Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-02-07
Col. Elliot Says We Are Sure to
Have One.
The EFFORT TO AVOID 1T
Raising Great Falls Dam Viii Take
Two Years.
WORK SHOULD BEGIN NOW

SAAeAN
people living on Capitol Hill and on the
higher levels not supplied by pumping
with great alarm. 1t means for them
surely, and for many other parts of the
city, terrible water famine next summer,
when the consumption and waste of water
begin In the heated season. Already they
are suffering, and there is no prospect OF
| Immediate relief. Complaints were never
more numerous at the District building
than they have been this winter. and for
| them there is practically no remedy or re-
lief to offer.
Col. Elliot, engineer in charge OF the
Washington aqueduct, who originally
brought forward the proposition to in
crease the water supply of the city by
raising the dam at Great Falls, was seen
this afternoon by a Star reporter, and
asked if there was a necessity for the in
quiry proposed by the Senate amendment
providing $4,000 for a survey and estimate
of the cost of raising the dam.
No Need of a Survey.
Il began" said Col. Elliot, Ito urge this
improvement as long ago as 1891. There
is no need whatever of q survey. We
know the facts. What We want is imme-
diate action. You will remember that I
came into this office in 1885, and we were
then putting down the big 4S-inch mains.
by which were to give water enough at
a pressure sufficient to meet every need in
every part of the city. The city was then
suffering for want of water, as 1t is now.
Well, put down % 100000 pounds of iron
in the ground in LAG working days. and
everybody thought that would suffice to
give us water enough for ten to fifteen
years to come. 1t is now five, and the
supply has begun to seriously fail to meet
the demands upon it.
THE fact is" continued Col Elliot, 'sthe
city is growing very rapidly on the higher
levels. Mains have been laid out to
Brightwood Brookland, Tenleytown and
to the region beyond the Eastern branch.
and consumption is so much increased at
the points that test the system most Sc
Verely that We know precisely what is
ahead of US. We are bound to have a
water famine. There is no escape from It,
Now, l simply want to anticipate the in
evitable and shorten the ordeal, If pos
sible.
- lFhe; Water Famine liz Here. I:
THE water famine is already upon u.s. It
can only increase and it will continue to
increase with an Increasing ratio every
summer and winter until the raising of the
dam is completed Here is a note 1 have
just received from one of the justices Of
the Supreme Court on Capitol Hill. He
says he has no water the upper floors of
his house; several of his neighborS are
similarly inconvenienced, and inquiries if
answer could make 1 gave in the follow
ing letter. which you are at liberty to copy;
OFFICE OF THE WASHINGTON AQUE-
WASHINGTON, DC, February 5, 1895.
Mr. Justice Stephen ]. Field,
U. S. Supreme Court.
Sir: have your note of this date and re-
eret that am powerleSs to remedy the in
convenience to which you-and doubtless
many others in the higher parts Of the city
are now subject in respect of your and
their water supply.
l have sent you by your messenger q
copy of my last annual report, in which
explain the situation existing at the date
of the report and most earnestly asked for
an appropriation for raising the dam at
Great Falls.
The present deficiency of water arises
mainly from the fact that the draft Of
water from the distributing reservoir two
miles west of Georgetown, to meet the in
creased consumption and waste in the city
in the hot weather of summer and in very
cold weather in winter. is SO great that the
dam at Great Falls must be raised to en-
able it to turn enough water from the river
when it is at its low stages into the head
Of the aqueduct at the falls to keep up
the supply to the reservoir.
The House of Representatives at this ses-
sion passed an appropriation for raising the
dam, work that will require all the time
of low water of two summers Cor its exc
cution, but the Senate has stricken it out
and has substituted therefor a provision for
an inquiry into the necessity and cost OF
the work. Very respectfully,
GEORGE H. ELLIOT,
Colonel Of Engineers, U. S. A.
One Senator's Trouble.
IT heard the other day of a United States
Senator also living on Capitol Hill. who
has to go down into the basement every
time he wanted to wash his face The
only thing 1 say is that il Congress fails
to make this appropriation to raise the
dam. that Senator will continue to wash
in the basement for some time to come.
"You can see for yourself. The work can
only be done in the low water season Of
summer. If We began next July, it would
only be possible to complete 1t by the end
of the second working season in the fail OF
1896. If the Senate amendment is insisted
upon I fear that Senator will have to wash
his face in the basement for three years
more at least
This leads me to outline to you some
thing Of the character Of the work involv-
ed. The masonry of the body of the dam
at Great Falls is excellent and is covered
with splendid coping stones, which success
fully resist the wear of the worst Hoods.
These stones are six feet long by two and
q half TO three feet wide, and 10 inches
thick. To raise the height of the dam these
stones would have to be removed and the
masonry below them carried up the desired
height, and the coping stones replaced and
strongly bolted. The estimate made en-
braced all the contingencies-the cost OF
Slasonry, raising manholes. paying over
flow damages, etc. l thought of them very
carefully
Strength of the Conduit.
'I observe that o question was raised in
regard to the strength of the conduits to
withstand the pressure consequent on rais-
ing the dam two and one-haf feet. To
that point note which received from
the late Gen. Meigs and carefully filed for
the information of the officers in future
charge of the aqueduct is pertinent He
states that it the original design to
make the lip of the dam $50 feet above
tide at the navy yard, and for this height
all the profiles and waste weirs were made.
He says the back filling over the conduit
would allow a height of water two feet
higher than the dam to flow safely through
the conduit. Gen. Meigs contemplated that
the height of the dam would sometime he
raised and he built the conduits 10 resist
the Increased pressure. This is Gen. Meigs'
Gale ulation, and Congress never dealt with
a safer engineer. l have prop6eed raising
the dam two and one-half fcet-5iX inches
more than Gen. Meigs mentions. L have
calculated the increase of pressure on the
ccnduits that this six inches of increase in
the dam would cause, and it Is one-fiflh OF