St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1905-05-06
The Waterworks Tanks Condition.

Tues TO dL once remove the SbTuGbuIt
from the parish square. On Wed
nesday, however, that body, at th'
request of the town authorities, res
cinded the resolution and instead ap
pointed a committee to confer witt
a like committee from the town coun.
Gil in regard to its safety.
We understand that the joint com
mittees will select an expert agree.
able to ali concerned to investigate
the matter.
In the meantime Superintendent
Jones is busily engaged in putting in
new piping to the tank with the OBJ
ject of stopping the leakage.
The Clarion wishing to be strictly
impartial interviewed the Mayor and
the city electrician.
Mayor Littell, when seen, said:
In regard to the condition of the
tank, | am satisfied that it's condition
IS safe at present. and if ordinary
care is taken of it, there never will be
any danger of it's falling.
During the past five years of my
tenure Of office as Mayor | have kept a
watch over this tank, having the
levels taken on three different occa-
sions. The last levels were taken
only few days ago and show, that
the foundations have not varied the
sixty-fourth of an inch since the first
levels were taken. The pipe leading
from the tank is in bad condition
and is the cause of leaking. This
kind of pipe should not have been
used, and the town has already or
dered the Superintendent to replace
it by the proper kind of pipe and
when this is done there will be no
leaking.
My opinion as to the safety of
this structure is based not upon my
personal knowlege but upon the scien-
tific measurements and levels taken
by competent engineers.
Il shall continue to exercise the
strictest surveillance over this struc-
ture, and should it ever become in
dangerous condition, the condition
viii be promptly reetifed, and if it
be impossible, the tank will certainly
be removed, | feel that | am as deeply
interested in the safety Of the tank
as any one can be, and certainly will
do all that is necessary in the pre-
misses.
When the Clarion man asked Su-
perintendent A. C. Jones, of the water
works and electric light plant, if he
desired to be interviewed concerning
the matter, he readily replied:
'.Yes, would like to say a few
words in reference to your scare-head
article published in last Saturdays |
paper.
In the summer of 1902, while Mr.. !
Sylvester was making the survey for
a system Of sewerage, DR.. Littell |
had him take the levels of the tank |
He found that they were
about two inches out of level, with /
the one on the northeast corner
lowest and the southwest corner
highest. At the time the first arti-
Gle was published in the Clarion |
took the levels and found that the
foundations were not sinking, as was
then declared.
While doing the surveying for
the first sidewalks put down by Mr..
Craven, Mr.. Roberts took the levels,
and he took them again last Tuesday
and found that there had been no
sinking in the meanwhile.
There is no doubt that the tank
is leaning toward the northeast, and
always has leaned that way; but it
has not settled at all in the past
three years, in spite of the fact that
there has been almost constant leak
age from the pipe, due to the wrong
kind Of pipe having been used, and
no provision made for contraction
and expansion | was authorized
about a month ago to put in a
wrought-iron pipe and expansion joint
in place of the cast-iron pipe now
the tank. The material !
necessary has been ordered, and the
work Of changing the pipe win be
complete in a few days. With a
proper screwed joint pipe and expan-
sion joint there will be no leakage
whatever. There can be no danger
of the tank tipping over when it has
leaned far enough to allow a plumb
line dropped from its center of
gravity to fall outside its base. The
center of gravity of the tower and
tank is probably somewhere about the
center of the bottom of the tank, of |
the tops of the tower; therefore it I
would be necessary for the foundation
on one side to sink out of sight before
this could happen. Since they re-
fused to sink when the water was
around them, is there any probability
of there sinking after the leakage is
stopped2