The Coconino sun., 1923-02-09
THE COCONINO SUN


flow through gravel is considerable
, and it would appear entirely out of
. the question to depend upon gravel
bed so thin and of such limited di-
mensions for city supply.
Even if the quantity of supply
were unquestioned, there would still
be the disadvantage of a quality less
satisfactory than the present sup
ply. Analyses of the water made at
the state laboratory show that the
Fort Valley well water is very hard,
having about 13 times the hardness
4 of the present supply. The high
amount of hardness would make this
water very much less satisfactory for
4 domestic uses, laundry use and use in
boilers OF manufacturing plants and
locomotives. A water with so much
hardness would certainly not be ac-
ceptable to the Santa F'e, as long as
water of satisfactory quality can be
obtained.
Crater Lake
"a partial development of Crater
/ lake as a storage reservoir to hold
water for the purpose mainly Of wa
tering stock has been made since
1914 under the direction of Mr.. Spen-
Ger and the Coconino Water Develop
ment & Stock Co. 1t was also ex-
4 pected eventually to provide water
for Grand Canyon, Williams and
Winslow, and in connection with the
Crater lake work development of
Walker lake was also contemplated.
A development of underground sup
ply in Lockett park in connection with
the surface run-off from the interior
valley is also being made for stock
watering.
"Water appropriations have been
filed at so locations appropriating the
water above the $500 foot contour on
the north, west and south sides of
the Peaks and above the 5000 foot
contour on the east side, together
covering practically all of the run
off of 27,180 acres except that used
by the town Of Flagstaff.
An increase of g inch rainfall
with every foot rise was assumed,
making an average precipitation of
80 inches over the area, and, assum-
ing a run-off Of 33 1-3 per cent, the
run-off would be around 100000, 900
gallons. Partial measurements of
actual run-off during 1917 aggregat-
ed 1,600,000000 gallons from the en-
tire 27,180 acres, of which 1,220,000,-
600 gallons was from the Crater lake
area of $500 acres. 1t was believed
possible to gather, collect and store
1,O00,000,000 gallons year, of which
350,000,000 gallons was believed pos
sible in the Crater lake project.
''The actual development which
has been made up to the present on
the Crater lake project consists of
2.75 miles of collecting bitches, IL
miles of 8-inch sIip-joint steel pipe, |
465 feet of intake tunnel through the
east rim of the lake and 500 feet of
outlet tunnel through the west rim. /
"Crater lake is IL miles northwest
of the city in a direct line at an efe- /
walton of $500 feet. At the time of /
our inspection the lake had an aver
age diameter of about $50 feet and
an estimated storage Of 20,000,00O /
gallons. Last spring water was run
into the lake until the depth was 101a \
feet greater than at the time of our
visit, and the average diameter was
then 730 feet. A leak then developed I
due to subsidence of the ground over
the outlet tunnel and the lake was
pulled down below the point of leak
age.
''The water available for collection
and storage in Crater lake is run off
from an area some of which is cul-
tivated and some Of which is grazed.
The water, therefore, not only car
ries much silt but some organic pol
luton. Last spring it was demon
strated that the collection bitches
where they had too light a grade,
we're insufficient in size and needed
because much silt was
deposited in them. So much silt was
carried that it Indicated the need of
settling basins along the ditch lines
to prevent filling up the bitches and
the lake. After storage IN the lake
much of this silt settles out but the
water would never be suitable for
domestic use without publication.
The organic pollution would also
make it necessary to filter the wa
ter before furnishing it to the town.
"The capacity of Crater lake is es-
timated by the owners at 150,000,000
gallons, based on surveys by two diff
ferent engineers. The depth of wa
ter for this capacity would be about
40 feet. For capacity OF 100000
900 gallons the depth would be about
30 feet. The lake was filled to a
depth of about 18 feet last spring
when the leak developed. 1t is claim
ed that the lake was filled to a depth
of about 22 feet in 1916 to test its
''The bottom of the crater seems to
be covered with layer of silt up to the
at the time of our inspec-
tion, is fairly well silted up to the 18-
foot depth, but above that point the
lava and ash deposit appeared quite
porous. On the east side below the
inlet tunnel the silt and fine ma
terial had all been washed off, show
ing very clearly the porous structure
Of the rim.
"Granting that the bottom might
be fairly tight under the present
shallow depth, it appears very doubt
full whether it would be tight under