The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-10-18
Improvement Under Way Is
Expected to Remove Cause
Of All Complaint Made With
in Recent Months.
TWELVE HUNDRED BAR
RELS OF CEMENT USED.
The Company Is Also Laying a
New Pipe in Order to Sc
cure better circulation of
The Water.

About three miles r~--heast OF this
city, at the Richmond Water Works.
company reservoir, WORK is about half
completed on the biggest cement lob
ever undertaken in this part OF the
country. For three weeks the water
works company has had a large gang
OF men at work cementing the sides OF
the reservoir and placing a cement
abutment around the top Of the reser-
voir. 1t will be at least a month be.
fore the job is entirely completed. Then
the Richmond Water Works company
will have one of the finest reservoirs in
the United States and the residents OF
this city Will no longer have to COM
plain that occasionally the water has
an unpleasant taste. 1t was on account
of this occasional unpleasant taste to
the water that the Richmond Water
Works company decided to expend sew.
eral thousands of dollars to improve
it's reservoir.
Complaints Made.
About six years ago the companx
placed a cement floor in the reservoir
and at the same time cemented all four
sides about three feet up from the bot
tom. From the top of this cement
side to top of the reservoir immense
boulders were placed. In the past two
or three years there have been fire.
quent complaints regarding the un-
pleasant taste of the water. Residents
of his city feared that the water was
unsanitary and there was great agita-
ton. Consequently water experts
were called in to make an investiga-
ton. These experts finally reached
the conclusion that the unpleasant
taste to the water originated from the
plant growth between the boulders.
which formed the sides of the reser-
voir. This plant growth, while caus-
ing an unpleasant tase to the water.
the experts stated, did not make the
water unsanitary. Nevertheless, the
officers of the water works company
decided that the water used by the peo-
pie of Richmond should not only be
sanitary, but pleasant to taste. The
big reservoir was then drained and
while the people of Richmond are be-
ing supplied with water direct from the
galleries the work of entirely cement
ing the reservoir is under way.
Magnitude Of Job.
Some idea of the job the water works
company has undertaken, can be
cleaned from the following figures.
The width of the reservoir from top to
top is 25O feet, from bottom to bot
tom. 200 feet The length of the big
hole in the ground from top to top
is $50 feet, from bottom to bottom 300
feet. Vertically, the reservoir is
about 26 feet deep, while from the top
of the slopes to the bottom the depth
varies from 33 to SO feet. When fill
ed, the reservoir holds ten million gal
Ions of water. Now to cement the
sides of this reservoir and to build the
stone abutments around the top, it will
be necessary to use twelve hundred
barrels of cement or about seven car
loads and twelve hundred wagon loads
Of gravel.
Bargain With Township.
The road which leads from the Ne0
Paris pike to the reservoir has a very
steep grade. This road runs through
rich deposits of gravel. A short time
prior to the beginning of the work OF
improving the reservoir, Township
Trustee Potter determined to cut down
the grade Of this road. When the Of
ficers Of the company heard this they
went to Mr.. Potter and told him that
if he would allow the company to cut
n I1 40 ,F h. a
they could obtain gravel, they would
pay the township for this gravel and
the money could be used in further
Improvements on the road after the
company had secured all the gravel
necessary. Mr. Potter promptly ac-
cepted this proposition.
Laying New Pipe.
Besides cementing the sides of the
reservoir, the company is placing II
inch line of pipe from the southwest
corner of the reservoir to the north
east corner. This piping is part of a
plan to secure better circulation of the
water when the reservoir Is filled
again. Near the southwest corner there
is a twenty-inch check valve which
pours the water out of the reservoir
for use in the city. Just few feet to
the north east of this check valve is a
fourteen inch check valve which emp
ties water into the reservoir. This
system will keep the water in the res
ervoir in constant circulation SO that
it will at all times be fresh as well as
pure:
The public is invited to visit the res
eryoir at any time. The road that
l.. Il.