Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1904-03-24

10 the District than to the company be-
cause the District can borrow money
at 4 lower rate Of interest
w. T.. Gctthcll. civil engineer, Of
Augusta. was I'll" first witness called
when Mr.. Baker had concluded his
presentation o. the case. He testified
that he had drawn the plans and maps
on exhibition and explained them in
detail First the Devinc system was
gene over. showing the II springs
which are its source, its lines of pipes,
etc. At l2.15 adjournment was made
for dinner
When the hearing was resumed. at
> p NJ. Mr.. Getchell was again upon
the stand and continued his direct les
timony. as follows: The Devine Sy3-
TEN covers 81 streets on west side of
river. ana has pipes To a total of 29.O29
feet or SIG miles in length. The pires
of the Augusta Water Co. are in nearly
all these same streets. The systems
are entirely separate physically. The
Devin" system is i gravity system. fed
by springs and with its supply stored
in FIVE small reservoirs. This system
~
paEy's records The Augusta Water
co. takes its water from the Kennebec
river about 500 feet above the dam.
The water is taken from Il crib in the
middle of the river through 20-inCh
pipes through filters to the pumping
station. There are two pumps. one Il
wooden pump in use since 1856. having
Il capacity of 100000 gallons daily
and the other q Holly pump with so
inch cylinder. which has q daily ca
pacity of 100000 gallons. This was
installed in 1890. From these pumps
two mains. one &c inches in diameter
and the other - inches. lead to the
reservoir upon the hill beyond North
street This has capacity of 6.159944
gallons at q point two feet below top
of embankment. The two mains are
connected on Water street near Ed
wards Co.'S office and again at the res
ervoir. The present daily consump-
ton Of the city is from $3.50. 900 gallons
to 100000 gallons daily. as shown by
he records Of the company. The reser-
roir is formed by an excavation with
the earth which was taken out used as
an embankment. The inside slope is
paved and the outside is sodded ana
seeded down. The figures of the en-
gineer who built it show that the ex-
cavatiOn was 1859 cubic yards Of
earth The reservoir is now tight and
in good condition. There is a fence
around the foot Of the embankment.
'rhe whole lot contains about seven
acres. From the reservoir there are
mains through the whole city ranging
in size from 1 inch to - inches. A 10
inch main goes across the river The
system, inclu1ing the TOgus extension.
has 1851 feet of cast iron mains.
almost all over inches in diameter
and 4t.136 feet of smaller wrought iron
mains. total of 1884 feet DC over
81 u miles Of mains. There are 143 nv
drants for fire service on the system,
Of which 12t are the property of the
company. The others are at the In
sane hospital. on the arsenal grounds.
ut Togus and at the Edwards mills.
The pressure on Water street is t25
pounds to the square inch. and is about
IS pounds on State street. Excluding
the five-mile stretch to TOSus, there
are seven hydrants to each mile of
pipe over six inches in diameter. The
average depth Of the mains is about
five feet from the surface. In sewer
construction III the city we have foun1
excavation difficult. as the rock is too
hard for the pick bat not hard enough
20 be blown out in large quantities by
powder and dynamite. The cost OF ex-
AVIATION is about Sc per yard. The
notes of the engineer show that there
we're 2734 linear feet of ledge cor
struction in the putting in of the pipe
system. There are about $50 gates in
the system which shut off water from
certain streets or places"
On cross-eXamination: Have not
personally examined the crib above
he dam, nor the river bottom there.
The river flows back IL or IA miles
from the dam. The Ticonic dam is -
niles above. The outlet of the Wa
;crville sewerage system, which was
out in about 1887, is below the Lock-
wood mill. The sewers Of Fairfield an!
Winslow also empty into the Kenne-
bee. I do not know about sewage of
Skowhegan or Madison. Know moth
ing OF the powers of filtration at the
station here. Cannot state the maxi
mum of the daily pumping records.
Did not see any blue prints, specifica.