The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-21
WATER SUPPLY.
Facts and Figures That VIII Interest
Consumers.

1nqulrlng at the water once yesterday as
to how the late rains had affected the water
supply in the Euuanu reservoir, Mr.. Wilson,
Superintendent Of the water works, shook
his head and replied: ''There is no change
CHANGING at a dial fixed on one side
of the Office, he continued: "Our gauge
shows about the same amount on hand as
before the rain
How does that gauge work." vas the
next question.
why, you see it is connected with the
main laid in Nuuanu street, and as the water
rises falls in the reservoir the needle
moves over the dial. Here on this slate you
see me note the readings at a. m, noon,
and p. m. each day. These readings are
| transferred to our record book, which Mr..
Auld will show you, and by very simple
process the indicated pressure can be
changed into feet and inches of depth of
water in the reservoir over the outlet"
81 see that this morning the gauge shows
a pressure of q pounds to the square inch.
How much water would that show to be in
| the reservoir
| ''Well, the elevation Of the waste pipe to
| the reservoir above the gauge fixed here is
about SO feet, and when the reservoir is full
the pressure indicated is 81 pounds TO the
square inch. Theoretically, with an indi-
Gated pressure of q pounds there would not
be head of more than go feet, which would
| leave no water at all in the reservoir, nor
for some distance down the pipes. But
such is not the case. There is this morning
depth of about feet inches of water in
| the reservoir"
Chow do you account for this discrepancy
between the theoretical head and the actual
one?''
"Why, you see our gauge is attached to
| the main out there in the street, and as that
main comes down from the reservoir it has
number of branches, and is tapped all
along by service pipes, which are opened or
shut as the case may be, so that the flow of
water is very irregular, and there must be
any number of cross currents, etc., that af-
feet the pressure down here
! Would not a continuous pipe, say of one
| inch diameter, from the reservoir to the
gauge, give you more reliable readings2"
81 think it would. I have here a gauge
that has double circle of figures, as you
i
pounds pressure per square inch, and the
other the height of the column Of water. 1
can easily prepare table that will give me
the actual depth of water in the reservoir
for any indicated pressure
Chow does the pressure vary; that is, how
does the amount of water in the reservoir
stand at different times of the day2"
"There is most, as rule, at o'clock in
the morning, though the noon gauge does
not indicate much change. At p. m. irri-
CATION commences, and then the gauge in
dex begins to fall, and is down to or Z
pounds by o'clock p. m.
"What days, as rule, do you have the
least water2''
| "On Mondays and Tuesdays 81 nerally.
The island steamers are then filing their
boilers, and the pressure sometimes falls
| then to 10 pounds-that is, there is only or
inches of water left in the reservoir"
Suppose fire breaks out then, what do
you do2''
| when q fire alarm is sounded, imme-
diately order the water to be cut off from
the harbor, and then see to it that the full
head is thrown into the district where the
| fire is supposed to be. It does not take
long to concentrate the full supply in any
one quarter of the town, and the stream
flowing into the reservoir soon brings the
supply up again"
Chow do you regulate the service supply?'
1.-THE rates are SIS, S25 and S75 per year.
For the first sum the water is supplied
through quarter-inch opening; for the
second through half-inch, and for the
third through three-quarter inch. This
is irrespective of locality, SO that those who
live down town get more water for any one
privilege than those higher up the valley"
"Well; but look here. I have figured on
that, and I find that if pay S25 year for
a half-inch privilege I get four times as
much water as I do by quarter-inch privi-
lege, for which pay two-ffths less money.
And if pay out S75-fve times SIS privi-
lege-I get nine times as much water. How
is this?''
''Weli, 1 can't tell you, except that it is an
old tine custom, established long before
had anything to do with the water works -
1T works this way, then; can have all
three privileges separately put in, and pay
Sis for what in the aggregate would equal a
| ITO inch supply; or can have four separate
quarterback privileges for 500, which will
give me an aggregate supply of 2-40 inch.
Besides this, if 1 live down town 1 get
through any one privilege more water than
: if live higher up. Don't you think the
meter system would be fairer all around
than the present oneP"
Probably it would. There are some
localities where the meters should be put
in
What are the present prospects regard
ing the holding out of tie water supply"
1.-The supply is keeping up wonderfully
we'll. l can see that more attention is be
ing paid lately to the irrigation rules, and i
consumers will continue to be careful We
may hope to have enough water until the
rains give US more
The Emerson MinStreIS.
Last nights entertainment by the Emer
son Minstrels was fully up to the standard
of the previous night, which is saying
good deal, and they had the pleasure o
playing to about the largest audience of tn