Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1920-03-20
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FOR VERDE Line
BOUGHT BY CITY
Contracts Signed for 153, 900
Feet at Cost Of $844,000-
New Water System to Be
Complete By April /, 1921
Begin Work Soon

Under the authorization of the
city commissioners, who met in
special session yesterday, City
Manager Thompson has signed a
toward assuring Phoenix of an
adequate supply Of soft water from
the Verde river by April I. 1921.
The contract calls for 153, 900 feet
of redwood pipe to be furnished by
the Pacific Tank and Pipe COM
pany and the Redwood Manufac-
turing company, both of San Fran
cisco, at a total cost of $844,o 900.
Provision is made for work on the
Verde system to begin within 80
days and to be completed by April
I, 1921.
Bids for excavation and intake
will be advertised for soon, accord
ing to Mr.. Thompson. The first
bids for this work were rejected
as too high.
big Step Forward for City"
1.-THE signing and delivering of these
contracts marks a big step forward for
Phoenix" was the comment City Man
ager Thompson made after the meeting
yesterday. ct means that the city
will soon have a liberal supply of the
finest soft water obtainable in the val
ley and that the system through which
this water is conveyed will meet the
exacting requirements of many years
usage"
Manager Thompson started to work
and plan for the city water system
in 1912, when he was superintendent OF
water works. Previous to that, thor
ough investigation was made of the
matter by the wator works board under
Chairman Lincoln Fowler and the adj
xr,r.. y
City, then consulting engineer for the
board.
William L. Church, one of the fore
most engineers of the country made an
exhaustive report on the subject in
1916. At that time he made the fol-
lowing recommendation for redwood
pipe line: in my judgment there is
no question as to the desirability of a
wooden pipe line for this service This
does not rest by any
means upon the favorable difference
in cost, considerable as that is. IT
rests mainly upon the fact that the
carrying capacity of a wooden pipe line
does not diminish with age"
Made Many Inquiries
Before finally passing upon the ac-
cepted contracts for redwood pipe, City
Manager Thompson and the city com
made extensive inquiries
from places where similar systems
were in use to ascertain their de-
OF especial interest was
the reply from San Diego, where cli-
matte conditions are very much like
that of Phoenix. w. j. Judy. city
manager of San Diego. telegraphed:
1--WE have 26 miles of redwood pipe
line in service which was installed in
1901 and is still in good condition.
Planning to install more this year
Redwood pipe line was laid by the
Anaconda Copper company of Butte.
Mont, in 1892, according to their chief
engineer, Eugene Carroll, yho is also
chief engineer of the Butte Water COM
pany. He said the pipe line Installed
in 1892 was in excellent condition at
the present day and that 10 miles of the
same kind of line installed seven years
later was giving satisfactory service
at a low maintenance cosv.
BY accepting the redwood pipe at the
price quoted by the two firms, the city
will have about s450,00O of the $500,
boo bond issue for excavation and in
take work and other expenses of the
system. The new system is expected
to affect a. yearly saving of approxi-
mately $4,000 over the cost of main
tanning the present water system.