The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-03-11

of the purity of your then proposed wa
ter supply, and in their report they most
urgently recommended the incorporation
into the terms of your contract with the
Water Company of certain provisos, as
conditions precedent to your signing
that instrument. These provisions were
as follows:
Provided, /. There are no impound-
ing reservoirs upon the stream, or upon
any OF its tributaries, so that the water
supply may be taken from the daily
dow of the stream.
Provided, >. That such an arrange
ment be made as to prevent, as far as
possible, the pumping INTO the mains
of storm water, even if filtered.
Provided 3. That the water be so
thoroughly filtered as to remove any
excess of albuminoid ammonia, and, if
any chemical method be employed, that
not more than one grain to the gallon
Of the substance used be permitted to
pass into the filtered water
provided, 4. That none but filtered
water, taken from above the Asylum
sewer be allowed. under any circum-
stances. TO be pumped into the main.
Provided, D. That the source of pol
dam at Yates mill be removed.
provided, 6. That there shall be a
constant service under high pressure"
We note that none of these important
provisos have b,en Incorporated in the
city's contract with the Water Com
pany. We are not, at present, prepared
to state to what extent the Water Com
pany has voluntarily followed these
suggestions, but Yates mill dam still
stands, constituting the greatest menace
to the purity of our water supply. and
tAe Water Company has today the un-
INSTRUCTED power to use its intake pipe
throughout the most violent storms,
from beginning to end.
The short, cultivated and thicklyset-
tied watershed at Cary is also an ever
present source of peril, for all its storm
waters bring to our city pipes whatever
lurking dangers may lie upon its STIR
face. Let but single case of typhoid
fever. whose objections are not proper
ly disinfected. occur at Oary, and be
attended or followed by heavy snow or
rainfall, and you will have deal condi-
tons for the production of an epidemic
of typhoid here in Raleigh.
1T is our profound conviction that a
most urgent need, and one which de-
mands your careful consideration, is
the thorough and constant policing of
the watershed, and particularly in the
neighborhood of Cary and other set
tied portions thereof.
In our Judgment, it would be wise to
take the opinion of a competent engi-
neer as to the feasibility and the proba-
BILE cost cf diverting the rainfall from
our wat rshed into Crabtree creek,
from some point below and near to Cary
for the purpose of eliminating all pos
sible danger of contamination occurring
there-and we recommend that you Sc
riouSly consider tile wisdom of this in
quiry.
In explanation of the incompleteness
Of this report-which does not include
the result of the ARCHAEOLOGICAL exam
nations Ito be made MS soon as posi-
ble)--we desire to say. in simple JUS
tiog to the Water Company, and to the
"ity as well, that We have felt it our
duty to make no unnecessary delay in
submitting to your honorable body our
recommendations ii regard to altering
The course Of the Water Company's
supply pipe in the vicinity of the Ehos-
phate mills.
Respectfully submitted.
H. w. KNOX. NJ. D..
RICHARD II. LEWIS. NJ. d.,
Ill. ~ ROYSTER, NJ. d.,
A Committee.
COL. SHAFTER'S REPORT.
To Doctors Knox, Lewis and Royster,
COMMITTEES:
Gentlemen herewith submit a rough
sketch, without measurement, survey
or levels, showing the present location
Of the supply pipes of the Raleigh Wa
ter Company, in the vicinity of the phos-
phatla and fertilizer works ON Walnut
creek, between the intake and the
pump house.
You will observe that the terra Gotta
pipe passes through the grounds and
Immediately under the factory and acid
ciStSTns and is surrounded and cover
ed by many hundreds Of tons of the
refuse iron pyrites used in the manu-
facture of fertilizers and charged with
sulphuric acid
The conductor pipe as it now lies in
place, is shown by the double parallel
line running diagonally across the sketch
from northwest to southeast. The Wa
ter 00lltdHy pTDpOSe " dNoIu lutulS
contact with the factory and contamina-
ton from sulphuric acid by the aban-
donment of the pipe line from to )
on the sketch, and constructing a new
pipe line from l south to 2 on the south
bank of Walnut creek, thence along the
south bank east to 3, where it will re-
enter the old or present pipe line.
Our inspection was necessarily. hasty
and superficial, without any maps, sur
veys or levels, but considering the sur
|roundings. the proposed change inn
pressed me more as a makeshift than
cure of the evil complained of. 1t
changes the. direction nearly at right
angles from high, safe ground. south
ward into the swamp, across the creek,
thence by another right angle eastward
beside the stream to the point of re-
entry at the original intake at Station
8. 1t is subject to infiltration and sat
uration with swamp water in case of
leak, and ito all the force of a rapid
stream at the crossing-as well as a
washout the entire distance from to
in time of floods.
For the time being | regard the pro-
posed change as rendering the pipes and
water safe from contamination from
sulphlric acid; but it is still on the
watershed of the deposit and below it,
though largely on the deposit side of the