Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-12-12
An Expert Talks About Ancient
and Modern Aqueducts.
NATURAL SUPPLY IMPORTANT
Money Spent for Pure Water is
Never Wasted.
TAUGHT BY EXP ERIENC E


of the civilian members of the engineer
board appointed to determine the best plan
of increasing the water supply of the Dis
trict, delivered a lecture at Willard Hall
last evening on the water supply system OF
Boston. He is the resident engineer and
superintendent of the Boston water works,
and Is generally recognized as one of the
ablest hydraulic engineers in the country.
His lecture was given under the auspices of
the board of trade, and Mr.. S. w. Wood
ward, president of that organization, in
troduced him to the audience in few we'll
chosen words. The hall was well filled, de-
spite the irclemency of the weather. 1t
was a highly intellectual audience, includ-
ing Gen. Craighill, Col. Mackenzie, Maj.
Powell and many other local celebrities,
and rot a few ladies. The hall was cold
and cheerless and the auditors were COM
PEELED to wear their overcoatS and shawls
throughout the lecture. Despite these
drawbacks, however, the lecturer was
given attentive consideration to the close
of his remark
Old Rome.
AS a matter of fact, it was more of
talk than a lecture, and was almost entire
ly free from technicalties. With the aid
of series of lantern slides, Mr.. Fitzgerald
described briefly the salient points of the
water supply system of Boston. and kept
his audience in good spirits by his numer-
Gus ant and humorous comments In open-
ing his lecture he adyerted to the antiquity
of the building of water works, and spoke
tbe SaI,y, o en INC H. ,ni,t.a o,,t ,he aafao3s
of that system, as shown in the ruins. but
said that We must still take off our hats to
rome, as despite the antiquity OF It's wa
iv erioh1 g., tte uua at ga e
still far from nerfection In yiew Of onr
experience and modern facilities it was
Still a matter of surp Use to him that we
had made so little advancement in hy-
draulic engineering
Mr.. Fitzgerald told of the defects in the
water supply systems of London Paris
Hamburg and other cities and the lessons
- ~ -. 80.
iioi'i 'iieii eApei iehee.
hao suffered a severe epidemic of typhoid
fever before 1t was aroused to the necessi-
ty of imnrovinp tic v.tar s,,nnly s,,s,a,,
In Hamburg during the cholera plague
hafora ~ ,tsr;,io. Gu Go per iioiith
ty of improving its water service
He attributed the immense number of
aeaths ana the cause OF the epidemic to the
hnn,n, uiiLhihs water, anu sala Una. me
Hamburg authorities had exnended the
money that was required to filter the wa
ter of the Elbe
sanitation
question" said he, the expenditure of
money Should never stop until the difficult
ty is entirely overcome
~
""S
lie SAID II was the height OF folly to ne
glect any necessary improvement to the pub
lie water service because of the exnense &C
n,o,,a,, axrorao5 =, 49, -. .,,,o,.o.a, -
- - .Aa, ""s pio'ee'eu 'ie
tteaith VI the peopie anu was never wasted
Brief reference was made to the water sup
ply systems of the leading American cities in
the course of which the lecturer pointed out
the superior natural advantages of Chicago,
Washington and other cities having a nat
ural water supply at their doors over New
York and Boston, which had to produce
their supply by the creation of artificial
lakes, etc. He spoke in especially compl-
mentary terms of the natural water facili-
ties of Washington, and also expressed his
admiration for the comprehensive auueduct
system inaugurated by Gen. MAgs from the
intake of the river to the distributing reser-
voir.
According TO Mr.. Fitzgerald, the primary
object of a water system is to secure a
supply of pure water and in this conneo
zion he too,y ooo,sio,, 20 oo,.,;,,,,. ~.
~ I'm inc
"oIh winch mas resulted IN dlNerting the
polluted drainage of the surrounding coun-
try from the Dalecarlia receiving reser.
to provide supply of good water he said