The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-25
NO LACK OF ARTEs1AN WATER
The Water Works supply as Great as
When the Wells Were Sunk.

Mr.. T. T. johnson of Chicago, who has
been conducting an examination of the
wells at the water works for the last two
weeks, for the purpose of ascertaining the
cause of the decreased flow and the proper
remedy to be applied, left for his home
in Chicago last night, where he will re-
sumo his work as assistant chief engineer
of the Chicago drainage canal
Mr.. Johnson has made a report of the
result of his work to Chairman James w.
Dixon of the water commission. Mr..
Dixon will lay the report before the COM
mission this afternoon.
Mr.. Johnson, when seen yesterday by
a Morning News reporter, gave a brief
summary of his experiments with the
wells and the remedies which he believes
should be applied.
The experiments with the fire engines
used to flush the wells for the purpose of
forcing the water back through the un-
foreground openings in the rock" said Mr..
Johnston, 'proved conclusively that the
decreased fiow was due to stoppage of
these underground passages and not to
any lowering of the water plane in the
vicinity of Savannah. The first well
flushed with one of the fire engines showed
an immediate increase of $4,000 gallons
per day. The next well was flushed with
creased fow from that well of 10000 gall
Ions daily. In flushing the third well we
used two fire engines, and secured an
increased flow of 250, 900 gallons per day
This established the theory upon which
was working that the wells were CHOKE ed
at the bottom by rock and other debris
which needed to be forced out of the way,
in order to afford free, unrestricted ac-
cess to the wells from below. AS you
stated yesterday, 1 shall recommend that
forcing pipe be laid along the entire
length of the conduit with connections
and water gates at each we'll This will
enable the superintendent to flush any
well from the works at any time at the
small cost of the extra coal consumed dur
ing the process. 1t will be necessary to
flush the wells at least once a year, in
order to keep them clear and consequent
ly the forcing pipe is a necessary adjunct
of the system. 1t can be installed at a
cost of about $4,000. 1 am of the opinion
that it will result in restoring the wells
to practically theirs former flow, which
will give sufficient supply for all ordin-
airy purposes"
Mr.. Johnston has a very satisfactory
proof that the water plane in the vicin-
ity of Savannah has not fallen since the
new works were established In looking
over his notes made at the time he was
engaged in locating the site for the new
had shut off all the wells at the old works
and turned on river water entirely, pre-
lmlnary to making a test of the hight
10 which the water would rise. On the
test the water rose to a hight of twenty
three feet above mean low water level.
Mr.. Johnston at once determined to make
another test of the old wells for the pur-
pose OF ascertaining whether the digging
OF the new wells had lowered the water
plane. The test, which was made day or
two ago, showed that the water at the
OLD wells rose to hight of p feet II
inches above the level of mean low water,
thus demonstrating that there had been
practically no change in the level of the
water plane at Savannah and that all
fears on this score are groundless.
mir. Johnston makes several recommen-
dations as to further increasing the wa
ter supply at the works to 100000 gallons
daily and above. 1t will probably not be
necessary for him to return to Savannah,
as his directions can be carried out by the
superintendent