Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-04
BIG NEW RESERVOIR
To Be Built to Furnish the Down.
Town District With Water,
THE SITE NOW BEING LOOKED FOR.
Chief BigelOw Thinks the Present Supply Is
All Right, but he
MEANS TO LOOK OUT FOR THE FUTURE

Councils have not acted prematurely in
the matter of money for new water works.
The day is not far distant when the city
must have more water, and it would be well
were people beginning to cast about them
and be prepared for the inevitable. not onIv
that they may discount the expense in ad-
vance and thus make the burden lighter,
but that the costly mistakes of the latter
COS and nearly all of the '7O's NAV be
avoided in future. In the first place, the
advice of the engineers was not
taken when the Highland and Her
ron Hill reservoirs were built.
The engineers suggested the building of
reservoirs at various levels, so that compar-
atively little water need have been pumped
TO these far heights, but some people
seemed to think that what was wanted was
enormous pressure, for, apparently, as much
as anything else, to see how far water might
be made squirt from a hose nozzle and how
high it could be pumped. 1t has turned out
all right in one respect; we have since built
some very high ediices, and they get good
pressure, but they being in the downtown
district, could be supplied Just as well from
less attitudes, and at much less expense,
from reservoirs at less altitude, and at less
risk of accident
THE MOST SERIOUS PROBLEM
But the most serious consideration in con-
nection with the present situation is that
over 100000 people depend on the happy
go-lucky workings of one infuent pipe, and
on machinery that may at any time 60 out
Of order and subject the city to the risk of
an unquenchable confiagration. Not only
this, but the rest of the city-the Southside
is but scantily furnished in many sections
with water, and in some parts the size of the
mains is entirely inadequate during large
fires This has been demonstrated so fire.
quently that the gravity of the situation
need not be dwelt upon.
Even supposing that in case of an acci-
dent to our pumping machinery or to our
infuent pipe at Brilliant, that no extensive
conAagration took place, there are enough
of water closets in lofty buildings in the
lower part of the city to breed a pestilence
in hot weather were water shut off for 72, or
even 80 hours, and in such an event the
Fire Department would be powerless to
subdue an extensive conflagration, though
it had a dozen fire boats of the most ap-
proved pattern. While our big engines
NAV be ample to pump all the water we
need, it would be wisdom and sound fnan-
cial economy to have a dozen pumping
engines of smaller size to insure supply.
PRESENT LOCAL DISADVANTAGES
Pittsburg labors under disadvantages in
respect to waterworks that confront no
ether city of large size in the United States.
New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Balti- |
more, Chicago, Cincinnati, st. Louis and
New Orleans are on comparatively low |
ground. so that it is not difficult to supply |
them by means of aqueducts and by gravity |
alone, but au aqueduct even, from Lake |
Erie, would not carry water high enough to |
supply the higher portions of this city. We |
might get supply in the wet season from
far up the YoughiOgheny, but large storage |
would be required in dry weather, |