Evening star., 1909-08-18
IN SERVICE PIPES
Money Saved to the District Esti-
mated at $35, 900 Annually.
WORST LEAK AT CAPITOL
Open Blow-OR Allowed Tremendous
Rush of Water Into Sewer.
Pitometer Report.

A saving to the District of $4,000 as
result of the discovery of water waste
by the ptometer squad during the past
year, is reported in the annual statement
of Pftometer Operator Paul Lannam SUBJ
mtted today to W. A. Mcfarland, super
intendent of the water department.
AS the waste which was found and pre-
vented would probably have continued
for years had not the pitometer squad
been at work, their work is regarded as
having resulted in an annual saving to
the District Of $35. 900. The cost Of main
tanning the pitometer work was S2sOOO.
None of the waste found showed on the
surface of the ground.
The report shows that the total waste
found and prevented amounted to $780,
635 gallons day. Conservative estimates
place the cost of water to the District
at cent thousand gallons. This daily
saving. it is therefore figured. means
saving of about $95 a day. This means
an annual saving of $s4,6a3.
The largest amount Of waste. the re-
port shows, was due to leaking service
pipes. and 4,956,515 gallons of water per
day was saved as a result Of repairs to
those service pipes. On account OF leaky
Joints on mains it was found that 1,34S,62O
gallons of water was going to waste every
day. Two broken mains were found, and
they caused a waste of 111,0OO gallons OF
water daily two decayed wooden Plugs
were found, which allowed $4,000 gallons
of water to be wasted every day; three
cracked valve castings, which caused q
daily loss of 5000 gallons, were found
and repaired, and through eight leaking
fire hydrant valves 1t was found that 49,
500 gallons of water daily flowed.
Big Navy Yard Leak.
AS result OF special work with the
pitometer around the navy yard there
has been a saving of 2,e15.OOO gallons Of
water day that was formerly thought to
be necessary for the. government gun
shop One of the biggest single leaks
found during the past year was In the
Capitol grounds, where the water was
flowing into a sewer through an open
three.iuch blow of. The closing OF that
valve resulted in a saving Of 1914 gal,
Ions Of water every day. To "wastefui
ARRANGEMENT Of machinery at the bureau
Of fisheries the report charges daiiy
waste of 10000 gallons: and through the the
those OF the District water department
this amount was saved. An overhowing
house tank at postal station G. the re-
port declares, caused a daily waste OF
$1,000 gallons. and this was stopped. :.
spected by the members Of the pitometer
squad were found to have defective water
fixtures which caused waste OF wafer.
There were 81, 1JS houses inspected and IN
4.e21 of these defective fixtures were
found.
Discussing the general source OF waste
of water in the District Pitometer Opera
tor Lanham says:
1.-THE most fruitful source OF under
ground waste was found to be the service
pipes, although the leaks on the mains
represented a large percentage Of the
total amount. 5.214.015 gallons per day
being chargeable to the former and 1,IJ,-
100 gallons to the latter Of these causes
Causes Of Leakage.
.The leaks of the service pipes were OF
varied origin. The corrosion OF the black
iron pipes was responsible for a large
portion of the waste, and this. together
with the leaking wiped joints lead services
and on lead connections to iron services,
constituted the most important source OF
waste In this class. The defective wiped
Joints were due, in the majority OF cases.
to poor workmanship, numerous instances
having been found where the wiplng solder
was of less than one-sixteenth men
thickness at the joint. Also, in several
places, breaks were found at the wiped
joints where the appearances of the lead
indicated that it's fe1ibility had been
destroyed by overheating the pipe In the
process of wiping. When this mas oc-
CURED rupture would soon occur al the
weakened point.
"A considerable number OF broken serv-
ices were found to have been caused by
water hammer freezing, electrolysis and
unequal settlement. Several breaks 1ound
could be charged to the freezing of water
in the pipe but only a few instances OF
the destruction of services by electrolysis
were discovered. all In the vicinity of
the street railway tracks.
"Of the leaks on the mains, 90 per cent
of the waste found was through the calk-
ed Joints This condition was due to the
poor workmanship on the OLD mains. an
insufficient quantity Of lead being used. TO
unequal settlement of the pipes and to
the vibration OF mains caused BY their
proximity to street car tracks. Referring
10 this latter trouble. In one instance the
water main was in contact Tor several
blocks with the iron yokes supporting the
tracks and every joint was found leak
ing. In another case the two joints on
6-inch sleeve, Immediately beneath the
car tracks, were found completely blown
out, the sleeve being free to move in
either direction on the pipe
Only Two Actual Breaks.
while only two actual breaks were
found. the amount OF waste from them
was large. No specific cause Of one of
these breaks can be ascribed. but the
other was due to a sand hole in the cast
ing Decayed wooden plugs were respon-
sibre for considerable waste, and one OF
the largest leaks uncovered was due to
that condition a number of leaks on
fire hydrant valves were found, the water
escaping through the waste valve into the
sewer or porous soil. Two cases of leak
age through cracked valves were caused
either by defects In the castings or
abuse.
During the year a number OF special
Investigations were made and. incidental
to the routine work. 500 feet of unre-
corded main and four unrecorded valves
were found.