Water system and how we go about addressing it.
Everywhere there's a road, there's probably a water pipe under it.
None of those pipes contain any lead.
We have over 500 miles of water mains that are roughly a hundred years old.
So you've got pipes that relate somewhere between the Civil War and 1950 that are still delivering water.
A lot of them are actually in terrific shape.
It was an incredible undertaking at the time when it was built, but we need to be thinking at that scale about how we address the challenges in the future and how to make sure this utility's here for another a hundred years.
And that's what we're focused on.
Sunglasses off for this one?
- I think sunglasses are cool too.
- They built things right back in the day, and they built them to last.
Our job is just to maintain 'em as best we can and to ensure that they are of adequate capacity to serve the needs that we have.
(gentle piano music) I think that one of the biggest frustrations I've found so far is sort of the misconceptions about the fact that the water within our system until it flows to the curb does not contain lead.
- [Evan] So, it's just, it's sort of confusing of like, you're not monitoring from street to tap.
So how do we know like who has lead and who doesn't have lead?
- [Zi] At the end of the day, there isn't a single reported case of lead poisoning due to water in the state.
- [Evan] I think one of the biggest frustrations I've found is that I never asked anything about lead poisoning in the state, but the fact remains, lead levels in our water will always exist as long as the pipes, not the mains, the pipes carrying our water to our taps are made of lead.
Temporary measures like mitigation and partial service line replacements are band-aids.
Sure, Providence is different than Flint, but like Flint Prov Water knows what the problem is, and they know it's cheaper to cross your fingers, hire a PR firm, and wait it out.
Deborah Levy works at Childhood Lead Action Project and has been tracking Prov Water's lead pipes for quite some time.
- For a few years in the mid-2010s, Providence actually had higher levels of lead in the water than Flint at the peak of the crisis.
So, when we talk about lead and water, lead is always filtered out at the water treatment plant, any lead that might have gotten into the water from industrial contaminants or anything like that.
So, the place that the water gets contaminated is through the service line, which is the pipe that goes from the water main in the middle of the street to each individual house.
And Providence Water noticed that they had a problem with lead in their water about 10 or 12 years ago, and then they started to do these partial replacements.
So, they claimed that they were only legally responsible for the portion of the pipe that was between the water main and the property line, and those are the pipes that were most commonly made of lead and also the most dangerous ones because the pipe that goes down the middle of the street, water is pretty much constantly flowing through that pipe because someone on the street is always running their water.
But the pipe that goes to the house, overnight or while someone is out at work, that water is sitting in that pipe leaching up any lead that might be in there.
So, when Prov Water started doing these replacements, instead of just replacing the whole pipe, they were digging into the street, cutting the pipe in half, and replacing only the portion on city property.
But it also can actually make the problem worse.
There are studies that show that at least for a few weeks, and sometimes for longer, after those partial replacements happen because it disturbs the material of the pipe, it can cause a severe spike in mud levels.
- And so those partial replacements, are they mandated by like environmental agencies, or is it just a way to sort of like deal with a problem without like actually dealing with the problem, like slowly picking away at it?
- So, they're not mandated.
Providence Water has exceeded EPAs action level for lead and water for now 14 out of the last 16 years.
They also started offering in the last few years a 0% interest loan program to property owners, where when Prov Water is replacing the side of the pipe on city property, the property owner could take out a loan for usually around four to $5,000 to replace the side of the pipe on their property.
Obviously, the people who are being left out of this loan program are low income homeowners and renters.
Lower income homeowners and renters are disproportionately people of color.
So, it's not just an economic injustice issue.
It's also an issue of racial justice and environmental justice.
- Why doesn't Providence Water just replace the entirety of the lead?
- They've given us a few different answers over the years, whether it's for financial reasons.
They can't afford to do it.
At different points in time, they claimed that they weren't legally able to replace the part on private property.
Although now we see that clearly that's not the case because about a year and a half ago, were awarded a grant from EPA for around $6 million to do full lead service line replacements.
