Evening star., 1896-12-07
Ms1G MOI n than tTotn,rd5 staa the mains

A0ku III w dHtliuS ~
The high-seryice resAfyoir. at Fort Reno
was completed and put in service. This
reservoir. in the abseneeJof reservoir facili-
ties in the middle service, has been repeat
edly used to maintain the pressure in the
eanipnsa LATTER when aar sn6It dis
The new building at the U street pump
Ing station was completed. An electric
light plant for lighting the station and
property yard was installed.
A contract was eniered into with the
Barr Pumping Engine Company Of Phila-
delphia for an s,OOQt9Q4k gallon hiyh-duty
ergine with two bot5ax The erection Of
Is nearly completed. ahddt is expected to .. be
In operation early iha 4he next calendar
year.
Twenty,sx public seus were abandoned
1886. 145 wells. Of which two are deep wells
driven during the previous year. Since the
close of the fiscal year nine additional
oeep wells have been driven In the south
east and southwest sections. In each Of
tfese deep wells supply of good vater
has been obtained. Public wells that snn.
Ply good quality of :cool water are un-
doubtedly great benefit and comfort to
people who cannot afford to nav water
rents or to purchase Ice
All classes Of people will be benefited nv
the replacement Of polluted shallow wells
oy deep-driven wells furnishing good wa
ter The wells driven during f,s nrssaa.
year indicate that good water NAV he had
ever large section of the city at a reason.
aple depth and cost The estimates for ~,
year year 1873 include an item of $IO.OOO for
driven wells. '' ioi
~, referring to the ordinary shallow wells.
the report OF the engineer in charge Of the
wafer department properly says:
IN any metropolitan district such wells
are liable to contamination from seweea
and all of them Will become unfit for ne
taDie purposes Continued efforts are he
.ng made to have the water from nuhli,.
Melis IN the District frequently examined
chemically and, upon the concurrent shnn
Ing of two examination by different ehom-
.S'S .hat tne water In any well is so CON
,amlnated as to be unfit for use tho wsu
nus 6een closed. These wells are freouent
~ located in close proximity to sewers and
IN places that are otherwise insanitsr,, anu
oiLce t:lS sewers are rarely absolutely water
,isnt. all wells near them are surelv
iaoie 10 contamination with sewage at
no distant time. AS a matter of
TACT large percentage of all the wel,. 90 90
,aI ID, examined have been found to he NIL
,u ,u.eo. ana 1t Is safe to say that every shai
mW ,, weli is or soon will be, a menace to
tha public health" "
Three hundred and -fortvtbr.. .
meters were placed during the wear on
premises supplied with Potomac water and
l'o nave been placed since the close ~ Tho
sn xea,, making total Of 7s3 water meters
~ service on December 1. 1886 A general
cor pllance with the law relating to the usa
OF water meters has been Obtained hut
oti!s with considerable difficulty. All pri-
sate premises Using a large amoun; of wa
.ei are now supplied through meters or
soon will be 80 supplied "
declslon of the Court Of Appeals dur
:hS the previous year rendered invalid all
wa ma'er e main assessments that had been lev
ieu ny the commissioners and not ty the
water registrar. an office that had been va
cant Tor several years. This resulted in a
scsere reduction of the expected revenues
~, u, .ns water department, and has curtailed
the service. The granting of authority in
inns case to make reassessments aDpears to
De proper ard Just to those property own
tis tsis Mho nave paid their assessments Leg
!siatioh looking 20 such reassessment and
70 the relief OF unsubdivided county prop-
erty was before Congress. at the last ses
SION. authority was granted at that ses-
saon 10 reassess special taxes set aside sub
sequently by reason OF inrormaIities
Inc most urgent present need of the Wa
i Ter service Is a greater supply Of water
IN the city. and large. reservoir capacity as
n,,, eserse IN case of accident to the sup
piy system. The auueduct now furnishes
TOT present needs. an ample supply to the
existing reservoirs. The Capacity of the
mains however. leading TO the city from
.ne reservoirs Is much below existing de-
ply and a loss of pressure to such an es-
tent that many areas have had to ha
transferred TO the high service. with con-
.rn .'iueo expense for pumping. and large
suffering from an insufficient supply of
WAFER The reserve supply would be don
bied by the use OF the. reservoir near tn
,,uiarels ,maen a2me which. If Ike pit, filled by
iiies us OF a large channel, would materially
increase water pIessureS over all the grav
ity area and diminish present and increas-
ing expense Of purnping A board of eY
pei's APPOINTED bS the Secretary of War
mas recommended the completion of the
reservoir and the aqueduct tunnel as the
oest ana most ecotomical means to secure
a sut1icient supply of water for the CITY.
.asEinston. With its broad and smooth
streets ample parks and parkings and
great public buildings. requires an abun-
dance OF water, not alone for domestic use
ana business purposes. but for fountains
1.n,si sp,.uhilng' street flushing and such other
nluhlclpal purposes as cleanse and beautify
the city, render 1t comfortable and helm
project Its property from fire.
Street Lighting ana Inspection.
Proposals were received. after advert,so-
ment. for lighting the public lamns wit,
mineral Oil or naphtha, only. No nro-
posaS We're submitted for gas or electric
lighting. contract was made for nanb-
ina lightirg g at s2o.125 pei lamp per annum
lamps burning 5000 hours Der ann,m uitb
ati aio"ance OF ona-haif hour per night
ior nghtlng and extinguishing. These
ianlps were used In alleys and OUTLYING
districts. and numbered 1.06i at the clnse
Of the year 'Ne .io7e
Gas lighting was continued but not IN
uer contract The gas companies insisted
upon payment Of the ma ximum price 500 ~
per ramp per annum for the minimum
PERIOD. 5000 hours. as named in the an
preparation item. with an allowance or de-
ductlon from such period of one hour nor
night ior lighting and extinguishing. The
commissioners offered to make this one
fial1 hour but the offer was declined The
NUMBER OF gas lamps at the close of tho
year was 5,s75 'H7
-, "a contract was made with the Potomac
Eiectr1c Power Company for lighting with
So-candle power incandescent lamns and
~ were IN use at the close Of the wear
me electric arc lighting service was also
continued without contract The aver
age price paid was a little less than 3s
cents per lamp per night, the maximum
price named in the appropriation item
being 40 cents. Ten lamps were added
during the year, making total of 34S on
June 80, 1885, o 'A
Proposals were asked in June for lighting
the public lamps during the current wear
BIDS were received for naphtha lighting
and from the Potomac Electric Powsr
company Tor arc and incandescent electric
lighting. No bids were received for gas
lighting. e"'
The United States Electric Lighting Com
pany declined to submit proposals for con-
tinulng the existing arc lighting service
hltherto maintained by it, or for the pro-
poseo extensions thereof. and protested
against the receiving by the Commission
,, ers Oh any bids for electric arc lighting.
me company offered to maintain the ex-
nd All