The morning news., 1888-10-15
THE O1TYs ARTBs1AN WELLS.
100000 Gallons Of Water Pumped
Daily-The Flow Undiminished.

The attention of Supt A. n. Miller, of the
water works. having been called to a rather
uufriendly article on artesian wells in the
Sanitary Era Of a recent date, Mr.. Miller
hinted that there is "a cat under the meal
tub" In fact, he thinks that the paper is
rather inclined TO encourage surface water
in the Inter est If some filter company which
takes pains to circulate If not to pay for, the
publication of sucn articles He says that
he took pains to furnish an article relative
to the artesian wells and artesian water,
aad It came out in garbled state. But
| TIE following from the paper mentioned
M. Miller particularly paid his attention
to, and asserts that it is inaccurate in whole
and in part:
The artesian wells of Savannah, Ca, as we
| learn from a late item in Engineering NelCs,
| are progressively decreasing in flow with every
additional well sunk to keep up the supply.
The first private well, bored by j. IS. White
| sides for his own uie at depth or 325 feet
| Welded $50, 900 gallons day, through a six
| inch pipes Taking this well as criterion the
| city started in with the intention of sinking five
| wells. After one or two Of these wells had been
sunk, Mr.. Whitesides discovered that his
flow was decreased TO about 10000
| gallons. The same proportonate de-
crease continued, with the Increase
in the number of wells, until the city discovered
! that instead of getting round million gallons
| of water from its five wells, it would have TO
| bore three or -four times as many, with a yield
| diminished to $1,000 each, and with no proba-
| bility OF ever being able TO meet further de-
| mands without an increasing ratio of expense
at every step If, indeed, it should prove pos
| sible to Increase or even to keep up the supply
| by multiplying wells Indefinitely AS these
wells are from Is to 100 feet apart, the area
| drawn from is already large.
ut is not true" Mr.. Miller says, that
the artesian wells of Savanna are pro-
| gressively decreasing in flow with every
additional well sunk to keep up the supply"
H.. Nl,aN i. L. fe
| proportlonately greater than 1t was last
| spring. The eighteen wells now in opera
tiop are furnishing $780, 900 gallons of pure
water daily The wells average all the way
| from 1872 to 600 gallons per minute; land
| this" said he, lis not an estimate, but the
| figures are obtained by actual measure
ments. There has been, as | have said be-
| fore, no diminution in the supply, but an
Increase. While it is true that four addi-
| tional wells have been sunk in the past
year il was not by reason of any falling off
| in the flow. but because the extension of
| the service into a wider area of territory
and an increase in the supply to meet the
| increasing demand could be met only by
| the sinking of other wells"
| How about the statement with reference
| to the Whitesides' wellsl"
| Mr.. Miller explained that Capt. White
| sides first sunk a 6-inch we'll, and then sunk
| a 4-inch well in very close proximity to the
| other well-only n few feet distant. 1t
| could not be expected that as good results
| would follow, or, IN other words, the second
| well would furnish q volume of water pro-
| portionate to the first we'll The figures
that Mr.. Miller gives are certainly the best
answer to the charge that the wells have
not done what was expected of them, for
instead of getting an average of 300 900
gallons to well, the eighteen wells furnish
6,50O,0O0 gallons daily, or 36l, III gallons to
:. III - 81.
| need be no fear of any falling off. When
the mains are extended beyond the capacity
| Of the present wells, it will only be n9ces-
sary to sink others, extending the distance,
il necessary. as far as 800 feet. The wells
now are about $50 feet apart. 1t is untrue
that the yield of the wells will be dimin-
ished to $1,000 gallons, as the least produc-
tive WELL of 1872 gallons to the minute, flows
216,4S0 gallons daily.
With reference to the large area" dwelt
| upon, that is a matter of no concern. There
| is plenty of area, and to spare. Mr.. Miller,
| however, suggests that 1t would be well to
| put down some wells in the city, SO that in
| the event OF an accident to the mains lead
| ing from the water works to the city there
would be no shutting off of the water sup
| ply until repairs could be made.
Relstive TO the palatableness of the arte-
| sian water Of Savannah, Mr. Miller says
| that strangers from abroad drink it without
the least complaint, and praise it for its
| paA,ableneSs. On the contrary, the waters
| OF other cities are often insipid, or produce
| diaorders He cites the fact that until ac-
| custOned to the use of the Croton water in
| New York it was nauseating. Here the
! stranger finds the change to aItesian water
not only pleasant to the taste, but healthful
| and assimiative.
As to tho healt fulness of the artesian
water Of Savannah, Mr.. Miller says that it
T. En1 I.I
notice. This fact has been referred to, and
acknowledged by physicians over and often,
| and to the artesan water they attribute
| the healthfulness of the people, and the
| largely decreased mortality thus far this
year, as compared with the same period be-
fore the introduction and use of the arte
sian water. For this reason, on the recon-
mendstion of the Medical Society of Savan-
nah, the city council ordered the dismant-
ling of the pumps of the surface wells In the
city, and of the l35 wells of that character,
| all but five have been abandoned, many of
them having been filed up. The remaining
| five, as stated in yesterdays MORNING
| NEWS, are beyond the boundary Of the ar
| tesian water works service. These surface
wells will be abandoned as soon as the water
works service is extended in the southern
part of the city where the remaining sur
| face wells are located.
Mr.. Miller thinks if the Sanitary Era
is Interested In publishing the tactS 1t must
| inevitably lead it to confess that not only is
the artesian water of this section a palat-
able ana healthful drink, but that there is
no apparent reason 70 anticipate any diminu-
ton of the supply, and As the wells are sunk
less than 450 feet in depth, the expense viii
not be great, and certainly there will lie nc
INCREASING ratio of expense" as the ex
tract published above asserts.
|
STRUCK BY THE FAST MAIL.
An Old Colored Man Killed on the