The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1891-09-09


all purposes and will to-day. including the
adoption OF all modern sanitary innovations.
excluding its use for power purposes or spec
ial processes. This would require then l00,-
600 gallons per day for 8 population of 1000
or double that amount allowing for liberal
supply and some contingencies, such as leak
age from reservoir and pipe lines.
should consider, keeping within the linn
its of reasonable expectations that you con-
template the demand upon any sources Of
supply you adopt, will in the near future, TO
approach one quarter Of million gallons
daily. The experience of many towns of
providing barely for domestic and sanitary
purposes, should teach Us that this is not
sufficient for enterprising and progressive
communities, an abundance of water stimu-
lates certain enterprises besides becoming
source Of revenue.
The Marshal, Custer and Poor-house farms
aud all other springs examined combined,
will not furnish much more than one-fourth
of the above amount when visited the frst
of this month, and would undoubtedly tiow
some less in an extreme dry season; there
fore, they can only be considered as auxiliA-
~ sources. As in elevation most of them
are from $50 to 200 feet higher than the Dia-
mond, or the higher parts of the town, they
can be made available If desired.
The adoption of supply from wells cannot
be otherwise than experimental, as but few
Of the many thousands of wells bored for
oil, gas and water, throughout the bitumi-
nous coal regions have flowed more than
one-eighth the volume required for your wa
ter supply. Probably not one well in every
hundred has flowed over one-twentieth the
amount you will require. This, coupled
with the fact that many of them produce
water carrying a large amount of mineral
salts rendering it unfit for domestic purposes
makes the probabilities of success in secur-
ing such a source of supply quite remote or
wholly experimental as stated above
Those most familiar with the geological
formation about Somerset seem to have some
foundation for the belief that flowing water
can be obtained from boreholes located even
on the high grounds close to the town, but
it will be well to remember that certain nat
ural conditions must necessarily exist in or
der to produce a fow Of Artesian water.
These conditions are entirely geological and
are as follows:
lst. There must exist a previous water
bearing stratum with water tight bed be-
low TO prevent the escape of water down.
ward and water tight bed above TO prevent
the escape of the water upward.
I'd. This previous stratum must come to
the surface at higher elevation than the
point at which the well is to be drilled.
Sd. The foundation must be free from
faults or from any characteristic which
would permit the escape of the water at s
lower elevation than the surface of the
ground at the point where the well is to be
drilled
The exposed surface Of the water bearing
stratum, receives and absorbs a certain
amount of the rainfall and in its natural
condition is filled with water to a certain
elevation, forming. in many cases, an exten-
ded subterranean reservoir in all the lower
levels of which the water exists under pres
sure If now the well is drilled from
point on the surface, which is lower than
the flow line of the subterranesn reservoir,
into the water bearing stratum, water will
rise through the well to or above the surface
of the ground. It will readily be seen that
the magnitude Of the fiow which may be ex-
pected from an artesian well, will depend
entirely upon the AREA OF exposed surface at
the previous stratum which is the watershed
tributary to the well; upon the percentage
of rainfall absorbed by it; and upon the
porosity of the material which viii deter
mine the amount of flow through the STRAIT
um.
So far as I can learn but few wells have
been drilled that would indicate such a for
nation, and those with a very limited area
of tributary watershed or else numerous
faults must exist.
From present information on this subject,
1 consider it very uncertain obtaining wa
ter supply for Somerset by artesian wells
and even If possible, think the number of
wells required, testing and otherwise, would
make the cost exceed that of a gravity sys-
tenn from Kimberly Run, which 1 recon-
mend for your consideration.
This stream has watershed of rs square
miles above the Plank road and in the dry
est season will undoubtedly have as a least
daily iow 10000 gallons based on the
weirings made By me and Others on similar
streams in the same valley and both sides of
the adjacent mountain ridges.
The plan that appears most desirable from
q reconnaissance is to divert this stream from
some point near and above where il crosses
the old plank road, through tile line fol-
lowing the contour Of the ground 10 a dis
tributing reservoir located along the plank
road and about one and three-quarter miles
from the village, from there lay a cast iron
main connecting with the town system.
have accompanied this report with an
estimate Of the cost Of the work herein pro-
posed, which will be SIS follows:
A stone masonry diverting dam on Kim
berry Run with intake and screen chambers,
about 8, $50 feet of - inch tile connecting it
with the distributing reservoir. This reser-
voir to hold about one million gallons The
cast iron line connecting it with the town
system should be - inches in diameter. The
town system should be as shown per blue
| print furnished.