Waterbury evening Democrat., 1891-01-10
ALDERMAN wnBsrER,s v1Rws.

Rithor QuassapnuK or Hop Brook
 Pleads For More Time to Study the
 Matter. Editor of the DEMOCRAT:
 Believing you are right in your views on the water question, l beg the privi- lege of expressing my opinion on this vexed subject.
 All will concede that before we act upon the matter of furnishing an in. creased water supply, those whose duty It IS to take action, viz: the common council of the city, all the members of that body should be so thoroughly in- formed on all the questions involved as to be able to act wisely, and for the best interests of the city.
 And hrst, as to the uses to which the water should be applied. I maintain that the prime object should be to sup. ply water for drinking and culinary purposes, and for the extinguishment of fires; that the uses to which water is put and for which the people should be taxed, should be confined substantially to uses above named, only. I dc not deem 1t just to tax the people to bring water into the city from long distances, and at great expense to originate me- chanical power for the few, either in water motors, or steam boilers. If the
 water already brought into the city were confined to its legitimate uses, I believe the consumption would be lessened nearly one-third, although I admit this is but u guess. What I wish to impress upon my fellow citizens is the unfairness of requiring me to be taxed for supplying my wealthy neigh Dor, not only with drinking water, but also for mechanical power.
 As to the sources of supply You are clearly right in believing our supply can be obtained from Mad river, Lind ley brook or the Chestnut hill reservoir.
 lnasmuch as the outgoing common council failed to settle the question of the new water supply, but turned it over to the incoming court of common council, l must confess my surprise, when at the first meeting of the new court and before any examination could be had by the members of that body. a vote should have been proposed to in- struct the board of water commissioners to proceed at once to take the supply from Quassapaug lake and make all pro per contracts. Now, MT Editor, regard this move as a great discourtesy to the new members of that body, to ask them to act upon subject about which they could not be sufficiently informed: be- sides it appeared like an effort to force through preconceived plan of action,
 l heard and read with great interest the very able message, Gas whole) of our worthy mayor, but was greatly puzzled to reconcile all he said about our future water supply, with any loy:- cal conclusion. For instance, he said ''Lindley brook, Mad river and Chestnut hill, are all situated to the east of inc city Tn the same general neighhorhoud Of our present supply ,and dismiss those sources as impracticable, if for no other reason than that they are used and have been for years to furnish water for several factories" and he concludes bv saying: "To acquile it would take more money than we have to spend besides the additional supply would be absolutet ly independent of our present sys- tenn. In what possible manner Chest nut Hill reservoir or LindlSy brook would be dependent upon, or in any re- mote way connected with our present system, am too dull to see. NotbinS but cyclone would divert the rainfall from Prospect to Wolcott, or vice versa and so l would like to be enlightened.
 The mayor hope will pardon me for crlticising that part of his message where he says: "Ths only sources of supply spoken of which All these scondi- tions are Hop brook and Quassspaux.
 They lie west of the city and are about ten miles from the East mountain SUD. Cn0nNh0 from rainfall in dry seasons" If this idea were put into a syllogism it would read about like this: Our future water supply should be drawn from a source where most raiu drons in dry season.. The most rain drops in Middlebury in a dry season: therefore the water supply should come from Middiebury. cheerfully concede that ii the premises are true the conclu- sion necessarily follows. But is it true that more rain falls in . dry season in Middlebury than in Woleott or Prosnect3 l do not know of any meteorological con. dltlon existing more favorable to rainfall in the one place above another in Con. necticut.
 The mayor assumes and asserts that Quassapaug, the only proper source from which to take the water. regard less of accurate data of it's cost, regard. lesslof the cost in damages to mill own ners or riparian proprietors, regardless ot the cost Of constructing the system. admit the water of that lake is pure and if you can draw off ten feet of ifs surface it will yield a large supply of water but how will you draw off ion feet of the surface of that lake? Oh aav engineers, you have only to take the water from the north end dig n trench about nine or ten feet deep, lay a pine and the water flows. I am not an en9i- neer, but claim to know something of the topography of that locality, and I know that at "Tyler's Cove" SO called. the water spreads over a flat of mnS with depth of water of from two to four feet. Almost everything is possi. ble to accomplish by engineering skill. and so trench could be dug in that mud and pipe laid reachinS to deep water Ill that lake, when ten feet of ths surface of the water could be drawn off This method of taking water from the north end of the lake is wholly imprac- ticable: You must trench in the margin of the lake the whole length of Tyler's cove, and down upon the easterly side through rocks to point where the cost, but no one knows how much.
 notice the mayor was tender of the rights of mill owners drawing water from the Wolcott sources, and fright.