Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-11-15
The First City Supply.

city But now it is different
The First City Supply.
In fact to go back to its very inception,
primary credit for the present plant must
be given to Maj. LEnfant, French civil
engineer and soldier of fortune of Gen.
WaShingtonS time, who cast his lot with
the colonists III their revolutionary
struggle against England. He did not
return to France at the close of the war,
and consequently, after the founding or
the city of Washington. he was delegA' ed
by Gen. Washington to survey the city,
or Village-for it was but little more at
that time-wth the idea of choosing the
most suitable site for water reservoirs
Mai. LEnfant naturally turned to the
broad waters of the Potomac, flowing
past the very front door of the CITY, as
the most logical source of the supply, put
this was inadvisable on account of tne
enormous expense attendant upon an Ell
fort to convey the waters TO the CITY.
Finally the numerous springs situated
about the city, were drawn upon, ana
these. together with small supply op-
tanned from Rock creek and James creek.
sufficed for the young capital Tor long
time
Even for the same number of in
habitants such a supply would today be
totally inadequate. For, in colonial days
either because the inhabitants had not
vet adopted the mollycoddle system or
taking chasers with their drinks, or Tor
some other equally potent ana lhtelliseht
reason, the daily per capita consumption
of water was nowhere near as great
a. il is at present. Statistics snow thal
the increase in the consumption OF water
has not only kept pace with the growth
of the population. but has ieaped Tar III
advance of it with constantly increasing
strides Apparently the more people there
are to consume water the more water
each person will consume.
Along about the middle of the last cen
tury the city's consumption OF water Had
increased to such an extent that imme-
date steps were necessary to staye off
a water famine which seemed due within
a very few years. Those who were IN
position to know managed to stir up pub
iic sentiment to point where Congress
and the municipality had to act, and in
1850 the open-handed national legislators
appropriated $500 for the preliminary sur
veys for an increased water supply for
the capital The municipality then ap-
propriated an additional thousand to en-
able the War Department to do the work
properly.
Brevet Lieut. Col George w. Hughes
of the Corps of Typographical Engineers
was the officer to whom the War Depart
inent intrusted this important commission
He made a very thorough study of the
conditions in the vicinity of the city i'll
so far as they affected the water supply
and his report. submitted at the next
session of Congress, was a very compre-
the supplying of the city as 1t was then
and also made provision for its expan-
sion during the next forty years.
Like every other engineer who had at
tackled the problem. Col. Hughes saw that
the Potomac was the best source from
which to draw the cityS water. The
question of expense, however. such
a great factor in the solution of the prob
lem that he also was obliged to look
elsewhere To obtain the best results
the intake for water from the Poomac
had to be placed as far up the river as
possible to allow a sufficient head Cor sup
plying the greater part of the city with
out pumping. Nature had provided a
place for this intake at Great Falls. but
that place is more than sixteen miles
from the city and the expense of build
ing conduit was the greatest item in
the cost of getting the water from the
Potomac. At that time 1t was not
thought possible to incur such a great
cost.
Col. Hughes therefore considered the
possibilities of Rock creek as sOurca
of supply. This was nearer source.
and the expense of taking water from it
was within the limits laid down. He
suggested building a dam in the upper
part of the Rock creek valley TO irnpound
the waters of that stream which would
then be conveyed to a standardization res