Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-12-11
TEE WATER QUESTION

| information obtalnaDle. The CITIZEN
 has therefore opened its columns to the free discussion, pro and con, of the pend
 ing scheme, and shall continue to do so.
 There Is a general, and We might say
 unanimous feeling, in favor of some sys- l tenn of water works
 The public now want to be satisfied
 that the plan under consideration will
 furnish the purest water possible to be | obtained With a view to furnishing
 the public with information on this point
 we reproduce an editorial which appear
 ed in the San Francisco Chronicle of
 July F, 1881, discussing the question of
 |" Artesian and Surface Water" which is
 made more important by the extract from the report of Wm. J. McAlpine, a
 civil engineer and hydrologist of great
 repute. The Chronicle says:
 The Bulletin of last evening published | in the disguise of a communication a ! statement about the Chronicles artesian
 well and water, which is false in its premises, and which We think the writer knows to be so. He says the boring of this well was continued 100 feet through serpentine, without
 water, except from the surface drainage
 at the upper end" By upper end he implies that part of part of the bore from the surface of the earth to the point where the rock or serpentine be-
 gins, thirty feet from the surface. The
 exact truth is this: No water obtained
 either at the top of the serpentine or rock, nor till the rock had been pene- trated 100 feet, where a Assure was
 struck and an abundant supply obtain
 ed, such as 1t Is, and 1t IS exactly what
 we have heretofore described 1t; that Is
 to say, artesian water from the common
 reservoir or source of supply that feeds
 all the aTtesian wells on this peninsula; charged with minerals and other poisons that render 1t undrinkable and therefore a household nuisance. If the water of1 the Chronicle well came, as the writer says, from the surface drainage along 1 the surface of the rock stratum, which IS l but thirty feet from the street surface. l 1t would surely rise in the iron pipe to l within thirty feet of the surface; but m | fact 1t does not rise higher than 3 or 40 l feet.
 
 say, edItOrially. what it has permitted | this anonymous writer to insinuate-l namely, that the average artesian water | obtained here is purer than or essen | italy different from that supplied by the | Chronicle well. Whoever understands | the principles of artesian supply knows l that on narrow peninsula like this ! every well that penetrates tG the stra- | #Hrw. .N. must ge- the same kind of water. But l if 1t does, we shall then appeal from our own demonstrated facts to an authority | which not even the Bulletin can dare | question In 1878 July 15thl that paper presented an eloquent, but well-merited compliment tO the great engineering abilities of William J. McAipine. It | described him as "one of the most emi- neut engineers now living; as the Chief | Engineer of the Albany, New York and | Chicago water works; "one of the four | oldest members of the Institution of ! Civil Engineers, and for many years its | President "for several years the only | American member of the Institution of | Civil Engineers of Great Britain: a member of the Institution of Civil En- | gineers Of France. Austria" etc. with a | rising infection through an article of | some length. Tn 1879 this same distin- | guished civil engineer and experienced | hydrologist wrote a report on the sub iect of the water supply of San Fran cisco, from which We here present a few extracts:
 l All of the s1-cslled artesiau wells in this city. and all others which msy hereafter be bored, must ueCes-lrIly. now and forever. derive all of their water from the rain which falls u-on only portion of twelve square miles. Meaning the area mostly covered by tle CIty.l
 i2l For the present purpose, It ls sufficient tO say that all tae well, which could be sunk lE the clfy would rot furnish am acgregate supply for all time of fsi tanu gallons 'lay of wa-er suita- lie for domestic purIsd-es-- s.a.i Never '
 i3l There will always be enough sewac3 ...Iti I matter admitted to such wells lar esl ian as Co render them undesirable. There are 'uch Water- as can be procured from wells iu thIs 'lJy can ba used. but their true quality S generally understood they Vill never be used Tor domestic purpo7es. ,tl WaterTsadiIy -eizes hold Of ari enters into 'ouhInatlon with almost every -uh-tance with , which It IS brought into c0utIct eagerly .bSlrhs and reluctantly parts with those sub tsnces which render It most objectionable for ! iomestlc Uses. The Impure gases from comhus- lun, and thosa winch arise from the vast masses 'f rrfu-e-tecayIug vegetable and animal bodies [ which abound m the fouler parts of a large city -au noat Il the atmozphere over large popula- lonS' and are seized upon by the falling raIn- I yater and materially affect The quality of what . would ln the cuun-ry be very pure water. '3I The water which IS obtained from the { ,eiis within the cIty must necessarily contain all q the couiamlnatous which have been enumer- f ted; from impure EuSe- Tn the EUuos phere over
 he clty; from the absorption of the ciere azimal [ nd vegetable matter winch Is SD abundant 1 A acant lois and gruuld-; from the oartky and | iueral salts u the soil and from the .eakageS of ! tables, privles imperfect house drains and sew rs-the most hurtful and reUugnqut of all con- 2 lmlnatlons- Water which Is brought in contact l ' nth ezcremeutlry matter from the human body | nhlbes therefTom tls most deadly and disgust f lg Of all the poilutlur- Co which It can De sub .cted. S Here follows an explanation of one of V he unavoidable processes by which these )ul surface-water trainings are always rOught Tn contact with and absorbed by d he artesian well supplies: t iGl Many of the open privies. earth closets. f ater closets, leaky house 1ralns and sewers dis Iarge their contents into the adjaceut soils and le water from the next ram. percnlatng through 6 lis hlthg sull, becomes c1ntGmluated by ir and ows on to the nearest we'll IT a deep well IS a lnk through tfe upper porous soil and one or , lore layers of ay. the smooth exterior eurface [ the iron plpes of arte-gn wells offers ready P lnuult tO the cOu-amiuatrd water. which will len enter the pipe ut fGp bottom Of the deepest n ell and poison the whole supply therefrom.
 We think we have quoted enough from - lr. McAlpine's report tO show that he . erfectly agrees with us in the argument | trough all its details; and also to show I nat there IS not and cannot possibly be n lch thing as pure, or clean. or healthy . ater drawn from any well within this !" fly. At the time the McAlpine report q as made 1t was not as well known as it il Ow is, that salts, saltpeter and other T. lucrals are mixed with our artesiau apply. These, of course, add to the V Of the water for house l old uses. T.