The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-08-18
LOCATION 0F BIG LOCOMOTIVE WORKS
 DEPENDENT ON THE SUPPLY OF WATER
Officials of Baldwin Loco. motive Works Investigat- ing the Available Water Supply of Birming-
 ham District

It is rumored that the Baldwin con- pany would locate it's southern locomo-
 tive works in Birmingham if they
 could be assured of a sufficient water
 supply. In statement published in
 The Age-Herald last Friday Samuel NJ.
 Vauclain of the Baldwin company Is
 quoted as saying that his company
 would build two new plants-one in the far west and the other in the far south
 According to the rumor that has been circulating in Birmingham the last two or three days, Birmingham has been favorably considered by the Baldwin company, but when they got to the question of water, they hesitated before deciding definitely the location. Some doubt seems to have arisen in the minds of the Baldwin officials as to whether, if they located here. they could be sure of all the water thev would require in the operation of their plant.
 It is pointed out that industrial en- terprises already in operation or build- ing will consume all of the water yil-
 lage creek can supply, and that there
 IS no other stream in the vicinity of Birmingham which can be depended upon for constant supply in any con- siderable quantities. A plant of tha magnitude of the proposed locomot;va works to be built by the Baldwin com pany would consume an enormous quantity or water daily, and to buy this rom another corporation would be an expensive proposition. The Baldwin company, it is understood, wants a To- cation close to a constant supply of water from which it can draw what 1t needs through it's own water system and independent of any other persan or corporation
 CITY WATER SUPPLY Asked about Birmingham's wafer supply Superintendent Harry H Hor- her of the Birmingham waterworks said that their plant was capabIe of supplying all the water Birmingham
 needs now or will need for a great
 many years to come. This. of course | does not apply to large industrial con, cerns that consume enormous ouan- tltles daily. At least one of the cor porations operating in Birmin eham l uses more water every day than does
 the whole population of the city. !he oally consumption of water in B;r-
 liiinshafn during the summer months. ac I cordlng to MT. Horner, is approximateiv l ls,ooo,090 gallons, and in winter 2 oOo 0oo ,, l o,uWVO iess The Cahaba river from which the Birmingham waterworks dra w. l Us water. supplies this quantity and 1 more, except on occasions when a drouth | continues for several weeks TO pro l 1ue against an emergency the water works company several years ago built a
 lake or reservoir near it's Cahaba nr,,,r | ing station that has a capacity of I soo !.
 oV,ooo gallons, sufficient to supply all of Blrmingham's needs for several weeks even If the Cahaba river should go en i. l tirely dry e " TO buy water from the waterworks
 company. however, would be more expen.
 sive than big iron manufacturing com
 pany would care to pay. Filtered water
 IS not required for engine and coo,,ng purposes, and as the waterworks filters all or the water it pumps into the city It has no way of supplying any other
 Kind TEey cannot sell the filtered water
 as cheaply as they could sell water
 pumped directly from the river.
 l SURVEY IS MADE
 Several years ago Birmingham's wa+e- supply was questioned and to satisfy | themselves and others who had raised the question committee of Birmingha m business men caused survey to he made. The result of this survey was
 submitted in an exhaustive report which
 showed that within a radius of few
 miles of the city enough water could he
 secured to meet any possible demand
 It was pointed out that the Coosa river IS only few miles to the east og the Ca haba pumping station of the wa terwo,ks
 company and that it could supply city