We're really hopeful that that's actually going to happen in the next few years in terms of just having the funding to be able to do those full replacements.
Because the federal infrastructure bill allocated money to all 50 states for lead service line replacement, and Rhode Island specifically is going to be receiving around $140 million over the next five years.
- [Evan] Are you lookin' for the chickens?
- [Neighbor] They're my neighbor's chickens.
- [Evan] Oh, all right.
- [Neighbor] I just saw them, and I was like.
- [Evan] There were two here.
And I just, they seemed so comfortable that I'm like, maybe this is a normal thing.
- [Neighbor] No, this is not.
I think they got out.
- Do you think I should try picking 'em up?
- [Neighbor] What are you filming?
- [Deborah] He's making a documentary about water.
So, I do lead poisoning prevention.
So, I'm talkin' about lead pipes.
- [Neighbor] Do we have lead pipes?
- [Deborah] In Providence, yes, a lot of them.
- [Evan] So, what does Providence Water have to do?
What do they need to do to make this happen?
- Our request to them has always been really simple.
Use the funds they have and seek out more funding to do full lead service line replacements at one time in a coordinated way.
So, not one house at a time, but whole streets at a time and at no cost to the people who live in or own the houses.
It's that simple.
And if that happened, we'd be very happy.
- [Evan] It was clear why Prov Water wasn't open to my producing efforts.
So, I gave up the journalistic approach and decided to call on someone whose eye I have relied on for the short films I've made over the past 20 years.
(pleasant Italian music) - What am I turnin' over here?
- [Evan] What are you tryin' to do?
- To adjust the thing to my eye.
Focus, no focus.
- [Evan] There's a diopter.
It turns.
- Yeah, I know, but it's like hard.
- [Evan] Yeah, it's supposed to be hard.
- Ah, no wonder.
It's my bad eye.
This isn't workin'.
I can't use this eye.
Everything's blurred.
- [Evan] Everything always?
- All the time.
There's nothin', no fixin' it.
I have to use this eye, the good eye.
- [Evan] I need you to be able to see.
Okay.
- Tell me.
Where's the thing?
Now what?
- [Evan] Now follow me.
- What do you mean follow?
- [Evan] Follow me, move.
Hit record.
- Oh, come on.
I can, I don't know where to record.
- [Evan] It's right next to your thumb.
Your right, your right thumb.
You're right thumb.
There we go.
Follow me.
- [Dad] Ah, this is movin'.
- [Evan] What's movin'?
- [Dad] This.
- [Evan] Tighten it.
- [Dad] I don't know how to tighten it.
- [Evan] Right here.
- Pull it all the way out to the, that way.
- [Evan] Which way?
- That way.
- So I'm gonna go over here now.
See how I got, I've got backlight now.
Come to me, come to me.
Use your other eye.
- [Dad] All right, shut everything off.
- All right, cut.
- [Dad] I don't know how to cut.
- Just hit stop.
It's the record button.
- Where is it?
- It's the same button that you hit record with.
It's right, Dad, it's right here.
Right by your thumb.
Right there.
Maybe there would be other ways in which my dad could help.
(birds chirping) - Hello?
- Hey.
- [Dad] I was just gonna call you.
- [Evan] How are you feelin'?
- I'm feelin' good.
- Yeah.
- [Dad] Yeah, how about you?
- [Evan] Yeah, I'm feeling all right.
What are you doin'?
- I'm still layin' down.
- Can I, um, can I call on you?
- [Dad] What do you mean?
- Can I ask for your assistance?
- [Dad] What do you need?
- I need you to meet me somewhere and help me out with somethin'.
- [Dad] What?
- Related to my film.
- [Dad] Related to your what?
- To my film.
- [Dad] Oh, did you ever do the wifi thing?
- Yeah, I did.
So is that a yes or no?
- [Dad] Yeah, okay, where?
- How long do you need?
- [Dad] I'm still in bed.
- Do you know where Esek Hopkins Park is?
