Putnam patriot., 1912-06-21
WaterworkS Situation Ex-
 p,ained
Faulty Conditions Brought 0ut

tion Counsel J. F. Carpenter reported relative to the status Of tbe case of the City of Putnam and the Putnam \ ater Company which came 10 an end at Hartford Tuesday when the ar gamenls Wefe heatd He said in parl
 "Today closed the Water Company hearing at Hartford which has oren beard before the commission for the past four weeks. Tine city had good experts aad good counsel Judge HenneY is as able counsel as any i1 the state aad ihe city employed good, fair and honorable engineers 10 testify. The other side employed experts that do little else than to go about testify ing in such eases.
 The superintendent Of the company was called by each side His testimo. ny developed that the city had been getting unfltered water from lime to time, that the filters were faulty and that he and his men often had t0 ehisel out cracks and fill them in in order to hold the water. The sand in the filters was put in seven years ago and not an inch has been put in since and II k now down 10 about foot. It takes about S500 a year to keep the fii- ter in sand 50 that failing in this was q depreciation in the plant. They also have back water and cannot draw Woodstock lake down but nine inches. In 1910 they pumped more by steam than by water.
 In regard to the eityis fire protection A. l. Morse was an excellent witness and showed by records the inadequate pressure. II so happened that during the hearing the insurance inspectors were here and made tests which prov cd 10 be the lowest of any. Testimony was also introduced by experts in fire pressures and apparatus and they showed certain pleasures even lower than MT. Morse denoting that we have been in bad condition. Mr. Morse showed it up 50 that when the con- mittee were asked fl they did not care to ceme to Putnam to luoK over the situation MT. Chandler said il would be useless to go unless the other side offered some evidence to rebut that of. fered by the city. Chief Wilson of the fire department was also good wit ness and deserves credit for the way he handled the situation. His testimony was 50 clear and certain that there WAS very little cross examination.
 1 don't think the council has any conception of our condition here. At the Powhattan mill we can't get over two streams that will 70 to the roof and we can't get three good streams at The Monohansett, the latter place be- ing moi so much on account of lack of was also shown that four streams would draw the tank down in four hours. Testimony was offered as to frozen hydrants showing that they were not properly put in and mnin- tained and on this line testimony was offered as to the conditions that were found to exist at various fires and 1t was admitted by the superintendent that those conditions were bad.
 The agent for the railroad company stated that the company was planning To get it's water somewhere else and as over ten per cent of the revenue comes from the company this would mean a great deal. We had an excellent line of local testimony along these lines. Regarding the basin owned by the company near East Woodstock It was shown that it would only advance the present efficiency by about eight horse power and it would cost in the neigh borhood of s20, 900 to procure it which would be poor investment. 1t was also shown by practical demonstration that the ten-ineh main from Harris. vile to Putnam had been so choked by accumulations that in reality it is only eight Inches. The other side admitted that we haven't what we ought to have, that we needed a twelye-inch main from Harrisville to Putnam and some about the city. The pipes are loo small and the distribution made quate. Asked if fire engines were not necessary the experts replied that they were not, that there would be adequate pressure if the pipes were big enough. It was proved that the storage reser voir was not what the company claim ed for Il, that ii k practically worth less on account of the cost to get what would be but small added efficiency It was admitted that the pumps were wrong and The filter Is wrong ant could be built for much less than Il cost.
 Such is the situation in the city. W, have mol had eoniiagrstion for whiel we should be thankful for if we has there would have been trouble. Tn, Wheelers claim that twelve-inel main should be brought down iron the pumping station on the Litth I agree with them. Our act to talk over the Water Company's plant give us the right to borrow money, not onl, to take over the plant but to put il il proper condition. There is no ques ton but that new pipes are needed. II financing the deal, which will proba bly, come about the first Of September the Aetna Life Insurance Compan, stands ready to finance it, as does an other company, at { l2 per cent. would recommend that we give shor