Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-07

capacity during the afternoon, at much be
low full capacity during Saturday night, a
about three-fo urths of its full capacity; al
day Sunday it was run but slowly. owing tc
a scarcity Of water, the water having been
| pumped 30 low in the lake that the bitches
leading to the pump could not keep 1t sup,
| piled.
The result of the above work furnishes a
verv fair test of the value of the arrange.
ment that has been provided for draining our
CITY. As has been shown, the entire sewage
of the city for eight days, including rainfall
of more than two inches, was discharged
from our CITY as described in what would be
| less than twenty-four hours running OF the
pump up to its tull capacity.
During the short tine that the pump was
run in this way, the sewer pipes in the lower
part of the city, which had become almost
| entirely filed with deposit OF mud from
| having an insufficient outlet, were nearly
cleaned of the deposit and very much relieved.
The general arrangement by which the above
| results have been attained is substantially as
follows From the end of the sewer-pipe at
Sixth and V streets, ditch has been cut
through an old slough to Eighth and Y, con-
Meeting with the lake. The lake has been
| connected with the pumping works, where
! a pit or sump has been put in. over which
the rump has been set. This pump
| is run by what would generally be rated at
about 50-horse power engine from 90 to
| 1901, with the boiler of considerably greater
capacity. From the pump a 20-irch pine
passes through the leyee, having an outlet
| into a hume which is so built as to turn the
water to the west. From the end of the
fiume the water follows the ditch on the out
side of the levee to Sixth street, where it en-
tiers the sewer leading to the drainage canal.
At the point where it enters the sewer it Is
prevented from flowing back into the city by
an iron gate that has been put in the sewer at
that point This gate also effectually shuts
the back or food water out of the city.
The boiler used for this work is a Sacra-
mento production, having been built by j.
A. Cunningham at his boiler works on l
street. It is the largest and strongest boiler
ever built in Sacramento outside of the rail-
road shops, and is a great credit TO its maker
and to Sacramento. Mr.. Richards, who
had the contract directly with the city, and
VINO had the boiler made by Mr.. Cunningham,
saws it is a better boiler, and more honestly
constructed than any he could have had
made in San Francisco ; also that it was fur
nished at a cheaper rate than he could have
got it for in that city. He further says that
hereafter when he has to furnish boilers IN
connection with his work he shall come to
Sacramento for them. The engine used at
the pumping NOEk5 was ul<t-O AZ ASaA1 4 AfSu-
cisco. 1t is good and well-built engine, but
not very highly finished.
The pump that has been put in for drain.
ing our city is something of novelty IN this
part of the country. 1t Is called by the
makers the turbine pump, and is OF the CEN
trifugal type and similar to those commonly
used in pumping out dry docks, and quite
extensively used iu European countries for
drainage purposes. 1t has, however, been
somewhat differently arranged for our
work. it being so arranged as to take every
advantage possible OF the minimum lift. Ii
is SO placed as to discharge at level with the
surfaces of the ground on the outside of the
leyee. With the backwater standing at that
hight, the amount that the water will have to
be raised will be at minimum. The maximum
lift will come at such times as the backwater
stands at its greatest hight, as, for instance,
on a level with the high water of 1873. At
such time the lift will be about seven feet
greater than it was during the recent test,
provided it should be necessary to keep the
water at as low point on the inside as at
present This, however, will not be neces-
sary, and the lift during extreme high back
water need not be much greater than at pres
ent, the pump being so arranged as to work
| equally well when entirely submerged in
water up to point only few inches below
the driving pulley. During extreme high
water the pump will discharge into the water
| instead of into the air. This. however, will
not make any practicable difference in the
amount discharged by the pump, the
resistance under such circumstance be.
| ing only about one-seventy-hfth part
greater By having the pump arranged
in this way we avoid raising the water several
feet higher than is necessary during low
| water, to let it fall back again that is, We
trav M hill
and then march down again" as a certain
French army did in olden time. The pump
is so built that it is very durable, and can bl
placed in constant service for number O.
years, needing only slight repairs, those part
that are most subject to wear being easily
and cheaply replaced. Quite large substance
can pass through the pump without injarin!
it; in fact almost anything that would b
brought to it in the sewage. In this connec
ton it msy be interesting to note that at tht
( time the pump was first started up larg
quantity Of catfish were pumped out Of tn
lake and discharged into the ditch on tn
outside of the levee, several hundred OF then
being caught by the boys and Cinnamon VIII
happened along at that time. Most of then
were as large as those usually sold at th
markets.
In connection with the subject of the drain
age of our city, it may be stated that las
winter considerable difficulty was expert
enced in preventing the water from gettini
back into the city through the openings mad
In the levee for the purposes If natural drain
aee To prevent this hereafter, the follow
inc precautions have besn taken The oil
wooden culvert under the Y street leyee 8
Eighth street has been taken cut, aud il
place filed in with solid earth the gate
: the old Burns slough channel at Sixteent
| street has been changed, 30 as to work cor
yenientlv and shut the water out completely
and, as before stated, an iron gate has bee
) pat in the Sixth-stteet sewer. At the poiI
where the discharge-pipe from the pun
passes through the leyee q double bulkhes
has been put in, so as to effsctpaIly preveT
the water breaking through a5 that point &
sometimes occurs where sach openings a,
, made through embankments without props
precaution. With these improvements con
, pleted. and the work which is in contempt
lion. of raising andstrengthening the Y-strei
l levee the coming season, carried cut, our cit
l can be considered entirely safe from hoot
from the south.
i Ouestion-What was The object IN plaeir
the pumps at Y and Eighth streets?
Answer-The reason for locating che puml
ing works at Eighth and streets may
stated briefly as follows: At that point WI
found a reservoir ready constructed for use
3 appropriating portion of the lake for tn
! purpose, and by small amount of ditchir
our sewers were quickly connected with II
] lake and the lake with the pump. At thi
a point good outlet is had into the drsinas
canal and the hight to which the water HI
to be raised is less than at any other poln
aud much less than would be necessary in di
: charging into the river. The city has also
e this way avoided the necessity Of purchaser
any lard upon which to construct the work
everything having been placed within Il
: lines of the streets.
s Q.-How about pumping into the river /?
g A.-To have located the works SO as to di
charge into the river would have required
very much larger expenditure in every wa.
's as the hight to which the water would have
y be raised would have been much greater, r
It quiring heavier machinery. The rnaximu
lift in discharging into the river would hav
been from twenty five to thirty feet, as again
II from eight to twelve as at present arrange
r In order to discharge into the river reserve
t, of considerable capacity would have to |
constructed near the bank of the river at
very great cost, as the excavation would ha,
o to be carried to depth of from twenty
II thirty feet, and walled up over half a mi
of large sewer would have to be constructs