The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-16

nlclpal water shpply hafii V, ii' s7 | stream:
 | l. To secure sufficient water would mean | an extensive storage proposition to tide | over the dry seasons.
 ,. The claims, which probably the gen | eral government would set up, not only to the minimum flow of the stream, but l also to a portion of the impounded water 1 for lockage purposes
 1, 2. In all proba biity any extensive inn | bounding would result in the overflow of l considerable coal bearing lands, whilst | the water would be subject to pollution 1 from coal washers and other industrial works
 MULBERRY AND sIPsY FORKS OF THE WARRIOR RIVER SUPPLY. The objections named above would ob- | tain in a greater or less extent to this as a source for municipal water sup ply, although. in all probability. the per oentage of flooded coald lands and pollu- tion from such operations would be less. ! However it would be necessary at least l to construct expensive masonry dam. | in order to impound q sufficient supply | of water. A third objection to this prop osition is that there are certain claims | filed with the government for the use l of the water not required for lockage | for use in developing electrical power and for other purposes There is an- other serious objection. and that is that the elevation of the water in these rivers | is approximately 100 feet lower than that l in the Coosa river thus meaning the ad- ditional cost of pumping against this ex- l cess of head. There are also one or more schemes for securing water from | the lower Cahaba river, ranging in local l ity from a point short distance below 1 Helena to points further upstream. These | projects would also require expensive dams and extensive impounding. in order to furnish an adequate supply of water , at all seasons. Then, again, these proj- ects. to a greater or less extent. are dependent upon the water which is not required by the Birmingham Waterworks company higher upstream.
 l TENNESSEE RIVER.
 ! Several projects have been discussed from time to time looking to the Ten l nessee river as a water supply. The great l distance. however, in the writer's opinion, would eliminate these projects until the nearer supplies have been exhausted.
 COOSA RIVER.
 1 It has been often sugs sested that this l river owing to it's location and large minimum flow compared with other 1 streams as accessible, would be a prob able desirable source for Birmingham $ l future water supply and the writer, after a preliminary investigation of all other sources has decided to base this estimate on water secured from this source Some of the reasons for arriving at this con elusion follows
 The river at tte point selected for a pumping station as a basis for this est- mate. is approximately l00 feet higher than the Mulberry and Sipsy forks of the Warrior river and a a location most con | venient for securing q water supply for Birmingham, and approximately the same distance from the city. Then again. the minimum and average flow of this river is many times the flow of any other nor in wi he exception of the Tennessee river: conse- quently, the percentage of pollution from domestic and other sources would be far less. Also. this minimum flow is far greater than Birmingham would ever need until she had reached many times her present population In fact, there is am pie water flowing in this stream with
 out impounding, to supply city of x
 times Birminghams present population ] It Is true that the general government
 in years to come may impose some re-
 strctions on the amount of water pumped
 from this river by the city and require some cooperation from the city in the matter of constructing a dam across the
 river for storage purposes. However, il
 the opinion of the writer, this is re mote contingency It is not claimed bs the writer that he has selected the besl site for the pumping station on this river
 taking everything into consideration. but
 '
 good as basis for estimating an6 ; that extensive surveys and estimates vii be necessary in order to show (whethei or not some other point may be more desirab ble.
 GENERAL
 owing to the short time allowed, tn, report can only be considered as prelim mary and doubtless will be subject t,
 many just criticisms all of which vii be gladly received by the writer and ! is hoped will result in bringing out mucl valuable information for the city In ordel to develop this discussion. many of tn, , details of calculations and estimates ar, set out in this report
 GENERAL DESCRIPTION
 The site selected for the pumping sta tion is located just above Glover Ferry
 between the proposed location of locks , and s, on the Coosa river, and abou , 1000 feet above the point where the At ,, lanta, Birmingham and Atlantic railroad crosses the river and about two mile , from the Central of Georgia railroad nea II Vincent. From this point 4S-inch fore
 main Is designed to run via Sterretts : fpassing through Coosa mountain by means lof tunnel. thence through Oak noun tain, probably at Lowry Gap. by mean
 of another tunnel: thence to the reservoir and filter site, which is located near Ear 1rondale: from this point the water wo,at be conducted to the city by means of , 4S-inch pipe.
 PUMPING PLANT
 This plant will consist of one l2, ,000 000 : pump. two 5000. .00O- gallon pumps. tota capacity 2SOO0,00O gallons per day, an, A will be supplied with necessary boilers