The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-17
THE CITYS WATER SUPPLY.
sUPT. LOTIONS FIGURES FOR THE
LAST TWELVE MONTHS.

mcnt which VIII BE Valuable for
Years 10 Come-More Than $4,000
saved Out of the Budget-SIRny Inn
DrOvements Made-The Meter Cues
lion Discussed and Facts Presented
Demonstrating the Waste Of Water
Under the Present System.
Supt. Herbert NJ. Lotion has completed
his report OF the operations OF the water
works for the year 1855 and the report is
now in the hands Of Alderman Watson,
chairman of the water committee.
The report is the most complete ever
made Of this department and gives valu-
able information concerning the depart
ment. which has never been given in any
| previous report.
II gives not only the usual figures of
/ the amount of water pumped. daily av-
/ erage, cost, etc, but gives the number. 10
cation and make of every fire hydrant in
the city. the number location. length and
size of every water MAN. the location and
size Of every gate valve and number of
| other statistics of interest.
! The reason for making the report so full
is that much Of the information given has
never been placed on record before. Supt
Lotion found the department lacking in
! records of this kind, and il has required
an immense amount of labor to obtain
the statistics given. They will prove Of
| value to the department for years. For
] this reason the report will be printed sep
arately this year.
The total pumpage Of water for the
year was 24O2, eOs,3 51 gallons. a daily av-
erage Of 6.5s2, 4sO gallons There was a
decrease of S5,357 gallons compared with
! the pumpage OF the previous year, a very
slight difference in such immense figures.
The total amount of coal consumed at
the works during the year was 1884 tons.
an average Of 5 10 tons per day, as against
a total of 200 tons for the previous year.
| or an average of six tons per day. This
| shows decrease of As of ton in the
| daily consumption OF coal. The average
| quantity or water pumped per ton OF coal
| during the year was 1.26S, 536 gallons, as
| against 1,O92,l33 gallons per ton for the
previous year.
The superintendent states that strenu-
| Gus efforts we're made during the year to
reduce the quantity of water wasted and
a larger decrease in the pumpage would
nave been shown, but for the fact that
during the severe cold weather of jan
uary and February the daily pumpage
was over SOOO,O00 gallons. The superin-
tendent reports that the engines and ma
chinery at the works are all in good condi-
ton. The condition of the buildings is re-
ported to be good with the exception Of
the corrugated iron roof which leaks
badly. The roof will be given a heavy
coat OF paint shortly. Considerable work
was done during the year in improving
tne grounds. The terracing has been COM
pleted. The drives and walks have been
| nearly completed with cinders and about
10 trees and considerable ornamental
shrubbery has been set out during the
year, adding very much to the beauty of
the grounds. If the present plan of i'm
| proNement Is continued, the superintend-
ent states, the city will in a few years
nave park at the water works of which
| the people will be proud
Inc water mains are reported to be in
good condition, with the exception of a
rev OF the old ones, which will require
renewing shortly. There are sixty-eight
pubic MIGRANTS in use. These hydrants
are SURGE Of considerable expense and
annoyance. The superintendent has cut
out several where they were not needed
ana recommends that these hydrants be
cut out IN future wherever possible, as
the effect is to deprive the department of
legitimate revenue from water users
Inc total number of fire MIGRANTS in
the, city is 40 Eighteen froze and burst
IN January, and eight more in February.
Ihey We're replaced by hydrants of the
same style. In addition seventeen new
| hydrants of improved pattern have been
| put in, TO replace small MIGRANTS of the
old pattern in the business section Of the
| city,, the small hydrants being removed
| to the southern section. The new hy-
| drants have two hose nozzles and four
| and one-half inch steamer connection, a
| frost case and automatic drain. They are
| great Improvement on the old STYLE and
| cost but little more. The superinfendent
| mas adopted the plan of putting in gate
| valves with the new hydrants, so that
| the hydrant can be disconnected for re-
! pairs at any time without the necessity
OF shutting of the water in the immediate
| neighborhood.
Considerable extension of mains was
| made during the year, greatly increasing
! the fire protection in the business section
! OF the city and also in the southern sec
| ton. This includes the new 16-inch main
| on Bay street and the 6-inch main laid
| in the southern section. A number of
! improvements We're added to the depart
! ment, greatly increasing its efficiency
/ and saving the cost several times over
| during the year In this number are in
/ Guiding the Mueller tapping machine for
the purpose or making small connections
ana smith tapping machines, for MAX
| ing large connections without shutting
| off the water and without danger of
bursting the mains.
There were $50 leaks reDorted 10 the
department. and the superintendent saws
there were Undoubtedly a great many
which were not reported. 1t is impossible
ne says, 10 look after the 1000 houses
supplied with water without large force
of inspectors His efforts to reduce the
waste of water have met with but small
success. The condition confronting the
city is simply this: Unless the pumpage
is reduced larger supply of water will
soon be required. The quantity of water
consumed during the past year was over
10 gallons per capita per day.
I'm my opinion, we are using too much
water" the superintendent says There
are only a few cities in the United States
that use more water per capita than Sa-
vannah, and they are very large manu-
featuring centers, requiring great guam
titles of water for manufacturing pur-
poses. There are over a hundred cities
that use less water per capita than Sa-
vannah, and as many as fifty cities which
use less than half as much. Judging by
the experience of other cities, l think we
are wasting over half the total quantity
pumped. ! am of the opinion that the
only remedy for this state of affairs is
in the adoption of meters. Other cities
have had the same problem to contend
with, and have found that the adoption
of meters was the only remedy. 1t is a
mistaken idea that meters work a hard
ship on consumers. Just the contrary
has proven to be the case wherever they
have been adopted. The rate is a sep
arate matter entirely No matter how
low it is, il will prevent unnecessary
waste. ! could cite evidence from a
hundred cities TO prove that meters are
beneficial to both waterworks and con-
sumers."
Supt. Lofton quotes from the report
of the board of water commissioners of
Atlanta for 1895. Atlanta adopted the
meter system in 1884 and up to Deem
bsr. 1893, 1900 meters had been put in
This nd O mo