Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-19
Capt, Gaillard's Report on the Wash
ington Aqueduct.
CONSUMPTION AND WASTE SET FORTH
Extravagant Use Adds to Expense
of Filtration.
RECOMMENDATIONS MADE

| Inc annual report of Capt. d. d. Gall
| lard. Corps of Engineers, relating to the
I maintenance and repair of the Washington
| aql educt and Increasing the water sup
| ply of Washington, d. c.. was made pub
| lie today. 1t gives complete history of
| the water supply of the District and con-
| tains several recommends lions for its i'm
| provement. Full details are given of OPP
| erations on the Washington aqueduct dur
| ing the past fiscal year, the substance of
| which has been already published in The
| Star. A table is given showing the ex-
IRENE fluctuations of the level of the water
| in the distributing reservoir during the
| year, from which it appears that the low
| est stage of the reservoir during the fiscal
| year was .23 feet higher than the lowest
sts ge during the preceding fiscal year and
| 3 GS feet higher than during the year 1880
| With the exception of the intensely cold
period from January 81 to February B.
| 1897 the water level in the reservoir at
| no time fell below 1I5.6 feet above datum.
| Improvement in the Level.
This marked Improvement in the normal
| level of the reservoir" Capt. Gallard says,
''arises from the following causes: First.
| raising the dam at Great Falls; second,
| removing deposits from the conduit, and
third, putting the Dalccarlia reservoir into
| service. From the spring of 1883 to Janu-
| ary 1880 this reservoir was out of service.
and sudden demand upon the compare
lively small supply stored in the distrib-
| uting reservoir affected its level much more
than at present, when 1t is connected with
the Dalecarlia reservoir. In addition, when
the latter reservoir was out OF service the
| water carried around II by means OF u
by-conduit, which for GG5 feet of its length
| has diameter of but eight feet and serves
| to throttle the flow materially. Since this
reservoir has been put in service no throt-
ting occurs and the flow is increased"
| Captain Gaillard also reports that the
entire cond lit and both by-conduitS We're
| thoroughly cleaned during the preceding
fiscal year for the first time since their
construction, and that S.9i6 cubic yards OF
| deposit had been removed therefrom To
| afford even a fairly efficient service, the
| entire north connection and the portion
| of the by-conduit adjacent to it must be
rebuilt says Captain Gaillard. and he sub
mits estimate for doing this work.
The Conduit Road.
year by year the travel on the Conduit
| road" Captain Gallard says. (which is
| the most beautiful driveway in the vicinity
of Washington, increases, and with it in
creases the amount of road metal necessary
| to keep the road in repair, until at the pres
ent time the cost for repairing this road
entails a most serious drain upon the very
| limited annual appropriation for the main
tenance of the Washington aqueduct and
its accessory structures, amounting during
the last two years for the surface repairs
of the road alone to more than II per cent
of the total annual appropriation for the
| Washington aqueduct during that period.
| Although the Conduit road is the property
| of the Washington aqueduct. ii is extern
| sivcly used public driveway that ii
| does not seem fair to charge the annually
| Increasing costs of maintaining it entirely
| against the appropriation for supplying the
| District of Columbia with water, thereby
| reducing
| other parts of the system. Although much
| appreciated in its present condition by the
| thousands of persons who use it, the condi-
| ton of the road would be greatly improved
| if fixed amount were appropria ted annual
| ly exclusively for supplying and spread
| ing ROAD metal upon the road; the repairs
| to culverts, bitches, bridges, etc, being
sential to the safety of the Washington
| aqueduct, to be paid, at present from
| the regular appropriation for the main
| tenance and repairs OF the Washington
| aqueduct. An estimate of the annual cost
| for supplying and spreading road metal
| upon the Conduit road between George
| town and the club house is accordingly sub
| mitted."
The Thirty-Inch Main.
| Capt. Gaillard says that the interior of
| the 30-inch main Is in such poor condition
that the velocity of flow through it must
| be greatly retarded by friction. During the
| construction of the large intercepting sew
| er, by means of a tunnel under the east
abutment of the NJ Street bridge over Rock
| creek, it was observed that the street
| above the tunnel was settling and with It
the 4S-inch main, one joint of which rested
| rigidly on the stone abutment of the bridge,
causing a slight leakage to develop in the
| joints Of the main. These were promptly
| cdlked, and to prevent trouble from pos
| sible future settlement, the main was sup
ported by two braced iron girders, resting
| upon concrete piers.
| All of the bridges are reported to be in
| excellent condition, with the exception of
| the wooden flooring of the roadway over
| the Pennsylvania Avenue bridge, and that
| Of the wooden bridge across the spillway
of the Dalccariia reservoir, both of which
are considerably worn and will soon re-
quire renewal. THE roadway of Pennsyl-
vania Avenue bridge. says the report,
| (which in the vicinity is $50 feet in clear
width, is contracted on the bridge to a
clear width of but Ii feet and as drivers are
| required 10 walk their teams while passing
| over the bridge. congestion of travel re-
suits during the busiest hours of the day,
causing delay and annoyance, as there is
not room for one team to pass another,
and consequently the speed of all teams on
the bridge moving in the same direction is
limited by that of the team in front Espe-
cially is this annoyance felt by the thou
sands of bicycle riders who daily pass over
the bridge, and who, unless experienced
riders, are frequently forced to dismount
and lead their bicycles over the bridge, the
rate of progress of the teams blocking the
roadway ahead being too slow to allow an
inexperienced rider to maintain equilib-
rum. In addition, the slightly appearance
of the avenue is much injured by the ex-
IRENE contraction at this point. This
| bridge. the property Of the Washington
squeduct, is very graceful in appearance,
ard is unique among the bridges of the
world. in that the roadway is supported
upon arched ribs, formed by two 4S-inch
cast iron pipes, through which flows at
least half Of the water consumed by the
city. 1t would seem, therefore, that any
plan to widen the bridge should preserve
both the graceful form and the distinctive
features of the bridge"
Consumption and Waste of Water.
Capt. Gaillard gives tables showing the
consumption and waste of water annually
from 1874 down to June 30, 1897. by the
police census of April 1, 1897" he says,
1.-THE population Of the District Of Column
bia was found to be 27T, 7S2. OF this num-
Der Capt. Edward Burr. Corps of En-
gineers, assistant in charge of the distri-
button system of the water department of
the District. estimates from data in his
possession that 261.47S persons are con-
sumers of Potomac water Assuming