Where you take Jakey sledding?
- [Dad] Yeah.
- Meet me behind the police barracks.
- [Dad] All right, you'll be there, won't ya?
- Eh, I'll be nearby, let's just say that.
- [Dad] All right, bye.
- Bye.
(traffic noise) (somber trumpet music) Hi, park right here.
I wish you hadn't used this car.
- Why?
- 'Cause it has my initials.
Put that in your back pocket, the pack in your back pocket.
Just the pack.
- [Dad] Are we goin' trespassin'?
- [Evan] Don't say that word.
- [Dad] Are we?
- [Evan] No.
- I hope not.
I don't wanna go to jail.
(zipper squealing) What am I doin'?
- [Evan] You're closin' the door.
You're lockin' the door.
You're followin' me.
So we're gonna go to the red dot, okay?
- [Dad] Okay, which is where?
- [Evan] That way.
Doesn't that look like an opening to you?
- [Dad] Yeah.
- [Evan] Do you see a sign?
- [Dad] No.
- [Evan] I'm lookin' for a structure, a foundation, somethin'.
It would be at a top of a hill.
(suspenseful music) Do you see anything?
- [Dad] Not yet.
(bird cawing) - [Evan] Let me see, how close?
- [Dad] That way.
- [Evan] I see somethin'.
That's a foundation, right?
- [Dad] Yeah.
- [Evan] All right, go to that foundation.
- [Dad] Wow.
- [Evan] I knew I could see it from the street.
- [Dad] You could?
- [Evan] Yeah.
Wow.
There it is, wow.
It doesn't look very big.
- [Dad] Oh, that's big.
Poured concrete, though.
- [Evan] It is poured concrete.
Dad, he bought this house in 1913.
- [Dad] Oh, oh, okay.
Yeah, it's overlookin' the water.
We're onto somethin' here too.
- [Evan] I think he had a porch or somethin'.
- [Dad] Yeah.
- [Evan] All right, let's get outta here.
Get down, get down.
- Huh?
- Get down.
Get down, get down.
This house on Springbrook Road sat on approximately 12 wooded acres along Providence Water's condemnation line in the Elmdale section of Scituate.
It belonged to Henry Allen Grimwood, Jr.
It was his summer home.
The H.A.
Grimwood Company, where Henry, Jr. was employed, was a building materials and lumber business founded by his father Henry, Sr. and located on Westminster Street directly across the way from where Childhood Lead Action Project is today.
The lumber yard was a short stroll from the home where both junior and senior lived with their wives in the shadow of the Cranston Street Armory on Hammond Street.
Henry Grimwood, Sr. had his own summer retreat on the Johnston-Scituate line.
A private way from the house led directly to the banks of Moswansicut Lake cutting through acreage once owned by William Watson and now occupied by a local vineyard.
Yes, the same vineyard.
Condemnation maps from 1916 show the summer home as belonging to the heirs of Josephine Grimwood, Senior's wife.
She passed away shortly after approval of the legislation, which granted authority to the city of Providence to acquire land throughout Scituate, Foster, and Johnston.
Junior's country residence, visited by my father and I, was purchased in 1913.
At that time, the city of Providence had already identified the area as the future site of the Reservoir's watershed.
Two years later, the house was sold to Providence Water, but not before several improvements were made.
Ledgers from the H.A.
Grimwood Company show itemized costs for raw materials like pine, spruce, and cyprus, as well as hardware which were sold directly to the secretary of the company, Grimwood, Jr. by its president, his father.
A councilman in Ward 9, Henry Grimwood, Sr. was also a founding member of the original Providence Water Supply Board.
He sat directly across the aisle in city council chambers from the chairman of the board, B. Thomas Potter.
Grimwood, Sr.'s primary role on Scituate Reservoir Project was to assess and approve the value of condemned properties based on the timber resources growing on site.
In a memo dated May 17th, 1916, Grimwood, Sr. extends his expert opinion and approves an increase in a purchase offer sent by the Providence Water Supply Board to South Scituate resident Benjamin F. Whitman.
