Evening journal., 1903-09-02
Robin Asks ouestIons.

Or. Robin then asked MT. Pfeiffer and
Mr.. Boardman a number OF questions
relative to artesian well plants in other
cities. which in some cases have proved
failures. Many explanations were gone
into and the good and bad points brough'
out and thoroughly discussed.
Professor Chester had a number II elab
crate drawings by which he illustrated
the geological conditions of New Castle
county and compared them with Other
sections Of the country, including Cam.
den. the District Of Columbia and Baltt
more.
He said during the course of his ex-
planation. that taking all things into con-
slderation. the city could not obtain more
than a 2o0O,OO0 gallon supply OF water.
daily. by means Of artesian wells. and
Thought that a man who would give a
guarantee to supply Wilmington with all
the water IL needed by this method had
great amount OF nerve.
That's what the Camden people said"
remarked Mr.. Pfeifer. but we showed
them different"
Continuing. Professor Chester said that
he did not believe that Camden got all
its water supply by means Of artesian
wells but was Of the opinion that much
Of tho water In the Delaware river per-
coatcd through the bed Of that stream
and In that way found its way to the
Camden wells. The conditions here are
different, as the dip OF the rock bed slopes
toward New Jersey. therefore carrying
the water in that direction.
'Tn tho event OF water being obtained
by means of arteslan wells 1 am OF the
opinion that it would be high in iron and
hard. owing to the geological formation
Of Wilmington and its surroundings. The
rainfall throughout the country IS about
forty inches annually. which means that
about 2l7OOO,OO0 gallons Of water soaks
into the ground and as rain IS the source
of water supply we can only rely on that
for an underground supply, which would
mean that Wilmington's share would not
be more than about 100000 gallons"
Using his drawings, Professor Chester
went on to show the location Of wells in
this country and the amount Of water
they produce. 1.-THE well at Middletown
has flow Of f75.Ooo gallons. while there
are several others on private properties
which produce small supplies, suthcient'
however. for the use OF the people who
live On the land"
He also went into the details OF water
supply by artesian wells in the District OF
Columbia. and Camden. Eleven wells In
Washington produce on an average OF
. from Is 10 10 gallons Of water each min
} lutte. while in Camden the flow Is 1850 gal
, lions per minute. for % wells. BY this COM
parison he wishes to show that while the
, two cities were in the same horizon one
. secured more water than the other, prov
ing his theory that Camden got large
amount of its water supply from the Del
aware river by percolation.
3 He wholly ignored the idea that the
k source of water supply for this city would
ho IN the mountains to the north. and
claimed that all the underground water
chat wilmington would get would be
MN water that soaked through its
catchment area.
Al the conclusion Of Professor Chester
talk he was asked by President Pyle II II
was his opinion that Wilmington could
not get a sufficient supply Of water by
means Of artesian wells.
Eyes sir" answered the professor, that
Is my candid opinion"
The subject was then discussed for a
. short time IN a general way and upor
motion of Mr. Ford the meeting ad.
lcurned No action was taken.