Evening star., 1899-02-10
Statement Made Today by District
Commissioner Beach.
SIX BARRELS IN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS
The Disregard of Regulations Re-
garded as Criminal.
POINTING OUT A REMEDY

| l. ne statement was InduS ucudy ny zap
| tain Beach, the District Engineer Commits
! sioner, that a quantity of water is being
daily wasted at the present time sufficient
! to supply each inhabitant of the District
with six barrels of water every twentyfour
hours The waste of Potomac water, re-
| marked Captain Beach, is simply criminal
| the consequence being that complaints are
| being continually received from citizens
relative to inability to obtain a sufficient
| flow of water in their houses
| Captain Beach so expressed himself at
conference today between the Commits
sioners and Messrs. r. Ross Perry and Job
Barnard. Mr.. Perry resides on p street be-
| tween 18th and 14th streets, and Mr.. Bar
nard on Rhode Island avenue between 18th
| and 14th. They called upon the Commits
sioners for the purpose of asking some re-
| lief in the matter of insufficient supply of
water to their houses, each stating that 1t
| is utterly impossible to obtain water on the
| third floors. Captain Beach informed them
however, that short extension of the
| pumping service, which will be made as
soon as the weather permits, will remove
the cause of complaint, but the captain ex-
| piained that this extension will be the last
| it will be possible to make.
The present conditions will undoubtedly
grow worse, said Captain Beach, until
| the Howard University aqueduct is COM
plSleu ana the tunnel connecting II is nm
lShed, when, 1t is believed, all cause of COM
piaint will have been removed. The daily
waste Of Potomac water in the District is
simply criminal, especially at this time of
the year, due to a very large extent to peo-
pie allowing the water to run to prevent the
freezing of the pipes. The only remedy
seems to be c.OSe inspection of houses and
| the establishment of wa,er meters To
snow you how much water can be wasted,
1t is known that stream no larger than an
ordinary-sized darning needle running for
twenty-four hours permits an amount of
water to run to waste more than sufficient
to supply family of six for day"
Superintendents Report.
Subsequently Captain Beach had present.
| ed to him the following report from Su-
perintendent Mcfarland of the District wa
ter DEPARTMENT.:
In view of the unusual number of COM
plants of lack Of water pressure in diff
ferent parts of the city which have been
received during the past few weeks / re-
specfully submit the following statement
OF condlt1ons of water supply at the pres
ent time:
The complaints are almost without ex
ception well founded, the conditions in many
cases being well nigh intolerable
unfortunately In the majority of cases
TINS department is wholly unable to af-
ford relief
AT the present time all Potomac water
coming into the city is supplied from the
N''ti t'uNhS ItStINoT west OF GEORGETOWN.
Inc elevation of the water surface in
TINS reservoir is about 146 feet above tide
IeVe!, while the ground level at the highest
points supplied by gravity is about % feet
on capitol HIN and 100 feet at 18th and
streets northwest Thus even if there were
no loss of pressure at all between the reser-
Foir and these points, the water would rise
only 81 feet and i6 feet above the street
leve'.
But, unfortunately, there is a very great
loss OF pressure due TO friction in the long
supply mains, and this loss of pressure
increases very rapidly with the rate at
which water is used. Thus under evan
normal conditions, there is a loss of 70
ieet IN the height to which water will rise
Dy the time 1t has reached the vicinity of
ROCK creek, while near Iowa Circle and on
Capltol Hill the loss of head is as much
as 70 feet. This is under ordinary condf-
tions; but when a greatly increased de-
manu- md, OCCURS, as II always does during very
cola or very hot weather, there is a sudden
drop in water levels, which causes nuoh
distress in the higher parts of the city wa
Ter sometimes failing to reach fixtures
Whlch are not more than - feet above the
street level.
IHsufliciency of SnpIy Mains
"As this condition IS brought about by
the inability of the supply mains to bring
to the city the quantity demanded, and as
both the number of water users and the
average quantity supplied per inhabitant are
increasing from year to year, it IS evident
that even a worse state of affairs may be
expected during the nsXt two or three
years than exists at present. There are
but two remedies possible: either to in
crease the supply or to decrease the de-
manG.
The former cannot be lone prior to the
completion of the new Washington aque-
duct extension, work on which is now in
progress.
In considering the possibility of decreas-
fry t1,n n f1ll,
significant: During the last fiscal year end
ing June 30, 1898, the average number of
gallons pumped daily at the L street sta
ton was 100000; practically this whole
amount goes to private consumers, and
there ara no large government buildings
on the system; total number Of people
served about 30,G00, or an average of l6D
gallons per capita per day, or about 500 gal
Ions to each family served. j think 1t will
be readily admitted that this rate is ex-
cessive.
The mean daily flow to the whole Dis
trict was 47,2S9,000 gallons; estimated popu-
lation supplied with Potomac water o6i-
3U2; corresponding per capita rate It's gal
Ions per day. This is the average supply;
for short periods during extremely cold
weather it is largely increased
LAS an increase in flow of 20 per cent
will increase the frictional resistance in
| the mains by at least 80 per cent, the sud
den decrease in water pressures at such
times is easily understood.
Results of Tests
"The results of a large number of exam
nations, tests and inspections indicate
clearly that an average at least one
half of the water supply to private con-
sumers is allowed to flow into the sewers
without serving any useful purpose what
ever and that a very large portion of this
waste is due to defective plumbing and
water fixtures. A steadily flowing stream
the size of a lead pencil Will waste 200 gall
Ions per day.
IN actual cases record in this office
a rigid inspection of and compulsory re-
pairs to water fixtures have resulted in
decreasing the per capita rate from more
than 300 gallons to 20 gallons per day
There are but two methods available for
checking this waste-a general introduction
of meters or a rigid house-to- house inspec-
tion of fixtures and a prompt cutting off
of the water supply from such premises as
persistently violate the water department
regulations.
THE introduction of meters has been
urged by this department from year to
year, tut Congress has declined to grant
the necessary authority.
"A systematic ouse-to-house inspection