The Whitman property on both sides of Tunk Hill Road made for a case of familial dispute.
Ben Whitman shared half of this land with his father, Alfred.
Although his father didn't wish to sell, Benjamin continued to negotiate.
The deal went ahead, and Prov Water's condemnation line bisected the Whitman's 300 acres.
Two weeks after the closing, Alfred Young Whitman died on June 12th, 1916.
This image of the Whitman farmhouse was taken by Providence Water six days later.
According to a Providence Journal article written the day after Alfred's passing, quote, "Relatives said he had just sold his farm "to the city of Providence as part "of the new water supply system, "and they believed that the thought "of having to leave the place where he had lived "for so many years caused him to take his own life."
It was yet another suicide, this time by hanging.
Grimwood father and son continued to reap the benefits of the Scituate Project through their lumber dealings, but eventually, many of the displaced landowners began to push back.
By 1918, Benjamin Whitman added his name to the list of Scituate residents who had brought suit against the Providence Water Supply Board.
It appears Providence Water and the Grimwoods weren't really after the Whitman farm as much as they were after what was on it.
Perhaps Ben Whitman should have been more like Grimwood Jr. and listened to his father.
(birds chirping) (playful Italian music) - Can you put that down?
- [Evan] No, I'm gonna, I have to one hand it.
- Oh, Jesus.
Come on, will ya?
(pot crashing) Ah, Jesus.
- It doesn't have to.
- Okay.
Okay.
(canoe scraping) It's gonna wanna do that.
- [Evan] Yeah.
(dog barking) Now I'm ready.
(playful Italian music) (water gurgling) Thank you for doin' this.
- [Dad] Okay.
- [Evan] I didn't tell him why, but I had asked my father to canoe up the Pawtuxet River with me so we could get a closer look at the southern side of the Gainer Dam and its spillway from vantage points I had only ever seen in old photos.
And just like how my interests in maps and cartography were originally sparked by his collection, my research has allowed me to add a few of my own to his bins and drawers filled with postcards.
(water gurgling) - [Dad] I dunno where I'm goin'.
- [Evan] Follow the bend.
The river's low levels reminded me of my research into the multi-year water shortages that took place in Rhode Island around the same time my dad was serving in Vietnam.
- At the present time, the elevation in Scituate Reservoir is 11 1/2 feet below the spillway, which is about five feet lower than the normal elevation for this time of the year.
The impounded storage at the main reservoir, plus the five smaller reservoirs, totals 29 billion gallons of water, which based on the average daily consumption of 50 million gallons, is enough to last the city for 582 days.
On this basis, we have enough water to last for 415 days, even if another drop of water does not fall on the watershed.
- [Evan] Philip J. Holton was named chief engineer of the Providence Waterworks in 1941.
Having worked as the superintendent of the Scituate Reservoir since 1933, he represented a last vestige bridging the old guard of engineers from the time of the condemnation with the formerly-educated, fully-qualified new wave of post 1960s Prov Water leadership.
Mr. Holton's major contributions to the continued sustainability of the water supply include the implementation of additional concrete-lined underground sub-reservoirs modeled after the one built in 1925 atop Neutaconkanut Hill.
- [Reporter] Mr. Holton, what is the water situation at the present time?
- Well, at the present time, our Scituate level, the level in Scituate Reservoir, is about 14 feet below the spillway elevation.
And the last fiscal year showed the lowest production ever on Situate Reservoir Watershed.
- [Evan] And then, starting in 1967, a supplemental aqueduct served as Holton's swan song.
The enormous pipeline delivered water from the filtration plant in Scituate to the communities of Coventry and West Warwick before linking with the distribution system in Cranston.
With the original Scituate plan designed to support water needs for a growing population from 1925 through 1970, Papa Phil's late career aqueduct and additional storage reservoirs extended the life of Providence Water Supply by an additional 50 years through 2020.
