Evening star., 1924-06-12

Washington's water supply was
threatened today. when sixty feet of
the sixty -five-yca old conduit which
brings the city's water from Great
Falls gave way, completely shutting
Oft The water supply and causing
Conduit road TO cave in on top OF
the break. The blowout" occurred
about five miles the other side of
Cabin John Bridge, about 10 O'Clock
this morning. There Is ample water
supply in the city's various reser-
Noirs 10 meet the needs of Washing
ton until after the break is repaired.
which. engineers estimated today,
will be by o'clock Saturday after
noon.
The break was caused, as engineers
have been predicting for years, by
the weaknesses induced by age, in the
single conduit which supplies Wash
ingtons water, combined with heavy
rains, which have washed earth away
from the bottom of the big tunnel.
The force of the break carried por-
tions of the brick conduit twenty five
feet, and the Conduit road caved in
on top of the break for a distance Of
sixty feet.
No Cause for Alarm.
Maj. j. A. O'Connor, United States
engineer, in charge of the aqueduct
declared that there is danger of
the water supply TO the District fail
ing. and that consequently there is
no cause for panic or alarm on the
fire should occur, ne said, there will
he ample wate:. He pointed out that
the city now is using 65.000.000 gal
Ions of water daily, and that there is
In the reservoirs more than 26o,0O0.00O
gallons, which will be more than
enough.
According to J. S Garland, superin-
tcndent of the water department.. the
reservoirs at Brightwood and Reno
are filled with S4,5oo;ooo gallons, AL Gno
in the Geogetown, Dalecarlia and NC
MILAN reservoirs. and 4,000.000 gal
Ions of back water in the conduit
from the break to the reservoirs.
he repaired enough Immediately TO
allow some water to come through
to Washington.
Repair Work R.shed.
Three shifts of men. fifty to each
L. Il
the break. 1t will be necessary te
repair at least 100 feet of the conduit.
or possibly more, because of tn
cracks and other weak spots for some
distance each way.
The water burst from the conduit
with terrific force, scattering bricks.
wooden supports annd every thing
near for yards around. The road, the
men who were on hand say. quivered
and caved in leaving A chasm about
sixty feet long and twelve feet deep.
The men are now working feverishly
with spades, picks and every obtain
able tool to clear away the debris
The section of the roadway that
remains has had to be supported, and
a new one will have to be constructed
for some distance so that the work
on the new water line may be con-
tinued. For some distance up the
brick structure, the conduit has been
pushed out of shape by the force of
the water. Work on the new conduit
will not, however, be materially de-
1ayed
No immediate reason can be given
for the break other than the heavy
rains. which weakened the support
ing earth, which has been one of the
safety features Of the old brick con-
duit for long time.
Prepared for Trouble.
Maj. O'Connor declared today that
.-it was lucky this did not happen
for it, The engineers were sur
prised, however. that the break was
In the top of the water line, instead
of at the bottom and sides, where
the pressure is greatest.
The three reservoirs along the Con-
duit road already show a deprecia
tion in the water mark of about a
foot and a half. This represents the
drainage by the city for more than
twelve hours.
The break in the old wafer line has
shown that Congress did not appro-
pirate money any too soon for the
new conduit. which is expected to be
ready by MAY l.. 1925. Maj. O'Connor
stated that Wasbin gton was fortunate
that the sixty water
line was so excellently built. He
estimates that when the breaks are
repaired, it will take three days to
capacity.
The conduit in which the break
occurred has served Washington with
water continuously sixty-five years.
1t was completed and placed in serv-
ice December 5, 1868. 1t is circular
brick tunnel, nine feet in diameter,
conveying the water for the entire
city from a dam at Great Falls.
distance of nine and one-half miles,
to the Dalecarlia reservoir at the
District line. At this point, the water
is allowed to settle, and then con-
tinues to flow two miles further to
the Georgetown reservoir.
The entire supply for the city then
is taken through the Lydecker tunnel
from Georgetown to the filtration
plant at 1st and Bryant streets.
There the water is lifted by pumps.
distance of twenty-one feet, to the
filter bed.
The water for the downtown sec
tion flows by gravity, directly from
the filtration plant. For the other
higher sections of the city, the water
nows to distribution reservoirs from
which it is pumped to the various
naAEhborhoods.
For a number of years federal and
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