The Birmingham age-herald., 1905-08-23
BIRMINGHAM'S WATER SUPPLY IS EXCEPTIONALLY PURE AND
 FLOWS IN TREMENDOUS VOLUME
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Continued from Fifth Paue)
 ing stations, one at North Birmingham.
 supplying 100000 gallons per day from
 Five Mile creek, which water is led to the
 pump station by canal; and the remain
 ing 100000 gallons per day is pumped
 from the station at the Cahaba river to
 the reservoir on Shades mountain.
 The present pumping capacity of the
 stations is 100000 gallons per day at North Birmingham and 21 100000 gallons
 per day at Cahaba river station, aggre-
 gating 32,0O0 900 gallons, or three-fold the present average daily consumption of water Questions of pressure and distrl- button of water in the city, we do not feel to be embraced within the scope of the investigation of this committee. It
 is obvious that if the water itself ex- ists, any additional pumps and pipe lines.
 whenever and wherever they shall be
 needed to give an adequate pressure and
 volume of water at any particular point. are a mere matter of detail, just as 1t
 would be in any other city.
 Most Important Part.
 Having, therefore before us the known figures of consumption and pumping ca-
 pacity we come to the most important
 part of this investigations; namely, the
 volume of water which is available at
 the pumping stations, or can be made
 so. The water shed draining into the two Cahaba rivers Is 1922 square miles.
 The average rainfall for the past twelve
 years. taken from the government obser- vations at this point, Is over oO degrees This represents reduced to gallons, more
 than one hundred and sixty-seyen pll- Hons. If we assume one-half of thls amount to be taken up by the ground In
 seepage or by evaporation, 1t would leave
 over eighty three billion gallons to flow
 down past the Cahaba pump station dur l ing the year, an average of 2S,Oo0,ooo
 gallons per day.
 Fortunately in matter of such prime importance we are not reduced to the
 necessity of speculating on the amount available While, as previously stated. the average rain fall Is over 90 1nches,
 that for the year 1904 was only 34 inches,
 being the dryest year since the local ohserva lions commenced in the year lS93. In June 1904 the entire flow of water
 that passed over the dam below the folks of the Cahaba river was carefully measured by an engineer, and It was found that at that time the flow or the
 river. over the dam, added to the amount
 of water then being pumped. was equiv
  hours. This in the summer of the dryest 1 year officially recorded. We would be
 safe In saving then, if we take this meas urement as a basis of the supply or wa ter available, and assuming that the
 Birmingham district will grow 10 nVe- 1 fold it's present size, involving live times the people with their domestic require ments. and hve-fold the present blast i furnaces, steel works, rolling mills ana
 other large consumers of water, we would then have to face five-fold the present 1 consumption or 55000,000 gallons per day' 1 of which 100000 gallons might be safely | counted upon from Five Mile creek, leav- ing 59 0OO, 900 gallons to be supplied rom l the Cahaba rivers. Assuming that the l flow of the rivers in the dryesl seasoii ID | 15 oO0 o0O gallons as before recorded, and l that the drouth should continue for a
 period of three months, without any rain l at all. fl would be necessary to supply l bv storage q deficit of 3S ,o00, 600 gallons per
 day for ninety days.
 Could Make Dam Higher.
 Leaving out of consideration the present
 reservoirs on Shades mountain with their ] 155 GOO 900 gallons stored there Is 1O0,000,G00
 gallons of water backed up behind the
 present 9-foot dam on the Cahaba river. 1 The detail plans and contour lines Of the
 engineer show that by raising the present
 dam 21 feet an additional supply Will De l impounded of 921,oo0,000 gallons.
 1 At Dykes MIL the conditions are eml- nently suitable for the construction Of | storage reservoir to hold 1000 00o,ooo gall l Ions. or sufficient to supply the require- 1 ments of the district when grown to oo,ooo population, (taling into consideration ana including the lower storage reservoir re- ferred to in the previous paragraph Tor
 an aggregate period of one hundred ana sixty days, which is a longer period .hail
 any drouth makes possible. Taking these
 figures it will be seen that there would he sufficient water impounded to supply
 the needs of city of 100000 population for a period of eighty days
 l While only two sites for storage reser- voirs have S5een considered in these hg- ures. it may be stated as a fact that there are a number of other locations where impoundng dams may be built.
 | We therefore feel entirely justified after the personal investigation previously
 stated In declaring our opinion, that by | the construction of these two storage
 reservoirs there Is no doubt Of the apiii- tv of the present water works company l to supply water on the present basis, ana
 to maintain its supply without dafhcuity through the severest conditions of drouth i that can be conceived. These calcula- tions, based upon the rainfall and flow tributary to the Cahaba river are so conclusive that in our opinion it is not
 necessary to make any calculation on any additional supply that might be impound-
 ed upon Five Mile creek.
 l There is no reason why any industry.
 however large should hesitate to come
 to Birmingham so far as the question or
 Quality Is Excellent
 1 We find that the American system of | filtration is the one in use by the Bir- | mingham Water Works company. This | system has been generally recommended
 by experts for the puritication of river
 water in this country, and we consider 1t | particularly well suited to the require | ments of the waters in this vicinity The l efficiency of this system in bacteria re-
 moval is equal to that of any other sys- i, tenn. and 1t has the further advantage Of | furnishing a much clearer effluent than | other systems.
 | We find that the filters are washed with | filtered water which is then discharged | through the waste pipe. Some filter plants | save this water by turning it back into the subsistence reservoir and retlltering | 1t. a practice which is said by no less 1 an authority than George w. Fuller. the well known water expert, to be perfectly l legitimate owing to the rapidity with which subsistence takes place in this mix ture of filtered water and gross suspend Ia nf thA