The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-08-25
For the Dispach.
Supply of Water for rsichnlSuG.

In my letter to you Of the 10th instant !
called to your attention how very made
auate reservoir erected on ground twenty
eight feet higher than that on which the
present reservoir is constructed, would be
to meet the demands Of many portions of
the city. On reading more closely the re-
port now submitted to the public by the
committee appointed by the Council, I find
it suggested that the sides of this proposed
reservoir shall be carried only to o mode
rate height. BY only moderate height /
take it for granted that they are not to be
as high as those Of the present reservoir.
So, then, the advantage of this twenty
eight feet is only to be enjoyed from The
base of the new reservoir to the moderate
height to which they propose to carry it !;
and we must not suppose that the surface
of the water in the new reservoir will be
twcnty-eight feet above that of the old re-
servoir.
On page of said report find the follow
| ING paragraph: "The means Of storing
water thus increased, the necessity OF work
ing the pumps when the river is swollen
and the water in tWbid condition will be
avoided, and by constructing the outlets of
| the reservoir in such way 90 to take the
water for distribution from near the sur
face, instead of the bottom as heretofore, It
will be very nearly if not entirely free from
sediment, and the quality much improved. ;;
This is Il paragraph must acknowledge far
beyond my comprehension.
What is meant by "the means Of storing
water thus increased, the necessity 0!
working the pumps, &C., will be avoided ?"
Is this reservoir to be what is called q
" storage reservoir ?" If so, let US look to
the report OF the Water Committee of St.
Louis published in St. Louis in 1866. On
page 90 we find the following " Mr.. Kirk
wood Jour Mr.. Kirkwood, as suppose the
City Council would say in his report (pagcs
q and 2S) says As a general rule, the
water of large rivers-always in a condi-
ton of greater purity in summer than the
water of small streams-cannot too soon be
delivered to the householder. 1t is always
desirable to have as little time elapse ae
possible between the point when it is drawn
from the river and its point of delivery into
the city pipes.
90 When the water is in motion, as it is III
the channel of the stream, the motion and
the varying surface that it presents to the
atmosphere in some way maintains its nor
NAL purity but where it is brought to a
state of comparative rest, as in large re-
seryoirs, and remains so (along the margins
particularly for weeks during the summer
and fall months, it will sometimes develop
in short time qualities which render ii
very unpalatable. We have marked in
stances of such effects in the Boston. the
Albany, and the New Haven reservoirs. ~
This was the opinion given by Mr.. Kirk
wood to the st. Louis committee. And that
committee adds Your committee fully CO.
incides with Mr.. Kirkwood in his views con-
concerning the danger of large accumu-
latious of water, and may add to the
statement Of Mr.. Kirkwood that the same
contingencies have been noticed in the Pa
ris and Berlin reservoirs" The st. Louis
committee did not fully coincide with Mr..
Kirkwood simply because Mr.. Kirkwood
said 80, but because eminent gentlemen in
| St. Louis of the medical profession, whose
opinions and names are given in said St.
Louis report, corroborated what was re-
ported in Boston, Albany, New Haven, Pa
ris, and Berlin.
| Further: "By constructing the outlets
say the committee, :" of the reservoir in
such u way as to take the water for distri-
button from near the surface, &C., it viii be
very nearly if not entirely free from sedi-
| ment, and the quality much improved"