Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-06-08
LEvEEs AND DRAINAGE.
Opinions Of Engineers Upon the Plans to
be Voted Upon.


Opinions Of Engineers Upon the Plans Il
be Voted Upon.
With view to ascertain and give to thu
public the opinions Of engineers who hav'
examined the subject Of the city levees ant
drainage, aud the plans to be submitted to
vote of the electors of the city on the 15tl
inst. for adoption or rejection. interview
were yesterday held with City Engineer L
F. Bassett, County Engineer j. c. Pierson
and J. r. Wilkinson, Resident Engineer O
the Central Pacific Railroad. Mr.. Basset
was first visited, and in answer to questions
propounded gave his views as follows
Question-Under the plan adopted by the
Board of City Trustees. to be submitted al
the coming election, it is proposed "to raise
with earth the levee from Y to r, and from
Seventh to Brighton, to uniform grade OF
at least four feet at the lowest point above
high-water mark of 1881" Please state how
much the present levees will have to be raised
to bring them to that hight.
Answer-At Y street the levee will have to
be raised three feet 500 feet above, nothing
at the gas works, nothing; at R street, about
q feet. and at P and L streets, about
three feet. Along the river front from L
street to l street the bulkhead on the east
side of the street ranges from 2f feet to 81
feet above the high water of last winter.
From Front and I to Seventh and d the
levee is of the full width of the filed grounds
about the railroad shops and depot and OF
sufficient hight. At Seventh street the raise
will be about one foot, and from thence to
American river railroad bridge the raise will
~. -, ,rbf
yond the American river bridge no raising is
contemplated. This will make the levee four
feet above high water at Seventh street and
rising gradually to six feet above at the
American river bridge.
ON regard to the drainage, what is the
present condition of the drainage canal, and
what further work and cost would be neces-
sary to make the present system afford the
necessary drainage for sewage and surface
water?
A.-No further amount of work on the
canal will give US any improvement IN our
sewerage, and no further amount OF work
will improve our outlets for surface water.
About all that can be done INN diately at
the gates of the city has been u.Le, and
work upon the lower parts of the canal will
only benefit the low lands between here and
Snodgrass slough.
Q.-How near to completion is the drain
age canal?
A.-Probably about one-ffth of the cost of
making the canal finally effective for drain
ing the surface water from the city and the
county below has been paid on work done in
the past three years.
Glow much has been expended upon
the canal since the city commenced work
upon it three years ago?
A.-Over $4,000.
Q.-What work remains to be done to
make it thoroughly effective?
A.-To construct a permanent levee
from Sacramento to and even beyond
Freeport; to complete the canal to
grade to Beech's lake; from Beech's
lake to Snodgrass slough; to make
almost an entirely new canal, the present
one being small and of no great depth to
clean out the debris from the mouth Of
Snodgross slough; to construct levee about
opposite Walnut Grove against tide-water !;
to put in at that point tide-water food
gate to construct the back water levee about
opposite CORTLAND to put in larger fl bod
gate at that point to rebuild the old railroad
embankment back of Freeport where washed
out last winter to put in a new hood-gate at
that point; to build considerable number
of bridges to rebuild several that were
washed out last winter, and to clean out the
deposit of from two to three feet of sewage
matter has already been made. This can
only be done by turning the sewage for sew
eral weeks into the lake from Seventh and
r to Eighth and Q streets, and opposite the
cemetery, and making a cesspool of it, while
the deposit in the canal has time to dry out,
so that it can be shoveled.
Q.-Of what nature is the work remaining
to be done in grading the canal?
A.-aIost of what remains to be done will
have to be done with dredging machine, as
it is in the swamps and tules, and below the
natural level of the water in the ground. A
large portion of it, too, is in hardpan Tor bed
rock } and will have to be blasted, and much
of the way the water will have to be pumped
out while it is being done.
Q-When all of this work is completed,
will the country below US be effectually
drained winter and summer?
A-No; not other than at present during
the rainy season. The water from the plains,
and sipsge from the river, will fill the several
pockets until high enough to run out over the
back-water from the San Joaquin and
Mokelumne rivers.
Q-What is the distance from Sacramento
to the lowest point at which W rk would have
to be done, and the amount of fall?
A-The distance is from 20 to q miles.
counting from the bottom of the sewer at
Sixth and streets.
Q.-Under the proposed plan OF pumping
the sewage and drainage water, upon which
an estimated cost of 500, 600 is made, what
capacity of pumps would be obtained?
A.-The works upon which estimates have
been based are for 200 horsepower, for
maximum work during winter, and from s to
10 horsepower during the summer; the work
fer ten months of the year to be done in ten
or twelve hours, and reservoir of sufficient
capacity constructed to hold the sewage OF
the night, so that for most of the time it
would be necessary to have only one en-.
gineer and one fireman. The amount OF
power that is required can be obtained ap-
proximately, as follows: We have five sew
ers at present constructed, discharging at
Sixth and + streets. Two are Of 16 inch and
three Of Is inch diameter. These sewers are
laid so as to flow at the rate of two feet per
second. Calling the sewers all 20 inches in
diameter and two feet flow per second, would
give US Ii $50, COO gallons for twenty-four
hours, equal to 12l, 800, 900 pounds. From
the bottom OF the sewer at Sixth and r
streets to high water in the river, Is feet !;
friction head for forcing 1900, coo gal
Ions through S-foos pipe, 80 feet,
making a total head to work against
OIL Zl.Z Ie6G. 10 lllt 1o,VVO,UOU tgdiuSJ IL z
feet head and overcome friction in discharge
pipe would require 81 horse power; and l
have considered that four times that, or
about 200.horse power. would be ample
allowance for all emergencies and make a
large provision for the growth of the city
and extension OF the sewers. For ten months
of the year the discharge under the present
circumstances will not amount to over ,000.-
600 gallons, and theoretically less than A.
horse power will raise this against head Of
30 feet and overcome friction of discharge
pipe.
Q.-About what would be the cost of run
ming such works
Al have estimated as follows:
engineer, IL months. .sl, 800
frenSn, IL months, ............-s.-..s... sJ0
l engineer, months. ...........--..-....... 80
400 cords of wood Cor equivalent in coal, at
IS per cord. .....-..-...-....---. 5,zOV
Sundries. .s.........'.''.'-' ooo
Total ....-...-..t....-...--. .so,oVV
And I think it will be long time before it
will come up to that figure.
Q.-Do you think this system would give
any better drainage than by the canal.
Alt cannot fail to do so. Beside 1t Will
nlaca ma in n Dosifion where we can at any