The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-14
POROUS LOWER STRATA.
Wells Whose Waters Rise and
Fall PerceptibIy With
Each Tide.
CIVIL ENGINEERS OPINIONS.
c. D. Rhodes Thinks That an Inex-
haustible Supply Exists Near
This City.

mot only is San Francisco built over a
vast reservoir of water, but that water is the
finest in the world, for it has its origin
| in the lofty Sierras where nothing contain
mating can reach it."
Thus spoke Mayor Sutro yesterday when
asked regarding the facts and figures put
forward by the Union for Practical Prog
ress to show that San Francisco can own
its own water and water works with
out going any great distance for the pre-.
cious fluid or mourning any great amount
of expense.
II have investigated this matter thor
oughly," continued the Mayor, land have
arrived at certain deductions, which are,
to my mind, conclusive. Wells bored in
almost every locality of the town have
struck water-good water-and at no great
depth. This shows that the fluid is there,
but it has always been more or less of a
| mystery to those who have not given the
matter close observation where this water
comes from.
MANY believe that it filters through
from the ocean and bay, being deprived of
its saline qualities as it goes and is made fit
to drink. This is not the case. 1t comes
from the Sierra Nevadas, and the whole
country is underlaid with strata of por-
Gus rock through which the water CRAWL
tates naturally from the higher levels.
"An evidence of the truth of this hypoth-
esis is found in the manner in which the
| water in the wells near the bay rises and
falls with the tides. This shows that the
earth beneath the bay is elastic and gives
as the tides come in and make the weight
greater. This giving forces the water out
of the strata and 1T rises in the wells. I
have had wells bored within 100 feet of the
ocean on my place at the Heights and the
water found was perfectly fresh and pure.
"This shows that 1t did not filter in from
the ocean, as it could not have become
entirely fresh in going so short distance.
There is certainly an inexhaustible supply
of water beneath San Francisco, but [
question whether it could be more adj
vantageously used than the waters of the
Sierras, which would not need pumping,\
but would come to us by the mere force of
gravity.
"To drive the number of wells neces-
sary to supply 100000 gallons per day,
put in the proper pumping plant and
maintain the whole would, in my opinion,
cost more than to establish a pipe system
to some one of the vast reservoirs in the
Sierras where an inexhaustible supply of
pure water is waiting.
However, either supply would be far
better and cheaper under municipal owner
ship than the present supply. AS [ have
said before, do not believe that anything
should be done until the municipal gov
eminent is better arranged = under the
new charter, for instance"
Charles d. Rhodes, an engineer now in
the Government service, who has probably
had as much experience with water plants
and artesian-well boring as any man on the
coast. said yesterday that there could be no
question that artesian water could be
found in the vicinity of San Francisco in
inexhaustible quantities, and that San
Francisco could be easily supplied by that
means.
Wherever wells have been sunk" he
said, water has been struck and in pay
ing quantities. Why, there is China
man up on Clay street who owns a well
that is a mint. He had it sunk himself,
and makes plenty of money selling water
to the Chinese who live about his place.
The elevation is pretty high, showing that
it is not only in the lower parts of town
that the water collects. Other cities are
now being supplied with their water from
artesian wells, and there is absolutely no
reason that l can see why San Francisco
should not be equally favored. The for
nation of the earth is favorable to boring,
and, as have remarked, the supply is in
exhaustible. The cost of such a system
need not be SO large as if an expensive
plant was maintained at a long distance
from the City,"