The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-10-08
TAKE A LOOK At
THE WATER SUPPL
City Officials and Guests Find
Supply InexhaustibIe and
Plant In Good Order.

Members of the city council, the
heads of several city departments and
delegation from the Commercial club
and the Chamber of Commerce learned
yesterday that st. Paul has one of the
greatest water systems in the United
States.
AS guests Of the board of water COM
missioners they visited the half dozen
or more big lakes which the water
board has jurisdiction over, saw the
miles of costly mains or conduits
through which st. PauPs supply of cold
water Is received, and inspected the
pumping machinery in three big sta
tons, which are capable, if put to the
test, of supplying st. Paul with 50,00O.-
| 600 gallons of water every day in the
year.
st. Paul people in general probably
have little knowledge of the immense
amount of labor and planning that has
been going on during the life of the
present plant; and even that of the
present water board, to provide st.
Paul with an almost ineXhaustible sup
ply Of water, and the trip arranged
yesterday by the water board was for
the purpose of making the city Off
Gals and citizens aware of it's extent.
Arrangements had been made by the
board for party of about eighty, but
owing to the inclement weather only
invitation. Seven roomy carriages, in
Guiding a well supplied commissary,
| provided the means of transportation
and sustenance, and the delegation was
| carried over practically the entire SyS-
| tenn.
Mecarron's Lake Head of the System.
McCarrons lake and the pumping
station at that point was the first Wis
tied, and from here the party traversed
the right of way to Vadnais and Cen
terville lakes, the latter practically
the head of the st. Paul water system,
! though, if necessity demanded it, the
could be drawn upon. At McCarron's
| lake the principal station is located
and with the exception of Phalen lake,
all drinking water destined for st. Paul
| is received. The party there saw the
three mammoth pumps, the delicate
machines used for registering the
amount of water consumed every hour
ia the day by st. Paul, and the simple
! effective way in which every ounce of
water sent through the cOnduits is
secured and cleaned of it's impurities.
AT Centerville lake, the latest acqui-
Sition to the st. Paul water supply,
which was reached about 2 o'clock,
luncheon was served, and following
this, the delegation took advantage of
its work in providing st. Paul with
such fine water system. Secretary
Slime, Assemblyman Van Slyke and
others of the delegation spoke in glow
ing terms of the system and the care
that had been exercised in keeping it
up to a high standard, and happy re-
sponses were made by Vice President
Dwyer, Secretary John Caulfield and
others, of the water board. The i'm
hal IN he bni
er room of the pumping. station, and a
feature of the gathering was that it
included four persons, each of whom
had in a manner been instrumental in
the acquisition by the city of the orig
inai water plant. They were w. P.
Murray, Assemblyman Van Slyke, John
CauIfield and Thomas Prendergast. Mr..
| Murray, as the senior member of the
party, gave a brief talk, and with Sec
rotary Slime, of the Commercial club,
was selected to prepare resolutions
congratulatory of the water board and
| it's care and entertainment of the dele
cation.
The return trip was made about 8
o'clock last night
Has Superintendent Supply.
The system now has a superabun-
dance Of water, the greatest in the his
tory of the water department. Outside
| of Phalen lake, which is drawn on for
the section known as "Old Town." Vad-
| nails lake is now supplying about all
! the water that st. Paul consumes. The
| other lakes, which represent supply
! of water almost inexha1stible, are idle.
Three of the five pumping stations
| were visited and each was found in a
condition that brought forth favorable
comment. At the McCarrons lake
station, which is in care of Engineer
Marin Feist, the three big pumps sup
ply every gallon of water furnished
| both high and low service, and the
party saw to the gallon the amount of
water each district consumes every
| hour in the day. In the running of
| the boilers every shovel of coal con-
sumed is weighed, and when 1t is con-
verted into ash the same operation
| prevails. There is no guesswork. Fig
ures alone give the conclusion. Every
mans work is mapped out for him,
and should any fail registering ma
chimes tell of the dereliction.
System Extends Into knoka County.
Few in st. Paul have any idea of
the acres of water and land in control
of the board or the care exercised in
| protecting the water supply. OF the
half dozen or more lakes controlled
by the board, practically every bit of
/
taken to prevent trespass or contami-
nation. The system extends even into
Anoka county, and the board, if it
ever wants to, has the right to extend
its operations to other counties.
st. Paul Is now consuming on an aver
age of 6,600.00e gallons Of water a day,
but it could have 600 more if it
needed that amount. There are pumps
and machinery enough to provide it. At
the McCarrons lake pumping station
there are three pumps the combined ca
pacity of which is 20, 900, 600 gallons a day.
At VadnaiS, Centerville and Rice lakes
there are also big pumping machines. At
every intake there are screens that free
the water from drift. and this is supple
mented at McCarron's lake by chamber
that practically scours and cleans every
gallon of water sent through into the city.
Many ArtesIan, Wells Also.
In addition to the lake supply there are
| over thirty artesian wells, twenty-eight
of which are constantly pouring streams
of ice cold water into Centerville lake.
At Lake Vadnais are three monster wells,
and these are known as the reserves,
used only in summer. The summer
warmth also causes vegetable growth in
the water mains, and the cold water from
these wells kills it,
Despite the inclement weather the trip
was greatly enjoyed. Vice President
Dwyer Secretary Caulfeld j. c. Dona-
hover, of the board, and City Engineer
Rundlett headed the Darty and expIa ined