The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-11-23

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the water viii hen BE only al5opI TWO
fleet a3oxe ;1ses end of tn: pt Re.
sides Z egalfon his y s. for another P;:i-
pose. S ho;tId sons hing happen to
1.-The pump 50 that tie water should
run hack cannot empty the reser-
Yotr. s535
Inshape the resery Dir IS Ikea Bart
| lett pear, but somewhat larger After
being h!1ed it Is estimated that,
should The pumps break. it will hold
enough water TO supply the city's
needs for almost three weeks, The
wall around the, reservoir is thirty
feet wide at the top and three times
as wide at the bottom. The wall IS
constructed OF first-cIass clay and IS
what's known as puddle bank. 1t IS
impervious by water. better than ma
sonry or concrete. The inside is lined
with stone one foot thick known as
riprap.
The depth of the reservoir is thirty
feet; its length attl1e bottom, $40 feet
and at the top. 500 feet; it's width at
the large end at the bottom, 212 feet
and at the top, 292 feet. It will hold
more than 18,o0o,QO0 gallons of water.
There would be plenty of room IN
side for good rabbit chase and if
the hunter was at one end and the rab-
bit at the other, the little animals;
life would be in no danger whatever
Should a wandering duck see fit 10,
alightin the pond the hunter would
need a boat5or stand a fair chance ot
losing his game.
Tile water passes from the reser-
voir through a 12-inc1: pipe to the
aeratng fountain which is most es-
sential feature to pure water Four
valves are arranged SO that the water
can be taken from different depths IN
the reservoir. The aerating fountain
is 81 feet in diameter and holds 70o.
600 gallons.
From the fountain the water goes
into the filters. They are two in num-
Der. each 10 feet square. The water
comes in at the bottom and comes up
through three feet of clean gravel and
sand. The further up the finer the
sand until the top is reached. Above
this sand is the Finch main leading
back to the city. This water will be
as pure as can be possibly made un
less boiling or some such process is
resored TO.
The filters are arranged so that the
current can be reversed and go down
tt e whole plant is arranged so that the
water can he shut off from the differ
ent parts. The water can be made to
go direct to the aerating fountain
without entering the reservoir; it can |
be forced direct from the river to the |
filter or it can be turned back to the |
city without going into any of the |
three apartments. This is most val |
liable in case of a big fire when the
reservoir has little water in it. The
reverse current in the filter is an eX-
oelient provision. All parts are ar
ranged SO that they can be emptied
in a short time. The filters can be
used separately or together. The floor
in these is concrete on the natural |
rock They are IL feet deep and will
hold more than 1 ,O00,o 900 gallons.
The plant is 7,735 feet from the
present pump station but only a mile
from Colfax where purer- water could
be obtained from the Valley river. To
ward this end a pipe has been put in
On that side of the reservoir SO thar
4 hole Will not have to be cut through
he wall when a pump station is even
.ually established there.
Tile new system will be used as
soon as the reservoir is filed. This
Will take about ten days. There al. c
-wo pumps at the pump station but
one is used for the present city supply
rom the old tanks. At present tho
people of the city are using about
900 gallons of water The otn-
ct pump, running day and night, viii
,orce about 100000 gallons TO the
-eseryoir each day.
The total cost of the entire systep
S about S175,0oO. OF this $4,000 was
spent for new mains throughout the
city and to the plant Though it may
seem large sum, it has not been eN-
used. In fact it seems
wonderful what an am cunt of work has
,een done with that sum. The works
AN easily be sold to-day for half a
million dollars-no doubt, more. We
lon't want to sell it. Soon it will be
letting the city $4,000 year. 1t is a
rOod busin eSS inveStme nt and will ia