The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-03-01
Council Informed as to the
Utility Of Mountain
Streams.
Numerous Sources Of Supply
Found by a Special
Committee.
ITS REPORT IS ADOPTED
CITY Officials Demonstrate Their indie
pendence of the Water
Monopoly.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

Special Dispatch to The Call.
LOS ANGELES. Feb. 2S.-The City
= Council to-day took a step which dem
.sonstrates its utter independence of the
i City Water Company should that cor
poration fail to comply strictly with It's
contract and turn its plant over to the
municipality for operation by the city
1 at the expiration of its contract on the
22d Of July next. 1t also demonstrates
the fact that the City Council is not
going to give the water company one
dollar above the figure fixed by the CITY
Engineer as the value of its improve
ments to the. plant. which figure was
$1,192. 600 THIS is one OF the direct re-
suits of the exposures made by me
Call of the unholy combination OF the
water company and the syndlcated
press of the city. The Councilman To-
day voted with the peOple-all save one
Councilman c. II. Toll. and the reason
he failed to record himself on the Sue
of the city was that while he approved
generally of the action taken, he dld
not a gree as to some details. council
man Tolls friends say he can be releu
upon to prevent any steal and he, NM
self. so declares.
The special committee on mountain
of the result of its investigation. Inc
report is interesting and comprehen-
sive It is in part as follows:
Your special committee, appointed on
January % Ito investigate WhetheI o'
not ii is feasible and practicable 10 con-
struct water system winch Will ptl!s
water into the city from a mountain
source in sufficient quantities TOT an 10
nestle purposes, and with Sulllclthl VI eS-
sure for fire purposes beg leave 10 re-
mort a follows.
some seven or eight companies and IN
tiividuals, having water rights IN Ine
mountains in this vicinity, have APP
peared before the committee with propo-
sitiOns for supplying the city with noun
tain water, and have MADE deldlIeo any Z
explicit statements ana eXplaH@t loIlS VI
their respective properties. The hoIdlnSS
OF some OF these appear to your commit
tee to be too remote from the city TO be
of practical utility to this city at the
present time, and the rights claimed py
TWO or three others seem to be already
disputed in the courts or SUBJECT 10 res
erVations of water already sold to own
ers of small tracts of land. Still others
seem to have very doubtful titles or
these reasons it appears TO your com
mittee that but three or four of the
propositions submitted to this commit
tee deserve serious consideration.
The first proposition that includes ar
adequate supply of good mountain water
is that concerning the right to 300 min
er's inches of the Piru and Alamos creeks
of Ventura County. The water OF these
at an elevation of about 5000 feet. The
distance from the city TO the place OF
diversion on Piru Creek is about fifty
seven miles. The San Fernando Noun
tains can be crossed at an elevation OF
about 100 feet, which would give the city
water enough at great pressure suffi
Cient for IRE purposes. About SIX miles
below the point of diversion on PtrJ
Greek is an excellent site for reservoir
Of about 1000 acres. About six miles be
low this reservoir site is another reser-
VOir site of about 500 acres. Owing &c
the contour Of the canyon in the vicinity
Of those two reservoir sites the dams fol-
storage of water at each place would be
but about 100 feet in length at an eleva-
ton of about 120 feet. AS the bedrock
is at or near the surface in each case
and as good granite for constructing
dams is within easy reach. the cost OF
those two dams would be comparatively
small, while the storage capacity Of the
two reservoirs so formed would be enor-
nous and far greater than sufficient fol
the needs of this city for many years tC
come. Apparently reliable estimates by
competent engineers place the cost OF
constructing the necessary dams and
building a conduit from the lower reser-
voir to Griffith Park sufficient to carry
perpetual flow Of 1900 inches of water al
81 10000 1t is also estimated that the
construction of a reservoir at Griffith
Park, extra siphons, right of way, etc
Will cost about $3.50 900. Allowing 10 pe1
cent extra for incidentals would make
the total cost of bringing the water from
Piru Creek TO this city, as above outlined
Connecting the Piru water supply with
the existing pipe lines of the city at their
estimated value of 81 ,190 900 would make
the total cost about SO 100 900 These flo
ures include the cost of all the water
rights. reservoir sites and other lands OF
the Colorado and California Mineral De-
Veloping Company, situated on Piru and
Alamos creeks.
TIE next proposition submitted is that
of the Lake Hemet Water Company
Although the distance from Lake Helmet
70 bp ~ iS dor he
Hemet dam is already constructed of solid
granite, and the water supply is very
large. The Lake Hemet dam was planned
TO be 160 feet in height, and if completed
TO that height the reservoir would have
a capacity of about 1900 900 900 gallons
1t is estimated that the cost of piping the
water of Lake Henet to this city, in
Guiding cost OF dam, reservoir site, con-
duiu, right Of way, manhoes and all other
appurtenances necessary to the proper
maintenance of such system, would be
about So. 100 900; length of conduit system
seventy-siX miles. The entire cost of such
system, in addition TO the present water
plant of the City yo Water wa Company, at the
estimate Of 81 1900 900, made by the City
Engineer, would be about 81 800, 900.
Owing to the short distance from this
city to the Big Tejunga drainage area
your committee has been able to make
a pretty thorough examination of that
territory. The Big Tejmga watershed
comprises an area of about 1874 square
miles, varying in elevation from 1000 to
5000 feet above sea level The water is of
true mountain source. Storage reservoirs
placed within that watershed would be
filled during the winter months with
water from melted snow, and during the
remainder of the year from springs or
rain precipitation. Sufficient water is OBJ
tainable to fill all the reservoirs the city
might need. Including the acquisition of
the present water plant at the Engineer j
estimate of 81 800 900, the total estimate
cost of the Big Tejunga mountain supply
and the water plant OF the City Water
Company should be about s., 236, $40
While ii Is true that the use Of one or
two of the sources herein mentioned
would involve the use of conduit sys-
TEN for many miles. ii is easily shown by
engineering reports that many other
American cities use water conduts Of
equal or greater length than those herein
mentioned or proposed and that most of
those cities are compelled TO use great
precautions to secure their conduit lines
from destruction by severe freezing,