The San Francisco call., 1898-01-17

rights anG rights of way, etc, will be considered, and lhe prices set opposite the different items are, in' the opinion of the writer, not only adequate, but like material can be bought to day in open market for less money if purchas- ed in large quantities.
 The ob.ect and aim being to arrive at q fair valuation, giving at all events, the benefit of the doubt to the present water works.
 The investigation was made by rig idly inspecting every one of the fea- lures of the system.
 Three hundred and eighteen pipes at different localities were uneartheds tested and their condition noted, in or der to arrive at a fair understanding of the general nature of the pipe ys- tenn The sizes and conditions of the pipes were ascertained, depths and widths of excavations measured; com parison was made with the record of the pipe system as submitted by the company; errors of sizes, etc, were thereby corrected and the first star ting discrepancy between facts and hg- ures was shown to be that instead of 1,S70,931 feet of pipe system as listed by the company but 16S2,2S9 feet, or a difference of over 8 miles or pipes was found. It appears that the com pany has carried on it's record all abandoned lines, and submitted same as part of their system.
 l The condition of the existing pipe lines was scrutinized, and investigation showed that out of IA pipes Of two and three inch dimension, AZ are good, 67 in poor condition. Out of 159 cast iron pipe of various sizes, 145 are good and s are pocr; out of 51 sheet iron pipe of various sizes, 29 are good, Z2 are poor
 It was further found that there are at present within the city limits ht- 1 tie over 23 miles of pipes, which are | paralleled by others of larger dlmen- sions. This latter fact shows that such | 23 miles of pipes of insufficient sizes had to be augmented by parallel pipe lines. The combined capacity of both are found to be hardly sufficient for present requirements.
 The pipe system was found to con- sist of 1O3 miles of cast iron pipes, euualing g per cent of the whole sys- tenn: of 1S9 miles, or 60 per cent, of wrought iron; of 3.75 miles, or 1 per cent of cement lined pipe; of 21 miles, e~ SIS miles of pipe, good, bad and indif- ferent.
 The conditions of the pipes were found to be as follows: All cast iron pipes, with the exception of those suf- fering from the effects of electrolysis. were found to be good and serviceable. | All wrought iron pipes, except the new | lv laid, were found to be covered with rust and deteriorating rapidly. All sheet iron pipes, except such as were laid in deep trenches and favored by local conditions of the sOil were badly
 deteriorated, and some utterly spoiled
 by rust. The cement lined pipes were
 absolutely worthless. Sooner or later,
 within the next five or ten years, every
 one of the pipes, except the cast iron pipes, will have to be replaced by cast iron mains.
 The sizes of the mains, as found in connection with this system, furnish a remarkable illustration of what can be done with inadequate means, by the use of good judgment and careful ad- , ministration by the one party and in- , dulgence by the other
 Out of a total of 1 626, ,490 feet of avail , able pipes, there are at present in use:
 Of 2-inch pipe, 55 per cent; of 3-inch pipe 5 per cent; of finch pipe, 19 ,
 per cent; of 5-inch pipe, 5 per cent; of 6-inch pipe, 6.5 per cent; of 7-inch pipe,
 I per cent; of 8-inch pipe, 4.5 per cent;
 of 10-inch pipe, l. 5 per cent; of 11-inch pipe, 1 per cent; of 12-inch pipe, 2 per
 cent; of 14-inch pipe, 8 per cent; of 16- inch pipe, 5 per cent; of 18-inch pipe, 6 per cent; of 20-inch pipe, I per cent; of 22-inch pipe, 1 per cent; of 24-inch
 pipe, 5 per cent; of 30-inch pipe, 6 per
 cent; of 44-inch pipe, Il per cent.
 The preponderance of Finch, 3-inch
 and finch pipes (79 per cenO over the
 medium and larger sized pipes becomes
 the more apparent when it is consid-
 cred that a 6-inch main is necessary in order to furnish the required maxi
 mum volume of water for domestic and fre-extinguishing purposes. At present
 there are no hydrants available except
 where connected with finch or larger
 mains, thereby depriving all such sec
 tions of the city where the smaller sizes of pipe predominate.
 The propected city water works sys- tenn calls for 300 miles of 6-inch mains.
 The present system contains less than
 twenty miles of such pipes. The depth
 to which mains are laid is inadeuuate,
 the average depth of 2-inch and 3-inch
 pipes being found to be from twelve
 inches to eighteen inches below street
 grade, larger mains gradually increas-
 ing to an ge depth of four feet,
 thus necessitating expensive altera-
 tions whenever a change of street
 Continued on Fourth Page.