Evening journal., 1904-11-08


The Weldin Farm as filter site. is
under the great disadvantage Of requir-
ing an unnecessary amount OF pumpage
with a resultant increase in the cost of
maintenance and unless you are willing
to abandon Cool Spring reservoir and
throw the whole city supply on the high
service attainable from Weldin Farm
cannot consistently recommend it; and
even should the latter course be pursued
ii would, in all probability. result i'm inn
mense damage TO the plumbing fixtures
throughout the lower part of the city. and
possibly to many mains and service pipes,
owing to the greatly increased pressure.
The desirable conditions to be fulhllod
In any filtration scheme is to locate the
filter beds near the level Of the source Of
supply, and then convey the filtered water
to the point Of storage. and the PROPOSE
ton which / now desire to submit as an
alternative for the Rockland plan em-
bodies these features; but before outlin-
ing 1t ] desire to state that have an in
terest i'm the land which would be neccs-
sary for the filter site. though / believe it
is not necessary for me TO say that this
fact has not Influenced in the slightest
degree the advocacy Of this plan.
In considering the whole question, since
IL has become apparent that we may be
forced to abandon the Rockland scheme.
and imbued with the belief that the We'll
din Farm was undesirable, I sought to Sc
cure @ tract Of low land sufficient in area
for the purposes required and within close
enough proximity to the City Mill to make
IT available. and the only site which full
fills these requirements is a tract in the
Ninth ward between Vandever avenue
and Twenty second street and Locust and
Heald streets which would cost about
ten dollars per foot or two thousand dol
lars per acre. This tract contains about
fifteen acres and would be available for
the constructionlof "A filtration plant hav-
ing an ultimate capacity of probably forty
million gallons per day. and is very fav-
orably situated for economical construc-
tion and operation
Briefly the operation Of the proposed
plant would be as follows:
The water would be taken from the
race mad passed through the preliminary
filters located at the City Mill. whence it
would flow by gravity to the sand filters
at Twenty-second and Locust streets.
After being filtered it would return by
gravity to a filtered water reservoir at
Sixteenth and Walnut streets, and would
be pumped from there to Cool Spring Res
ervoir. fhe same as at present
The plan i'm prospect contemplates the
construction of the necessary preliminary
filters. and about five acres of slow sand
filters. and filtered reservoir OF about
eight million gallons capacity Also the
of .F
paci.y to utilize to its fullest extent. at
all seasons Of the year. the available
water power mt City Mill II would also
be desirable to install another ten mill
lion gallon pumping engine to eventually
replace the present Worthington pump.
though it is not at all essential that this
be done Immediately. The construction of
new ten million gallon reservoir at
Eighth and Rodney streets would also be
included in this plan. and its cost has
/ been considered in the rough estimate
submitted herewith.
The figures given will show that. as
compared with either the Rockland or
Weldin Farm projects this plan can be
carried out at a saving in first cost of
over S200-000 and an annual saving in the
cost of maintenance Of over $4,000. These
estimates are made partly on the basis
Of recent bids and partly in comparison.
with the estimates Of Messrs. Gray and
Hazen. and il must be understood that
they are but a rough approximation, but
should you feel that the project is worthy
of further consideration, I would suggest
that you authorize me TO make the neces-
sary surveys and work out the details in
more definite shape.
Respectfully submitted,
Theodore A. Leisen.
Chief Engineer.
ESTIMATE.
5000 II. 54 in. steel pipe, IL ......S 1920
/ AnoO o. "A i'm stool nine as OOO