The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-08-18

turing plants could be made reasonable, we find the amount Is enormous Gallons. One of our manufacturing plants alone. In few years. will use, Der day ...,.. ........... 4O,0Oo,00O l One other large furnace company can use. per day ....... .... ...... ,OOO The manufacturing plants in and including the town of North Br-
 mingham. per day .. 5,OO0 900 Pratt City, per day .......... 1, 900 000 Manufacturing plants, outside of the Tennessee company in Ems ley. per day ..... ..... ...... 5000 o0O East Birmingham, per day .. :. :. 5000 0C0 City of Birmingham Ensley Woodlawn, Avondale. East Lake, Elyton, West End and Graymont, per day ........... eco
 Making a total per day, of ......7s, 900
 Of this amount of water the
 Birmingham Water Works com
 pany is supplying daily about. .15, ,OO0,O Oo0
 North Birmingham :. 1,OO0,O00
 Leaving a balance per day of 61,500,O0O
 gallons to be pumped from creeks, springs
 and branches.
 Some of the large manufacturing plants
 around Birmingham are now using the
 creek water over three or four times,
 after 1t has already been used at two
 or three furnace plants, and are now making calculations on going out to the Warrior river and pumping water for their own use.
 This North Birmingham water works system can deliver water cheaper than a steam pumping plant can ever do, ana they will have no trouble in securing
 contracts to supply large percentage or this water.
 As per your request we also investi- gated obtaining water from the Coosa river. advisability of the city purchasing the Birmingham Water Works company plant, Professor Rays water works plan and the Taylors Ferry proposition, and beg to submit the following
 Report on Coosa River We find that there is plenty of water in Coosa river for all purposes; we also ma that the river runs through flat, low country and that the banks on elther side are low and could not be damned up to a height that would give a great amount of power, and that 1t Is nav igable stream, and that a power oaiii would have to be made under govern ment regulations, and could not be made l over 40 feet high. Last of all, we hho .ne 2 Coosa river is polluted stream, caused | by the sewerage and drainage rom ,he l cities of Rome Dalton, Cedartown, Car tersyjlle and Canton, Ga, and many other | small towns in Georgia; also Gadsden and Attalla, and many other small towns 1 in Alabama.
 Birminuham Waterworks Plant. Tn the first place Birmingham has out | grown this plant, while it is true that the supply can be increased by dammins up | cahaba creek that comes from Leeds | even this would be entirely too sHaii. | This watershed only contains 2ls square miles. and said watershed contains now | about six coal mines in operation, cuai washer one furnace plant and one oi ',1 @ l largest cement plants in the dstric,, ail | of which are drained by rains ana noous into the storage reservoir of this water supply. While the filtration plants are of the best class, and are kept In goou condition, and as far as we know are pro ducing good and wholesome water, stiii if is not safe plan to trust altogether to the filter plant for pure water. It IS a far better plan to give the filter plant n,,re water to work on, and it does seem from the above stated conditions that we are now playing around the danger line with our water supply from health standpoint.
 The present supply Is supposed to be ahout 16. .OO0 COG per day, but we estimate they could save about 5s,OO0,oOo gallons. Professor Rays Gravity Plan. We next take up the Professor Kay nroposition of obtaining a water supply for the city of Birmingham by gravity.
 This seems to have been a proposition
 to obtain a supply of water for manu-
 featuring purposes alone. as the plans
 only contemplated turning one or two of
 the upper prongs of the Warrior river,
 from point in Blount county, near
 Swansea and Altoona coal mines, on the
 line of the Louisville and Nashville branch
 road from Birmingham to Gadsden,
 through a canal or ditch, into Village
 creek at North Birmingham. water
 supply of this kind can only be of benefit
 to the large manufacturing plants that
 use a sufficiently large quantity of wa