Arizona republican., 1919-07-25

In 1906 Alexander Potter, an engin- | ger of nation wide reputation, an expert | on municipal water works, came to Phoenix at the request of the city coun- | cil and made an exhaustive study of | every possible source of water. He had | in all some half dozen potential sources, but in making his comments on them he did so in order of their worthless ness. He left the Verde to the last, | and he unqualifiedly endorsed that river as the one best proposition for securing the kind of water Phoenix needs and in the proper amounts. In speaking of the value of soft water to the city he had the following to say:
 The value of securing soft water is of course very great, especially in the event of Phoenix becoming a manu- featuring center as the effect of hard or saline water upon boilers is vepy serious and attended with increased expense of operation, thus reducing fuel economies"
 Every engineer who has made a re- port has laid special stress on the fact that if wells are bored within the city limits and pumps installed Phoenix never can expect to bring industries here. It is out of the question, they all say, for a large plant to run it's boilers with alkali water. The constant repair bills made necessary by the eat ing through of the present water is pro- hibitive. In the Verde they are all positive, and their opinions are borne out by leading chemists of the country, that Phoenix has water which can be used in any sort or variety of a boiler without the least danger of damage.
 Scheme More Than Attractive
 A few years ago Howard S. Reed of Phoenix, an associate member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and later a member of the corps of engineers, U. $. A., made a careful study of the different water supplies open to Phoenix and submitted an ex- naustive report. In commenting on the Verde, he had in part the following to say:
 The scheme of bringing the Verde water in is an attractive one and I have given it careful study.
 There is no question about an ade- quate water supply in the Verde river as observations have been maintained on this river by the U. s. geological survey and others vitally interested in the flow of the stream since 1888 and the minimum flow registered during all 1 this period was 32 second feet on July l9, 1904. The mean daily discharge for | the month of July, 1904, the month when the above measurement was | taken, was 52 second feet, this being 1 the lowest mean flow for any month 1 during the entire period of over 25 years.
 Tn the measurements only the sur 1 face flow is considered and no approxi- nation made of the underflow and you will note the flow is practically three ! times what the maximum requirements i of the city will be. No question has ever seriously been raised as to the amount of water the Verde river would | furnish or the reliability of the stream 1 flow and l am simply inserting this 1 information so as to anticipate the l bringing of such a question into the i discussion as it has been asked me in a general way and then only by those who wished information on the subject
 Tt must be remembered that 1904 was right at the end of the longest pe- riod of drought that the valley ever sustained, which commenced in 1898 and extended practically six years. and this result at the end of this period is | conclusive as to the reliability of the stream and we can go ahead with en- tire assurance that the waters of the Verde will always furnish never fail-
 ing supply even without resorting to
 storage"
 , Verde Water Has Every Advantaqe T c. F. Phillips of New York is an-
 other engineer who was very much at-
 tracted to the Verde river proposition.
 He had a number of reasons for liking
 it and summarized them as follows: First, the quality is good; second,
 there will be no storage required; i;
 third, the city now has title to water in
 this stream; fourth. there will be no
 valuable lands for reservoir sites to con
 demn fifth, there is feasible location