Arizona republican., 1909-02-28
EARTH TURNED FGR
 MESA WATERWORKS
TO BE COMPLETED WITHIN SIX
 MONTHS.
Mesa to Have the Finest Water Sys- tenn of any Town of Its Size in the
 Country.

] The first shovelfull of earth will be turned this week on the Mesa water works system. The work will begin on the North Plaza where the power house will be situated. The money is now available from the sale of the bonds and the orders for the mater ials and machinery have been placed | Engineer L. G. Knipe, who has charge ! of the work, says that the whole plant will be completed within six months from the breaking of ground.
 When finished Mesa will have one of the best and most adequate sys- tems to be found in any city of it's size in the United States. Its fire protection will probably be better than any of the smaller cities in the | southwest. It will be the best that money can buy. With force applied from the power house, a stream of water can be thrown over a seven story building. It vii be possible to throw a stream over 130 feet in height. This height can be exceeded by very few of the water systems of even the larger inland cities. A pres sure of 100 pounds and 500 gallons a minute can be obtained from any part of the city. Without pressure, using only the head obtained from the 140foot tank, a stream of water will be thrown 65 feet high, which will be adequate fire protection for the highest buildings now in Mesa.
 There will be 21 fire hydrants with static pressure at the farthest point from the tank of 40 pounds to the inch. With the static head alone it will be possible to throw a stream completely over the recently dedicated High school, the tallest and most i'm posing structure in Mesa.
 Bids for the construction of the system were opened January 22 and the contract let to G. w Yaeger of Kansas City, Mo, representing the American Light and Water company. The bid was s45,950.
 There will be six miles of pipe line laid through the streets of the city A 16-foot well, 165 feet deep is all ready bored and will be used instead of boring a new one. This well was bored by the reclamation service and has been purchased from the govern ment The yield as reported by test is 500 gallons a minute.
 The specifications call for a pump ing plant, well, tank and tower and distributing system. The pumping plant will consist of a brick building with concrete foundations and press ed metal shingle roof. In the pump pit there will be a triplex, single ac- ton pump with a capacity of 300 gal Ions a minute, against a head of 250 feet. There will be two motors, one of 20 horsepower and the other 40 and two transformers with a capacity of 20 kilowatts.
 The steel tank will be erected in the Plaza and be 140 feet high from the ground to the roof The 33,000 feet of pipe line will vary from twelve inches in diameter to four. Five iron sprinkling cranes are also called for to fill the water wagons for street sprinkling.
 Mesa will have her water system in fifteen months after the conception of the idea and the first real effort to put it into practice. Last May a meeting of the citizens was called for the purpose of discussing the sub ject. Mir. Knipe was called before the meeting and at that time sub mitted a plan by which the city could be adequately covered for the sum of s50,O0O. That plan has been or will be carried out almost to it's last de- tail. A few weeks later a bond cleo tion was called and the s50,000 voted. In December Mir. Knipe was appoint ed the supervising engineer. The bonds were advertised and sold through the Mesa City bank, and then the plans and specifications were drawn.