science

Holyoke Water Works

Holyoke Water Works is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Holyoke Water Works rather than just read about it. In short: The Holyoke Water Works (HWW), sometimes referred to as the Holyoke Reservoir System, is a public drinking water utility and municipal service agency of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts, which provides clean drinking water to that city. Founded in 1872 by an act of Massachusetts General Court, the system was developed as a series of reservoirs to serve the growing city's residents and industry at the end of the 19…

Key takeaways

Holyoke Water Works belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Holyoke Water Works to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Holyoke Water Works from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Holyoke Water Works (HWW), sometimes referred to as the Holyoke Reservoir System, is a public drinking water utility and municipal service agency of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts, which provides clean drinking water to that city. Founded in 1872 by an act of Massachusetts General Court, the system was developed as a series of reservoirs to serve the growing city's residents and industry at the end of the 19th century. Today its two primary drinking water sources are the Tighe-Carmody Reservoir in Southampton, Massachusetts and McLean Reservoir in Holyoke. While it maintains reserve drinking water supplies at the Ashley and the Whiting Street Reservoirs. The Water Works is entirely responsible for drinking water supplies, infrastructure, and watershed land conservancy, however it does not maintain sewage or stormwater treatment infrastructure or services, which fall under the responsibilities Department of Public Works.

Service area The HWW service area primarily covers Holyoke, however has inactive connections to the Southampton Water Department (SWD) which split off of the raw water supply, providing the majority of the town's water as recently as 2002. In constructing a pipeline to the Tighe-Carmody Reservoir in 1953, the Water Works was required to supply 5 "Y branches" splitting off said pipeline of at least 8" in diameter, in locations decided by the town selectmen; two remain today. Though presently inactive, the town is allowed to draw at no cost up to 125 gallons per resident per day, not exceeding 625,000 gallons per day without a prior rate negotiated with the HWW. Though fluoridated and treated with chlorine, the Water Works' Reservoir System remains one of only 4 systems in the Commonwealth with no filtration, due to the quality of its water supply, with the only others being the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and its Quabbin Reservoir system, and the water departments of Northfield and Concord.

Private wells More than 99% of Holyoke's households are provided water by the Reservoir System, however some homes in the Smith's Ferry and Rock Valley areas remain supplied by private wells. Those in Rock Valley draw from the Barnes Aquifer and may however require additional home filtration due to trichloroethylene (TCE) contamination from industrial degreasers dumped in the area by General Electric during the 1950s; for this reason the City no longer maintains public wells there following the closure of the Pequot and Coronet Hills wells in 1988.

References

Further reading French, A. M. (1905). "The Holyoke Water Supply". In John F. Sheehan (ed.). Municipal Register of the City of Holyoke. Transcript Publishing Company. Lucey, P. J. (September 7, 1920). "The Holyoke Water Works, and its Rainfall and Stream-Flow Measurements". Journal of the New England Water Works Association. XXXIV: 323–352.

External links 2018 Consumer Confidence Report, Holyoke Water Works

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Holyoke Water Works

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Holyoke Water Works claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Holyoke Water Works before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Holyoke Water Works ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Holyoke Water Works

In research: Holyoke Water Works appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Holyoke Water Works in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Holyoke Water Works is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1872 establishments in Massachusetts, Government of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Southampton, Massachusetts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Holyoke Water Works outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Holyoke Water Works in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Holyoke Water Works means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Holyoke Water Works out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Holyoke Water Works in simple terms?

Why does Holyoke Water Works matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Holyoke Water Works?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Holyoke Water Works.