The frequent droughts in the summers of the 1960s made his work along with the Rhode Island Water Resource Commission an absolute necessity, with property development and water usage surging just as rainfall was being measured at an all-time low.
Of course, Phil Holton never factored in the extreme conditions of the 21st century accelerated by the climate crisis.
- [Dad] We're stuck.
- [Evan] Can you use the oar and just see how deep it is?
(water gurgling) - You got it?
- [Evan] Pretty shallow?
Is it worth trudgin' through or no?
- What do you mean, walkin'?
- [Evan] No, no, no, no, tryin' to row through it.
- I don't think so.
- [Evan] Let me see if that that other way comes through.
What should we do?
Should we try to go forward, or should we try to turn around?
- [Dad] No, I don't think forward's a good idea.
- [Evan] It's right there, Dad.
It's literally right there.
- [Dad] Well, we can't make it right there.
We're stuck here.
- [Evan] Did you know that this is where we were gonna go when you agreed to this?
- [Dad] No, I had no idea.
- [Evan] So, why did you agree to it?
- [Dad] Help you out.
I don't know.
- [Evan] But it's ridiculous, don't you think?
- What's ridiculous?
- [Evan] How long I've been workin' on this?
- No.
- [Evan] Why don't ya?
- I don't think it's ridiculous because you're very thorough.
You always were that way.
- [Evan] But I've been workin' on it for four years.
- I know.
- [Evan] But don't you think it's a bizarre preoccupation of mine?
- No.
- [Evan] I'm just tryin' to tell a story.
- Right.
- [Evan] And I'm using you as a vehicle.
- Right.
- [Evan] How do you feel about that?
- I'm fine with that.
- [Evan] I don't know if you remember a long time ago, you said, this was before I had a full-time teaching job.
You said, "Just make movies about us."
Do you remember sayin' that?
- [Dad] Yep.
- [Evan] Just make movies about us and the people that we know.
- [Dad] Yep.
- [Evan] And I said, no, that's stupid, and now that's what I do.
- I know.
So, I was pretty smart back then, right?
- [Evan] Yeah, but there's no way that you could have thought that you'd be stuck in the middle of the Pawtuxet River.
- (laughing) No, no, no.
No, that was beyond my wildest imagination.
- [Evan] Exactly.
With the rapid increases in the earth's temperature, droughts are only expected to become more frequent than they were 60 years ago.
And as alarming as the extended periods of water scarcity are, the opposite side of global warming should also be cause for great concern.
- I just want you to come out here so you can see.
- [Evan] Okay.
Over a decade ago, I made a short film about a waterway after we had been impacted by some major weather.
- You got a nice shot here.
- [Evan] Of course, my dad was there.
Is this good?
- Yep.
- [Evan] To help me film it.
Are we still rolling?
- [Dad] Rollin'.
You're in.
You're in the middle.
(gentle piano music) - In late March 2010, after days of excessive rain over southeastern New England, the veins of Rhode Island, the Blackstone, Woonasquatucket, and Pawtuxet Rivers began to swell and then eventually crested.
Several days later after the rain had ceased, the communities downstream in the Pawtuxet Valley became inundated by what has since become known as a historic 100-year flood event.
- [Dad] Hello?
- [Man] Hello, Bob.
- [Dad] Hi.
- [Man] How ya feeling?
I heard you had a little issue.
- [Dad] Yeah, well, we're working on it.
I feel all right.
- [Man] Bleeding stopped and everything?
- [Dad] Well, the bleeding stopped because it cauterized it.
Yeah, but that's, that's not the end of the problem.
- [Man] Is that right?
- [Dad] Yeah.
- [Man] So, what's your next step?
- I gotta run, they've gotta run some more tests on me.
- Oh, yeah?
- Yeah.
- [Man] All right, keep me informed.
- All right.
- [Man] I'll be in touch.
- Bye.
- Bye.
(gentle piano music) - [Evan] So, you wanna know what I love?
- [Dad] What?
