The San Francisco call., 1898-01-17

familiarized himself with the various present with such means at hand. It is safe to assert that there is not in the United States at present another water works system which tries to | accomplish so much as the Los An geles water works system with such a | vast number of pipes of such vastly | disproportionate sizes.
 The books of the water company show l a total of 17,61S taps, of sizes from half an inch to six inches. Out of total of 3064 gates there are 2379-or 1i per cent-of two-inch and three-inch brass stopcocks. There are no valve
 boxes in use. There are 377 meters,
 ranging from three-eighths of an inch l to three inches in diameter. There are
 at present 535 hydrants, of which S39 l were found to be in good condition,
 while 196 were in bad order Some of these were found to be of no service 1 whatever. The indiscriminate use of
 the hydrants for street sprinkling pur- poses accounts for the large number of hydrants out of order. The require
 ments for a complete hydrant system
 for the city of Los Angeles are not less than 1900, against the present 535.
 The efficiency of the present distri-
 button system is forcibly illustrated by
 the fact that in all cases where two
 and three inch mains supply the needs
 for any section of the city the pres
 sure at the house taps is visibly dimin-
 ished and entirely cut off whenever
 more than a limited number of such
 taps are open at the same time. A re- ! al of
 for fire-extinguishing purposes Is en- tirely precluded in such places.
 The reservoir system is of the mani fold kind. There are seven reservoirs
 listed by the water company, of which
 but four are available. The rest were
 discarded years ago, and indicate their former usefulness by some remains, earthen walls, concrete debris. etc. The l storage capacity of these four reser- voirs is fifty-four and a half million gallons when full, but only the Buena Vista and Beaudry reservoirs carry a a full supply of eighteen and three-quar- e ter million gallons. The new Bellevue r reservoir of thirty-five and quarter t million gallons capacity is usually car U rying but one-third of its capacity, and :. has never been subjected to a continu-
 
 n capacity sufficiently long to demon- c strate its worth The High Service = reservoir is of simple earthwork con- ', struction, is leaky and in bad order. s Moreover, part of the grounds is not t owned by the water company, but is 5, leased.
 The three power stations for elevat- = ing the water from the low level to the = high level reservoir are scattered about e the city, and are provided with a very e inferior class of boilers, engines and - pumps. The East Side springs station consists of a Worthington steam pumI e of about 225 gallons capacity per min e ute, and a 40-horsepower stationary
 boiler. The boiler is in good condition oI but the pump is badly in need of re S pairs. The station is not used at pres if ent, and the machinery is partly dis to mantled.
 ID The Beaudry pump station contains T. two 6O-horsepower boilers, one ofwhicl 'ii is in good condition; also one duple1 as Worthington steam pump of one mil IS lion gallons capacity per twenty-fou e hours. The pump is in fairly gooc s shape. There are also a number of dis , mantled pumps out of use, fit only fo 1n the scrap pile. The buildings ar ,n wretched, tumbled-down wood shan CT ties. The main station of the Buen; C. Vista reservoir is well housed in a con
 crete and brick building, the machin e ,,o cry therein, as a whole, is serviceable Sc but too small to answer any increase IT, demand. It is being worked now to it ns full capacity. It consists of two 60 In horsepower boilers, one compound du ~ plex Worthington steam pump, bough he secondhand from Nashville, Tenn
 still serviceable, and one duplex powe
 force pump of two and one-third mi
 lion gallons displacement in twenty
 four hours. This pump needs repair
 and general overhauling. There Is on ~ five-foot Pelton wheel with rope trans A mission to the power station. Tn O wheel is we'll housed and in good COT
 dition. A 14x30 single expansion Col
 liss engine completes the machineT
 at this station. This engine has bee out of commission since heinstallatio ,n- of the Pelton wheel, is of an old pa
 tern and of no particular value in COT ole nection with an improved form of sul of stantial water-works machinery. ew Collectively speaking, the entire di he tribution system shows a want an unity. Single features have be, ms added excessively. never with any T nic gard as to pre-arranged plan, b to evidently as a makeshift, serving | me best it can during the time being.
 to The main source of supply is draw eat from what is termed Crystal Springs led distant about five miles from f nd Buena Vista street reservoir and co the nected thereto by means of a condl