New Britain herald., 1927-12-01
POWER DAM PROTECTION
 FROM FLOODS

FROM FLOODS
 The value of power dams as pre- venters of floods has received re- newed attention following the flood in Vermont. It Is related that the Deerfield river valley In that state. subject to the same rains and flood waters as the Winooski valley, suf- fered no damage at all. while the Winooski valley was devastated by unbridled waters.
 The result seems to favor the hydro electric harnesslng of rivers. for the Deerfield valley is thus har- messed. Storage dams have been built in the Deerfield valley since 1900, and though they are for hydro electric service, flood prevention has been a by-product that residents of the valley no doubt have greatly ap- preciated.
 But when Waiter Stuart Kelley writes in the Boston Herald that the day of profitable construction of hydro electric plants is in the past, he goes little beyond what we in Connecticut have every reason to nctc as taking place in this state.
 Kelleys argument needs presen- tation to furnish the background of discussion. He says that under pres ent conditions power can be produc- ed from coal at tidewater cheaper than by hydro electric energy with in l50 miles of the coast If subject 10 present construction costs.
 A hydro-electric plant built now, he ayers, would result in 70 per cent of the operating cost being devoted to paying the interest on the invest ment. The investment. he says, is more than double what 1t was l6 years ago.
 For a steam plant at udewater. he adds. the largest item Of cost of power Is fuel, about 40 per cent Considering the remarkable econo- mics that have been made in the conversion of heat into power dur ing the last Is years, the saving is marked. according to this argument. In 1900, he says. it took three pounds of coal 10 produce one unit Gone kilowatt hour of electricity). whereas it now is produced for one pond, and an economy Of three fourths 0. pound is promised for the near future.
 Tn other worlds" he adds,
 "electrical energy produced
 from steam costs less than be-
 fore the war, notwithstanding
 materials and labor have doubled
 in cost; while the actual cost Of
 producing hydro electric energy
 has increased. assuming present
 costs of construction is 70 per
 cent greater than before the
 war"
 These conditions existing, the Brookline man says that power com- panies twill not build' storage reservoirs under present conditions Of cost; and If the state cannot boost taxation sufficiently to do 1t. how is flood prevention to be achieved? His plan is cooperation between the power companies and the state, through a division of the costs.
 A fine scheme, surely; practically subsidy to the power companies That the Brookline man Is shoot ing far from the mark when he says that power companies are not inclined 10 build storage reservoir dams on account Of the cost can easily be proven. One need not go further than Connecticut, all of which is certainly less than 150 miles from tidewater,
 One need only to glimpse the con- struCtion of the man-made lake of 6.o0o acres along the Rocky River valley by the Connecticut Light X Power Company. which is nearing completion. The shore line of the lake will be about so miles and the lake at its longest point will be 12 miles across. The project is cost ing $3,500.o00. For the first time in engineering history. too. means | have been provided 10 push water up hill 10 be held in storage at the higher level until needed for hydro electric energy. This water is 10 be drawn up from the Housatonic river and stored In the mighty dam until . needed.
 1 Then there are the two dams be- | ing constructed at IaDeSyiIlr and two at Danbury. The power plant on i the bank of the Housatonic will con- tain two of the largest pumps in the