- [Evan] I hear, I find out more information from a phone call than what you're givin' me.
- I didn't tell you.
I was about to tell you I'm goin' for tests.
I gotta go for ultrasound Tuesday, which is really nothin'.
- [Evan] You didn't say, but you said that there was a little bit of blood.
It sounded like there was bleeding.
- Yeah, I was bleedin', pissin' blood for two days.
- [Evan] You didn't tell me that you.
It sounded like you said.
- No.
- You just saw it once.
- [Dad] No, no, no, no, no.
- [Evan] And there was a little bit in there.
- No, that was, that was the, that was the reason for the alarm.
It came back.
It's cancer.
Now what kind of cancer it is.
Because it's in an intestine, he finds it odd to be a urinary type cancer.
Because it's in an intestine tissue.
- [Evan] Right.
- Which blows my mind.
It's just, could be a polyp or you know, a colon cancer type thing inside.
Because that's what it is.
It's made outta your colon.
My bladder.
- [Evan] So your colon was made into, was made into the bladder.
- Correct.
- [Evan] So, it could have been somethin' that was like dormant?
- Yeah, transitional.
Ah, I gotta get over.
- [Evan] Hundreds of homes and businesses were ruined in the great flood of 2010, and according to a peer-reviewed study conducted by the University of Rhode Island, the Scituate Reservoir was at capacity.
And then suddenly, in April, it wasn't.
What about April 2010?
You were here then.
So, what happens when it comes, when it's like that much though?
- [Man] Well, it just starts spillin' over here with more force.
But yeah, we can pile those boards on, and we kind of drop 'em into a slot to put them in or take them out.
- [Evan] So, it's like literally manual block.
- Yeah.
- Wow.
- [Man] Yeah, it's never really changed.
- Wooden blocks, that's all that's stopping the next historic deluge.
Same as at the Quabbin.
Whenever I'm at a loss for answers in Scituate, I can always count on the Quabbin.
Unlike Providence Water, they let you get really close, close to their spillway, close to their dam, close to their reservoir, and close to their watershed.
In 1926, construction began in western Massachusetts on a freshwater reservoir designed to service the growing population of Boston 65 miles to its east.
How did Boston do it?
Same as in Providence, same as in Scituate.
Home after home in the towns of Enfield, Ware, Greenwich, Pelham, Dana, New Salem, Prescott, and Belchertown.
The schools, churches, same as in Scituate.
To protect the Quabbin Reservoir a forested watershed was needed.
So, chief engineer Frank E. Winsor established pine tree nurseries in the condemned farmland.
Eventually these pines would be harvested and sold for profit.
Same as in Scituate.
(somber Italian music) But back then in Scituate, they had something the Quabbin didn't have, a different kind of labor force comprised of first, and by 1935, second-generation Italians who worked the fields.
They had also dug the ditches, poured the concrete, laid the bricks, fitted the pipes, and when it was time to build new highways to circumvent the Scituate Reservoir, they paved the roads all in service to Frank E. Winsor, who before going to Boston in 1926 was chief engineer of the Scituate Reservoir Project.
So when I ask to be out here, I feel I have every right.
It's my lineage.
It's my blood out here in this watershed.
(water rushing) (gentle piano music) There's a small zuke.
Should we pick it?
Ooh, how's that look?
Now, use this hand to control your F-stop.
- [Man] And I was on the outside, and I had my leg so jammed into that side.
This little lap belt on.
My leg was killin' me like three hours later 'cause I was like so.
(laughing) - [Man] Round two.
Woo.
(inspirational piano music) (projector rattling) - [Resident] There's a lot of people in trouble though.
We are all in trouble.
The well goes dry.
We keep away from the water until it comes back, but it takes so many hours.
And suppose you need the water right away.
Then, we will get water by the barrels.
- [Interviewer] It was a real inconvenience, I imagine.
- [Resident] Whoa, of course it is.
It's a good thing we got trucks and all that to do that.
But otherwise, oh.