The Wilmington daily Republican., 1901-09-27
WATER BOARD
BUYS GROUND

That the Water Department is TO build
a large reservoir on the north side of the
Brandywine is now assured. AT II spec
ial meeting Of the Water Commissioners
yesterday afternoon an agreement was
made with .nomas Y. Wcdiu and wife
for the purchase of his farm in Brandy
wine hundred, just outside the city line,
which land is>torbe used for the purpose
as stated above The fact that the Water
Department contemplated building an
other reservoir and was negotiating for
the land was first printed in last Mon
days issue Of The Sun.
Those present at the meeting were
Presidrn: Alfred Belts, DIR. Joseph L.
Pyle and James Z. Jones of the Water
Commission and Mira md Mrs. Thomas
r, Wcldin. The Water Commission had
the legal advice of City Solicitor David
]. Re,nhardt in the examination of the
title to the property, and he reported that
it is entirely clear.
The farm consists of 50 acres. The
price to be paid rs $4,000, which is Il
lew cents less liiaH Sfi- iti a''''
The tract of laud lies along the Con
cord turnpike about half mile from the
city line. 1t is on McKee's hili and
starts lust beyond the clump of lOcuSts
which is on property Of Il. Tatnall War
per, and lies between it and the Fanlk
road. A portion of the property is
occupied by W. IL. Potter, the trucker
and florist.
The department is to take possession
of the land on March rs next 1t is ex-
pectcd that by that time plans will be
completed for the proposed reservoirs.
The capacity of the reservoir is to be
| 2O0. .OOO, 600 gallons 1t will probably be
two years before it will be ready for
use.
The property purchased is higher than
| the prescn, Rodney street basin and tue
new reservoir is to supply the district
| now supplied by the Rodney street basin.
This district is constantly growing. DIR.
| Pyle stated last night that the depart
| ment had been considering several tracts
| of land and that the land agreed upon
is more reasonable in price and better
| adapted for the purpose than any other
| available property that could he found.
At the conclusion of the meeting yrster-
| day the Water Department gave out
the following statement:
| "For long time it has been the feel.
| ing of the board that additional storage
capacity for water should be provided
| for the Rodney street reservoir level. and
| as the ground at that point was small and
| inadequate for the construction of Il
| reservoir Of the necessary capacity for
| the daily increased consumption from
| that level. we have been searching fer
ground of suitable elevation for the pul
| pose. After several visits in the vicinity
of Elliott's hill. in Brandywinc hun
drrd. we have selected n site that we
consider in every way suitable for on"
needs. and have made an arrangement
with Thomas +. Wrldin. the owner of
! the property, for the purchase Of the
| same
| The idea of erecting All immense rcser-
voir originated with the late William 7.
Porter who for many years was president
of the Water Board. Mr.. Porter had in
mind the heavy drain upon the present
water supply and thought that provision
should be made for surplus water sup
| ply. His idea was to either build large
settling pond for use in case of cmer-
gency or an immense reservoir. The
settling pond would he very expensive
and the building Of the reservoir has
been decided on by the present board as
the most practicable idea.