The record-union., 1899-07-15
Weather Forecast.
SUGGESTION FOR A WATER
TRIAL TEST.

A citizen who has large interests at
stake in Sacramento and has spent the
best years of his life here has made
the water question close study Tor
twenty-three years. He asks us why
the advisory committee. on the water
question should not recommend prac-
tical trial of the east side subterra-
mean supply. Thus, he says, we Will
dispose of the theory and substitute
fact, and what we want is the truth
He adds that the old Improvement AS
ISOLATION some years ago gave the
east side wells a rather extended trial
for several weeks and that there was
no diminution in the flow.
His suggestion is that section OF
the city on the east side should be set
apart, say ten blocks, the gates of the
water mains be closed from the west
side against that section, and a tenn
porary plant established over some OF
the present or new wells, and the
two months, and that too in the midst
of the dry season. Such a test would,
he estimates, cost say $4,000 or So
600. but it would be worth it. If it
to the people If it failed it would be
a cheap demonstration and settlement,
and hence worth the cost, while the
machinery rented or purchased would
be still worth as much as at the be-
ginning.
There is reason in the suggestion.
Whether the cost estimated is correct
or not cuts very small figure. in the
matter. The thing desired is a trial.
a working trial of the east side sup
ply. Some two hundred families have
used it for domestic and irrigating
purposes for thirty-five years, and in
all that time it has shown no diminu-
ton, nor have the users had any rea-
son to object to the quality. A trial
promise.
Some years ago the city of Memphis
was in a dreadful strait over it's water
supply system. 1t was SO bad that the
city became a plague spot. One man
on the border of the city for his own
use sunk a driven we'll and secured
pure, clear, potable water. His neigh
bors begged to be supplied and soon
the demand for the water exceeded
his ability to attend to the demand
He then asked and received leave to
comers in given section. The result
was that the city followed his example
and drove wells in sufficient number,
and to-day no city in the land has
more abundant or better water than
Memphis. and the sanitary and health
conditions of the community have
risen to high rank.
But we do not need to go to Mem
phis for examples. We have them
right at hand. Stockton, Marysville
and Chico are all witnesses in favor
of a subterranean source of supply
The deep driven wells inside the city
sunk in search of natural gas show
that the pipe passes repeatedly through
great layers of impervious clay and
other protecting strata, and that alb
solutely there can be and is no surface
contact with the deep-lying water
sources.
The Record Union" has said that it
wants only the truth in all this mat
ter; but it points out to the committee
that the truth oft has to be searched
for In this case it's demonstration is
possible only by trial on a considera-
bic scale. The suggestion of the citf-
zen who addresses us is in line with
that expression. He voices the sentf-
ment and desire of a majority of the
people in demanding a trial test. and
IL is a reasonable and practical de-
mand. The committee should as this
Journal has repeatedly said, investigate
all plans and suggestions for water
supply which present But no investi-
-
BILE on scale that will demonstrate
to all the people it's value or it's worth
lessness except it is a working test.
We have the working test as to the
river supply. We know precisely what
the cost, quantity and quality is. We
know, or can know approximately,
what it costs to filter the river water
mechanically and chemically, and that
filter plant can be constructed suffi-
ciently large to give US water in plenty
is conceded. We know that water in
plenty can be piped from river sources
from up-river and headwater regions,
and that the water is of a certain ana
we'll known quality. We know that
the water from that source can be
Uttered by sand-bed filtration at the
source and it will not be difficult to
ascertain approximately what the cost
per million gallons will be for such
water delivered in the city mains at
q given pressure.
The one thing remaining to be prac-
tically tested on fair scale is the
east side supply. BY individuals it
has been tested; by the city it has
not. Scores of individuals who have
tested it as to quality and
quantity for years are con-
vinced that 1t is all that is desired,
and that 1t 10 to be had in quantity