The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1900-12-19

ST. Louis. December Is. 1870.
Pursuant to call of the President the
Board met at ll:t5 o'clock a. m, all the
commissioners having waived notice.
freSent-commissiOners Narrelmann. FlaG.
rma Ridgely and Alt ard President
| McAIath.
Absent (Sick,- r. $. Foster.
The Committee on Water Department sub
United the following report:
st. Louis. December II. 1870.
Honorable Board of Public improvements:
| Gentlemen-Your committee. on Water
Department submit the following report up
on the proposition of Mr.. q. = VI. Pratt.
dated August 81. 1880. for furnishing u sup
ply of water for the City of St. Louis from
the Meramec Spring and the h~eadwaters OF
me Meramec River: by gravity int the dis
million gallons which he states shall not
he To exceed the present cost plus the reas-
enable cost of filtration lCf mississippi
River water, with the condition that the
city must agree to take and pay for "A
minimum daily supply or seventy million
its water from the contractor up TO the
limit Of said works"
In the consideration Of the Meramec
Spring and River as a source of water sup
ply for the city of 81. Louis. the questions
Of first Importance are:
/. Quantity of supply with reference both
10 present and future needs.
2 Quality OF water. and a comparison
with the quality OF water to be obtained
from the Mississippi River.
3. Cost OF constructing. operating ana
maintaining the works and extensions az
such become necessary. compared with the
cost of "A suitable supply from the present
source.
As secondary considerations we may men,
tion.
l. Municipal ownership. as contrasted
with ownership in whole or IN part ny Il
2 Difhcuity Of providing against possible
interruption Of the supply due to accidents
or 10 overt acts of evil-minded persons.
In answer to a written request for copies
of maps. plans. profles. reports etc.. we
received certain documents ana pans. an OF
i dent s.. EH hH." a.; y" and X"
Your committee gave AIR; Pratt n.n,a ano nh, ms
merits of the proposition AT a hearing heid
November 20. 1890. A stenographic report OF
the meeting il hereto attached marked
Your committee visited the spring. col
lected samples of water from the spring
and from the Meramec River above the site
of the proposed dam, and also made an ex-
animation of the proposed site OF the DIS
tribution reservoir and Of part OF the pip
and conduit line.
So far as we can learn. there have been
no accurate gauginss OF the now OF the
Meramec spring. but the estimates OF !hs
flow as given in the documents submitted
to US place the minimum flow at seventy
five million C5.eoO."V) gallons per day Inc
works are designed for a capacity Oh one
hundred million gallons per day from the
intake TO the distributing reservoir. from
mis- noin, 10 the city the capacity OF the
pipe line will necessarily be largely IN
creased.
We assume that the capacity OF the works
as proposed would be sufficient until the
average consumption for the month OF max,
imum consumption reaches one hunureu
million gallons per day, which we estimate
will obtain when the annual average con-
sumption reaches eishty-ssven million gal
Ions per day.
The maximum daily consumption has al
ready reached ninety-two million gallons.
During the month of August. 1861. the av-
erage daily 'cons1mpnon was eash,S ,"e
the consumption for the maximum montn
will be about one hundred million gallons
per day. 1870
cannot be depended upon to furnish a sup
rly OF water sufficient for the present needs
of the city. Therefore. even at tne outsIt;
have to be supplemented by a supply from
the drainage area Of the Meramec River;
To supplement the supply from the spring
Mr.. Pratt proposes to place a dam across
the valley OF the Meramec and utilize the
d~ry-weather flow OF the Meramec. coming
from an area which IS estima.ed as 'f6es
the spring and dry-weather flow from this
drainage area combined would furnish the
s sa1,ons psr day. yapP Zee .. es Ghs ao "G"S. m'''''n
II the Merameo is to be considered as
the source from which all future water
the propostion OF Mr.. Pratt or otherwise. it
is necessary to look beyond the present
wants of the city. We have already shown
our present needs. and that the estimated
joint volume Of the spring and dry weather
flow of the upper Meramec, one hundred
and five million gallons daily. will not suf,
flee for anticipated demands much beyond
1898.
The statement was made to your commit
tee that by resorting to storage reservoirs
and impounding the surface waters. a con-
slant supply could be obtained of five hun
bred Thousand gallons daily per square mile
Of drainage area. or approximately one hun
bred and fifty million gallons daily from the
three hundred square miles. which. with the
flow Of seven'y-five million gallons from the
spring gives an ultimate aggregate of two
d hahT' tsee a Exhibits "E: and Ky. The prop.
osition names one hundred million gallons
and virtually limits the immediately avail
able supply to ore hundred and five million
gallons.
Of the city will require this full quantity.
To obtain an additional supply 1t would be
necessary to duplicate the entire line of
conduits tunnels and pipes. and to construct
storage and impoundivg reservoirs.
II this necessity can be foreseen az likely
to arise 50 soon. 1t would not be wise to
entertain the present proposition.
In connection with the suggestion Of re-
sorting to storage reservoirs. the question
arises whether the soil and rock formation
in the area are favorable.
There IL n strong presumI ton that nature
has already taken much wate~ into ne:
storage and is discharging the stored wa
ters through the MerameC AMI other very
large springs which characterize the Mera-
waters must come from this watershed
are situated below the proposed intake res
e-vcir.
Topographioally the M-ramnc Spring Is
located In the watershed of the Upper Nora
ar,ec. n nigh and continuous r.1se inter
venes bets zen the spring and the valley of
the Dry Fork ills creates u pTcsrmptiun
that ;he srring Is the outlet from NATURES
storage reservoir Ot vaIers which FALL on
the Meramec basin
n the Merom.c Spring Is fed from the
watershed of the Meramec River. then the
Gov of the spring cannot properly be added
10 MIR Herschers estimated yield of five
hundred thousand gallons per square mile.
bined available 40 " 4 the spring and river.
with storage. beconns one hundred and fifty
million SALONS per day. in place Of two
hundred and twenty-five million gallons per
dav' as by Mr.. Herschel.
The latter astima re would be correct, pro-
yided the spring is fed from some oiher
drainage area.
No information is at hand which would
us to determine from what drainage
area the spring reeves Us water.
QUALITY OF WATER.
SAMPLES of water collected by your COM
pni,tee were submitted TO chemical and bac- !
terial analyses. (See exhibits Il" and
Tbe chemical analyses Of both the spring
and river water inhicate 4 good. POTABLE.
wafer. hut he bi:rer.al analyses Of the
samples colleccei Oh September %. 1905,