The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1918-07-17
TNGINEER FAVORS
HICKORY CREEK FOR
CITY WATER SUPPLY
Continued from page y

ideal location fo.' a dam on Hickory
creek where dam 40 feet high and
600 feet long at the top will inn
pound 560,000,000 gallons of water
on 100 acres. from a watershed OF
IS square miles and that by build
ing this dam ten feet higher the
amount of water impounded could
be doubled. He showed that the
watershed was free from contami-
nation, as there is little habituation
upon it and is rocky country with
good "run-off"; that the creek
flows all the year and if there
should be some sepage the flow OF
the creek would more than offset
this. He said there is u solid rock
bottom upon which to build the
dam and the formation is good.
Such a dam could be carried on up
to a height of 100 feet, should be
become necessary and that l,llO,-
100000 gallons of water coul dbe
stored. The rains OF the year would
fill a reservoir of this size. 1t was
possible, he said, to make the dam
100 feet without increasing the
length.
The Hickory creek watershed is
five times as great as the present
one and will produce three times
the amount of water now used, or
for a city three times as large as
Ardmore at the present time. Sur
plus water couldl be stored in the
present reservoir. This will require
thirteen and one-half miles of pipe
The elevation at the proposed dam
site is 1929 feet above sea level.
The pumping plant elevation is 7S4
feet, giving fall of 245 feet from
the proposed dam to the pumping
station and with l2-inch main, as
much as l,750,0O0 gallons could be
carried daily to the pumping station
by gravity. With l6inch main
this could be increased to $4,000
gallons. The smaller pipe would be
adequate with the dam as proposed.
Referring to Henry House creek
and the proposed dam site above
the falls, he said there would be
found watershed of 10 square
miles. Henry House creek goes dry
in summer, he said, and a dam there
must be 200 feet long to cover with
water a reservoir of 50 acres that
would not give a storage capacity
in excess of 100000 gallons.
More than this, the rock formation
there is broken and there would
be much sepage, although many of
the cracks might be filled with ce-
ment and some of this remeded.
From that point to the pumping
station there is a fall of only l54
feet and larger pipe would be re-
quired than is necessary at the
Hickory creek proposed dam. The
distance is shorter, however, re-
quiring only II IA miles of pipe.
AS to the Washita.
The report then dealt with the
Washita river supply and was thor
ough. So far as getting to the wa
ter, Washita river is the most eco
nomical source, the engineer re-
ported, but then comes the question
of a pumping station, settling ba-
sins and the treatment of the wa
ter for softening with probably the
necessity for 4 second pumping
plant. The quality of the water
was the most important phase dis
cussed by the engineer. He had
two recent reports on the analysis
OF the water and it was shown that
the water is very hard and contains
much gypsum; that it heads in the
Panhandle of Texas and flows
several counties where the
formation is largely "gyp" and this
is carried along the stream in vary
ing quantities. He gave the per-
centages of the minerals in the wa
ter and made comparisons with 9TH
er cities using hard water. He said
the largest number of parts of this
character in water used for domes-
tic purposes is at Warren, Ohio,
with $50. Shreveport, La, has wa
ter carrying 800 and Oklahoma
City 800, while that OF the Washita,
according to the two samples ana
lyzed, carries 767. He said this
would require settling plant and
treatment of the water chemically.
Then, he said, there is much or
ganic matter which would demand
a chlorine treatment. He showed
that the expense of treating water
was great as the man in charge of
the work at Oklahoma City told
him they were paying three times
as much for chemicals as they cost
a year ago. 1t would be necessary
TO make a small dam in the Wash
Ita river and build a pumping plant
at a point where it would not be
affected by high water and still be
in reach of low water. 1t would
require ten miles of pipe line to
reach the Washita.
Mr.. Mcintosh announced that he
had reached the conclusions (D
that the cost OF procuring water
fra,, .ba kLaeb,,a ,.,,x = ,ro,.a,