Evening star., 1898-02-25
| LOCATING THE WASTE.
A Device to IdestHsKhs Extravagant Users
of lhtwac Water. !.
Preliminary neysrt shows Small Per
centage Ola houses to Which
WastezEan Be Traced.

One of the most. interesting contributions
to the literaturey on the subject of the 10
cal waste of wateriby domestic consumers
Is report recently submitted to Capt.
Burr. assistant engineer commissioner. by
Mr.. w. A. Mcfarland, superintendent Of
the water department. This report, which
was transmitted to Capt. Black, the En-
gineer Commissioner by Capt. Burr, deals
with certain experiments that have re-
Gently been undertaken with a certain form
OF water meter for the purpose Of deter
mining its usefulness in locating the most
wasteful users of the Potomac water. The
report Is as follows:
Il have the honor to submit the follow
ing preliminary report of results obtained
by the use of the Deacon waste water
meter. l wish to say In advance, how
ever, that the work is still in the early
part of the experimental stage, and the
results very fragMentary and incomplete.
The Deacon is a recording differential
meter as distinguished from the ordinary
1ntegratiEg meter, the graphical record
showing the actual rate of flow through
main expressed in gallons per hoSr. This
record is made on shoot attached to a
vertical drum six inches in diameter, made
TO revoive by mems of clockwork once in
tWenty-four hours; the horizontal distances
tEen represent time and the vertical rates
of flow.
The method of using Is as follows: The
supply OF water to Il certain district hav-
ing been so controlled as to flow throush h
single main. a Deacon meter is placed on
this main. The antographic meter record
then shows the rate of supply to this
Whole district at any time during the
twenty-four hours required for one revolu-
ticn of the drum.
Having thus esta tablished the normal rate
or supply to the district under considera-
ton. the rate between the hours Of l and
am, If the district be residential one
a n a ct ant
rate of waste from any causes whatever
This necessarily follows from the fact that
there is practically no legitimate use of
water for domestic purposes during these
hours.
LOcalising the Waste.
ITO still further localize this waste the
short street sections of the meter district
Casually one block in lengthy are wholly
cut off from the source Of supply, one
after another, between 1 and 4 o'clock
a M, when the drop in the meter dia-
gram corresponding in time with that at
the moment when any street section is
cut off measures the total waste in that
section. Finally. the supply to any street
section having been readnMtted the house
service pipes are cut off, one by one, and
we get 4 measure of the waste actually
taking place in the individual houses: the
difference between the sum total of these
wastes Gn houses) and the total for the
street section gives US a measure Of the
waste TO be charged against leaky mains
and services between the mains and the
curb.
THE first district investigated was one
in Georgetown, bounded by Z street, 2Sth
U and by diagonal line from gid and u
to 10Th and 2 streets: Total population,
SS7; total number of houses, JAG: mean
rate Of supply between 1 and am jan
uary 21, 3.T20 gallons per hour, or 50 $50
per diem; mean apparent waste per capita
per diem. 10G; total supply in twenty four
hours, $50; total supply per capita per
diem, 1T.
Subdivisions.
THE district was then subdivided into
thirteen sections, with results as follows
Waste