El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-03-10
SAYS PUMP WATER FOR
Fl PAsO FROM THE SACRAMENTO
Continued from Page One.)

Continued
TO have been IT'S feet below the surface
| before pumping began IN September,
1905: in July. 1909. according to the
/ Hunt report, the water stood 202 feet
below surafce, a recession of % feet
/ This, in my opinion shows a rapidly di
minishing volume of water in that par
/ ticular horizon; il must be borne in
| mind that these wells beyond a doubt
/ drain a large area. and digging more
wells would not increase the volume of
! the water supply; it might provide room
, for more pumps, but that would offer
| only temporary relief.
Water May Become Bad.
But there is something still more seri-
Gus TO be considered; the mesa water
which happens 10 be good at this par
ticular locality will. If I am right in
believing that it belongs to the same
| underground water-logged horizon as
the bad" wells. gradually become sat
urated with mineral salts similar TO the
| Watts well water II would be inter
esting 10 know il the present water
company has kept a record OF the analy-
sis of the mesa water from the time the
wells were first opened&up to date; il IL
has I venture TO say that such record
will show a gradual but persistent in
crease in mineral salts My reason for
, this theory is simply that the radius Of
the drainage area supplying the mesa
wells is gradually increasing and the
contaminated" sections are being drawn
upon.
Geological Conditions Neglected.
The Hunt Engineering companyis re-
port Is an admirable piece of work, but
it did not take into consideration exist
ing geological conditions
The Hunt engineers, in speaking or
the ground water, advance the theory
that where this strata of water extends
under the Rio Grande river, the quality
is considerably affected by the salts
that have been deposited near the pres
ent surface of the ground by the river;
and that lit is probable that during the
rainy seasons of the year some water
from the Rio Grande river filters into
this strata of water"
This theory is too weak TO stand up
under its own assumption These sur |
face deposits of salts If any exist, /
would not cOntaminate the water in deep |
wells mile or more from the river |
proved to contain bad water The real |
reason is deeper seated
The geologic formation in the entire [
plateau. valley, extending from north /
of CarriZOzO, y. NJ, to more than a nun
dred miles south of FL Paso down |
through Mexico. is essentially cretace-
Gus limestone. in which are formed large |
deposits of chlorides. sulphates and car
Donates of sodium and calcium. An ex-
ample of such a deposit where it comes /
to the surface. is the White Sands
west of AlamogordO. which consists !
principally of calcium sulphate (gyp-
sum. and covers several hundred square
miles
Southwestern Water Question.
As further proof I shall mention
that the water question along the east
ern division OF the E. P. & s w rail
road between Ell Paso and Corona. N
NJ kept that company occupied for sew
eraI years. and HUNDREDS Of thousands
of dollars were expended in boring wells.
repairing and purchasing locomotives.
only 70 be eaten ups by the impure wa
ter. and experimenting with every con-
ceivable chemical ''antidote" to neu-
tralize the mineral salts contained in
the water The company finally took the
'bull by the horns and brought the
water from the eastern slope of the
White mountains over to their road ut
an expenditure of about one and q half
million dollars: I am confident that the
company considers it a good invest
ment.
Eg Paso's salvation lies in similar
direction. At the headwaters of the
Sacramento river. about 25 miles south
east of AlamogOrdo. supplemented by
the storage of the flood waters of
surface drainage area of between so
and 100 square miles is situated the
most admirable and only available So
Intion for an everlasting supply of pure
mountain water for this city
Although I have been Informed that
water rights have been secured by pri-
vate parties co.ering all the available
wat>r in this section in the Sacramentos,
for the purpose of establishing hydro
cleo .-ric power plants. there is no rea-
son why this water cannot be conducted
TO FL PaSo just the same.
Available Water supply.
The estimated available supply from
this project is 50 cubic feet per second.
equal TO about 29.OO8. 900 gallons every
"a hours The present daily consump-
ton in FL Paso is probably not more
than 100000 gallons: it is not likely
that this CITY shall ever need more than
10 times the amount of water now used.
BY having storage reservoirs on
Mount Franklin a pressure could be pro-
iuced that. comparing it with the wa
ter main that burst in Los Angeles the
other day. would be like the sound of
4 calliope on a Mississippi river steam
boat to the chipping of a canary bird
with the asthma; in other words a hy-
lrostatic pressure could be gained. suf-
iicient to throw a column of water not
only above the top of a six story build
ng." but over the top of a whole block