The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-05
WATER LIFTED BY AIR
FIRST COMPLETE TEST MADE AT
SPRINGFIELD WELL.
WATER JUMPS 1875 FEET.
FLOW OF THE WELL INCREASED
TO 100000 GALLONS.

Benefit of the Water Committee OF
CounciI-Mr. Clarke Says the Sup
ply Could Be Doubled From the
Present Wells Superintendent
I<insey Pleased With the Result.
The Removal of Sand and Other
distractions From the Wells n
Good Thing in Itself.
The first complete test of the new
air lift plant installed at the Springfield
well for the purpose of demonstrating
the efficiency of this means of increas-
ing the flow of water from the wells
at the waterworks was made yester-
day morning. 1t was an entire success.
From a normal flow of 64S,744 gal
Ions a day the flow was increased by
the air lift to 1.21O,464 gallons. In fact,
the actual increase was from 566, 720
gallons a day, which has been the daily
flow of the Springfield well for some
time past. After the sand and other
distractions had been forced out by the
air pressure the flow rose to its nor
NAL of 643,744 gallons. This shows
gain in the natural flow of 77,024 gal
Ions simply from forcing out the OBJ
structions which had gathered in the
well. The gain in applying the air lift
is something immense, being more
than 100 per cent. as compared with
the former flow and nearly 100 per
cent. as compared with the normal
flow.
If the same gain could be obtained
by applying the air lift to all the wells
the city's supply of water could be
more than doubled. This is hardly to
be expected, however, as the generally
accepted theory is that all the wells
obtain their supply from the same
source and the total amount OF water
which is possible to be obtained de-
ponds upon the area of this source,
which is of course unknown.
The test was witnessed by Superin-
tendent 1. U. Kinsey and others of the
water works department, and Mr.. f. f.
Clarke, who is here representing the
Bacon Air Lift Company. 1t is expected
that the water committee of council
will go out this afternoon when the test
will be repeated for the benefit of the
members of the committee
1.-The test only showed what l had
every reason to expect" said Mr..
Clarke to a Morning News reporter. II
have made number of these tests and
installed several of our plants in this
section of the South, and 1 knew ex-'
actly what to expect. The result was
very satisfactory, however, es-
pecially in view of the
fact that our plant is largely a
nakeshift affair put together for tenn
porary purposes. The complete plant
includes in connection with the air
chamber a separator by which all the
grease and other foreign substances
taken up in COMPRISING the air is
thrown off and only the pure air is
forced into the wells. 1t was not con-
sidered necessary to attach this for
the purpose of making the experiment"
Mr.. Clarke was not prepared to fur
nish any figures as to the cost of in
stalling an air lift plant for the SPRING
field well or for the entire battery of
wells at the waterworks, preferring to
discuss such matters with the commit
tee after it had witnessed the test of
the Springfield we'll.
Il will say this much" said Mr..
Clarke, land that is that the supply of
water from the present wells can be
very largely increased. almost doubled,
in fact, by the application of the air
lift. This will obviate the necessity of
nish an ample supply of water for the
city's uses for years to come. Even
if more wells should be dug the air
lift would ultimately have to be
brought into use, as all the wells, 1t is
presumed. tap the same water bed, and
must, therefore, to some extent draw
upon the same supply, and the amount
of pressure is necessarily diminished
with each well dug.
%
his home on Park avenue in the after
noon, said that he was very well
pleased indeed with the result of the
test. The increased flow had been re-
markable and had fully demonstrated
the claims of the air lift people in this
respect. His figures as to the flow of
the well corroborated those of Mr..
Clarke, having been taken with the
current meter in use at the water
works department. The Improvement
in the flow of the well after the OBJ
Structions had been removed by the
air lift was especially commented upon
by Mr.. Kinsey and he seemed to think
that the use of the air lift for clean
ing out the wells alone would in itself
be an advantage. AS to what recon-
mendations he would make in the mat
ter of adding an air lift plant to the
works Mr.. Kinsey was not prepared to
say.
Asked as to the present water supply
of the city Mr.. Kinsey said:
I'VE have an average daily pumpage
now of about 5000, 900 gallons, which
is sufficient for all present purposes
This seems to be ample for ordinary
uses and there have been no complaints
this summer that l am aware of of
lack of water supply. The Springfield
well, as shown by the figures of Mr..
T. T. Johnson, the supervising engi-
neer, when first sunk, yielded about
1.25O,000 gallons daily. This decreased
of course, as soon as the other wells
We're dug, and the supply dropped down
to less than three-quarters of a mill
lion. Previous to the test Just made
it was only yielding 6,720 gallons
daily. 1t is now yielding 643, 744 gal
Ions which is about normal.
when the test was on at the Spring
field WELL" said Mr.. Kinsey, 81 tested
some of the other wells with the cur
rent meter and found the flow at these
wells very slightly decreased by the
increased flow at the Springfield we'll
This is important as showing that a
considerable gain can be obtained by
the use of the air lift"
The air lift is operated by a thirty
five horse power engine, stationed, with
the compressor, at the power house
and connected with the Springfield well
by a line Of pipe about 1000 feet in
length. The diameter of the well Is II