Rock Island Argus., 1906-04-12

at the rate of 1900 a month | have
been told by friends of those leaving
that they (the departing ones) have
been feeling bad for some time prior
to their sailing, and had been keeping
themselves up on Quinine. These
cases are not reported to the health
officials, and thus the statistics again
suffer All of this is through no fault
of the health department, but goes to
show that figures sometimes lead one
astray.
With reference to the water supply
and the 500,000,000 gallon reservoir.
have received an interesting communi-
cation from George T. Kenly, who was
| employed for six months as an assist
ant engineer on the permanent dam
construction, at a monthly salary of
$3.50. The fact that he was employed
for that length of time at that compen-
sation would indicate either that he
was "a competent engineer, or that con-
siderable careleSSnesS is exercised in
the employment of engineers. will
quote from Mr.. Kenly's statement be-
cause il has been given circulation
| here, and if it is incorrect an oppor-
tunity should be given for its denial.
Mr.. Kenly characterizes the first dam
as a most child-like piece of construc
| tion," that leaked when tested at the
| rate of 100000 gallons per "a hours
Because of this poor construction, he
says. the second temporary dam was
constructed, and he was charged with
its construction. This would indicate
that Mr. Kenly knows something OF
! hydraulic engineering The second
dam has been completed, and Mr. Ken
| ly challenges criticism. Referring then
to the big reservoir, he says:
''The entire watershed is less than
one square mile. and the water surface
at high water will be about one-fifth of
| this area, whereas, it is a we'll known
| fact that the watershed should be hun
dreds of thousands of times the area
| of the impounded water surface. The
country surrounding this irregular
| basin will not average 20 feet above
| high water mark, and aside from build
| ing two dams it will be necessary to
build a dyke II to IA feet high and
about 1000 feet long. The calculated
| (maXimum) capacity of this reservoir
is about 70O,00O,000 gallons (Mr. Taft
says 500,000,OOO)."
Then Mr.. Kenly drifts into a forest
of figures, from which he deducts as
follows:
1T will require over one year to fill
this reservoir; in fact, almost two
years, if, indeed, it ever does fill. and
it is my opinion that it never will, if
the present plan of dam building is
carried out. But more important still
is the subject of circulation. Two
things are absolutely necessary in a
drinking water storage reservoir: %
good circulation, and CD a clean
BASIN
In this regard it might be we'll to
say that John f. Stevens, the chief
engineer of the canal work, attaches no
Importance TO circulation. 1t is also
interesting to note that the annual con-
sumption of water according to Mr..
Kenly. will be from 500,000000 to 700,-
100000 gallons for Colon and Cristo-
bal Continuing, Mr.. Kenly says:
When the reservoir is full admit
ting that it will filD, the water will
back up almost to the head of each
ItIlS TlNulet lildl lOTulSu III ILLS us
basin, and will thus destroy the force
of any water entering here. and owing
to the dense tropical growth, and the
low character and small area of the
surrounding country, it can safely be
said that all other drainage entering
this basin will not be felt one foot
from shore. If the reservoir should
fill up and waste a million gallons per
day over the spillway, there still would
be no sufficient circulation, for if there
Was any current at all through the res
ervoir, it would be in the direction OF
it's greatest length, and owing to the
locae;on of the spillway would hug the
eastern shore and leave the greatest
volume of water to the west in an I'M
disturbed and inactive state. The body
of water will necessarily become stag
mated. and worse still is the fact that
it will be confined in basin OF filth
and rottenness caused by putrefying |
vegetation, for it is absolutely the in |
tention of those in charge not TO strip |
this big area of its top soil, spongy
mass of roots and rotten vegetation,
varying from depth of few feet on
the hillsides to II or Is feet in the
bottoms Mr.. Kenly goes on at length
to prove his case. l can testify TO the
dense tropical underground and the
rotten vegetation in the reservoir site
What its effect will be on. the water is
not within nv province