The San Francisco call., 1905-08-25
Bay Cities Company Comes
Forward With Proposal to
Supervisors to Part With
Its Great Sierra Supply
CLAIMS THE PLAN
WILL REDUCE RATE
Total Cost to San Francisco,
With Daily Distribution
of 75,OOO,OOO Gallons, to
Reach About $38,483,7O

Late yesterday afternoon the Bay Cities
Water Company. through its manager, c..
y. Beal. addressed a communication to
the Board OF Supervisors proposing to
sell to the city of San Francisco new
source Of water supply. located high up
sn the Sierra Nevada The price asked
for this water site alone is IS, ,150, 900, and
The total cost Of transmission. including
q distributing system in this city, is to
be S3S 4S3, 7G0. The Bay Cities Water Com
pany win either sell the water source as
IL is now, or will complete the system
and put In ell the pipes, reservoirs, tele-
phone lines and the distributing system.
This company maintains in its communf-
cation that by buying this system the
city would be provided with a supply of
water large enough for the needs Of
3.50000 people. the cost of which would
be so low that the water rate would be
greatly reduced. Pure water is promised.
The property of the Bay Cities Water
Company lies on the west sides of the
Sierra In the region of the Echo Lakes
and the south branch of the American
River. The district is known as the
American-Cosumnes watershed. There
are more than fifty natural lakes within
this district. besides innumerable noun
tain springs and perennial mountain
streams. The elevation ranges from 1900
feet above the level OF the sea to a
maximum Of l0.4S0 feet. the summit of
Round Top Mountain. The average ele-
walton is $500 feet above the San Fran
cisco base.
LIES ON GRANITE SURFACE.
The surface Of the proposed water site
is made uD Of bare granite masses, pre-
senting clean precipitous sides. inter-
spersed with small patches of pine tim
Der. There is very little soil or under
brush, the water being exposed to the
cold air Of the mountains. Around on
many SUBMITS lie banks of perpetual
snow The precipitation is uniform, 81
per cent Of the area having an average
annual rainfall OF a little over sixty
inches.
The letter states that the water rights
of this area are long existant and that
there is no question as to the validity
of the titles.
The plans of the Bay Cities Water
Company are based on supplying San
Francisco and delivering daily a supply
Of z, ,000, 600 gallons of water, Of develop
ing from the waters before they enter
the pipe lines leading to this city about
S400 horsepower of electrical energy; of
transmitting this electric power to San
Francisco and Of providing here a dis
tributing plant for the water, including
relay reservoirs near the city to provide
for any possible emergency.
THREE YEARS TO INSTALL.
The Bay Cities Company has had its
engineers working on the proposition for
over two years The surveys were made
under the guidance Of Engineer Edwin
Duryea. Last autumn an expert. Engi-
neer Frank S. Washburn, was brought
out from New York 10 make an un-
biased estimation of the amount Of the
cost and the feasibility Of the plan The
works could be installed within three
years.
In this communication there are inter
esting tables comparing the proposed sys-
tenn with that of the Spring Valley Water
Company. In these the capacity of the
Spring Valley is given as 35, ,000, 900 gallons
per day as against 70, 100000 for the pro-
posed system. The cost OF the Spring
Valley supply per million gallons is given
as $1,000, ia. and that OF the proposed new
one for the same amount at S395,689. The
company maintains that the new system
would save the city thousands Of dollars
each year.
The Supervisors have not considered
the proposition The City Engineer is at
the present time investigating other
water sites and he will undoubtedly re-
port on these before he takes the new
plan in hand The next meeting Of the
board VIII be on September IL