Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-02-13

tea report The mayor said that the report was ready when the new admin istration came in and that his connec- tion with it consisted in putting his | name on instead of that of Mayor Kill duff. But he had gone over it in detail | and considered it all right. 1t was as | follows: A :. Your committee, appointed to inves l tigate the subject of high service water l supply, to prepare plans and make I ecommendations as to the best metn- !pd of securing such service, would re- l spectfully report that we have studied the matter carefully and have reached
 certain conclusions which We now re-
 spectfully submit for your considera- l ton. Typographical Features.
 The necessity for separate services arises from the great differences of ! elevation which exist in our city. The
 present system, giving a static press 1 ure of 122 pounds per square incn at
 Exchange place, gives only pounds
 at the intersection Of Prospect and
 Buckingham streets; 30 pounds at the corner of Wood and Putnam streets; !e pounds at the summit of Washing ] ton street; 54 pounds at Washington avenue and South Wilson streets. These static pressures are reduced from fifteen to thirty pounds by fric- tion during hours of greatest consump- tion. On the other hand, the static pressure at the intersection of South
 Main and Washington streets reaches s 133 pounds. K, ...
 r. It is evident that while the pressures in the central and southern portions of the city are as great as it is safe to have them, the pressures on high ground are entirely insufficient for do nestle use and for the eXtinguishment of fires. ~
 Again, the rapid growth of the city, and the building up of residence dis tricts on elevations much greater than the points mentioned above, to which at present water will not rise at all, makes it necessary to consider some method of furnishing water to these districts without increasing the press ure on the low ground. We find then that a separate high service is neces- , sary, both to improve the supply where it is now provokingly uncertain and dangerously insufficient, and also to give a public supply of potable water to districts which have never hereto fore. had such service. 4
 High Service District.
 To determine the line of division be-
 
 service it is assumed that q reasona- ble pressure for domestic and fire use cannot be. less than forty pounds per square inch. Allowing for drawing down Wigwam reservoir twenty feet, and after deducting for friction ill the mains. it appears that the top of the low service cannot be above elevation 2SO city datum. A large map of the city has been prepared and this con- tour line has been drawn on 1t.
 Population in High Service District. | A house to house canvass was made l Of the area lying above contour 2SO to ascertain the population to be pro- l vided for by the new service. It was found to be about 11,OO0. Considering l that the increase of population is like ly to be very rapid in these residential districts, there is no doubt that the number of water consumers in the high service district within a. few years will not be less than 10000. l East Mountain Supply. There are three reservoirs on East Mountain. The distributing reservoir at elevation 362, the main reserve at 553, and the Prospect reservoir at ele- 1 vatiOn about 59S. There is a sixteen inch main leading from the distributing reservoir to the city, by way of the | Plank road. Water from the main l reservoir reaches the distributing res ervoir by way of small brook lead 1 ing from one to the other, and water 1 from Prospect reservoir reaches the
 main reservoir by way of, a 12 inch cast iron pipe laid for this purpose. The main reservoir has been accur
 ately cross-sectioned the past winter,
 by sounding through the ice. It's ca
 pacity for the upper IS feet was found to be 131 million gallons and for the
 upper 13 feet 113 million gallons. The capacity of Prospect reservoir has not
 been accurately determined, but pub lished reports have credited it with
 holding 67 million gallons.
 1 It is possible then to draw consld- erable amount of water from the main reservoir, reinforced by draw , ing on Prospect, and supply it to
 parts of the proposed high service district. If the quantity. to be obtain
 ed from this source were greater, the problem for meeting immediate needs
 would be very simple. But calcula- tions of watershed and storage ind1- cate that in dry years this supply
 would not be sufficient for more than ] six or seven thousand persons. 1t follows therefore, that the main de pendence for high service cannot be placed on East Mountain reservoirs.
 Importance of the East Mountain l Supply. There Is another aspect of the gen. eral question of city water supply, { however, which gives great value to these East Mountain reservoirs, and
 prompts us to recommend to you that they be put in thorough sanitary con-
 dition and regarded as an essential
 part of the general system. At pres
 ent, and perhaps for years to come,
 the chief feeder of the city mains is
 the 36 inch line from the Branch. This
 feeder is over 10 miles long, and it is only common sense to say that sooner or later, it will meet with some acci- dent which will interrupt the flow 1n l it for a time. In such contingency