Putnam patriot., 1927-04-01


 Ira cost of concrete tank. together with a small depreciation on the con crete tank, there is not much to choose between the two from financial standpoint. The Committee have the best authority in saying that many more steel tanks are used in New Eng land than concrete. There is more danger of leaks in a concrete tank than one of steel, and the material and workmanship of the concrete tank must De nearly perfect in order to be a success.
 Two Tanks Instead of One
 There Is an advantage in having two tanks over one, as it places a vol tune of water in two different parts of the city ready to be drawn for fire purposes. The nearer the tanks are to a fire the more water and better pressure can be obtained. The fol- lowing Is a quotation from the letter of the New England Insurance to the Board of Water Commissioners under date of October 30. 1926: "The plac- ing of storage at separated points close to the distribution system also increases the reliability of operation and permits delivery of fire flow through smaller supply mains than if from a single source of storage"
 Oak Hill Site
 Our plan contemplates retention of d standpipe on Oak Hill on the site of the present tank. This tank IS within a quarter of d mile on a straight line from the heart of the city and fur nishes large volume of water right where It Is needed. With the exist ing tank and the forty year old dis tribution pipes the New England h. suranee Exchange obtained a flow of 20f0 gallons per minute under a pres. sure Of siXty-siX pounds at Union and Main streets. This illustration shows the advantage of having the reservoir as near as possible to the point of de livery of the water The foundations for the present tank would be utilized n connection with the new tank. The reservoir m this location would also be help m taking care of the south eastern portion of the city where sometime it will be necessary ta put in larger mains. The Bates Hill Reser- Noir with it's connecting pipe will take care of the portion of the city that k now growing and is more likely to grow and develop than the territory in the vicinity of the Richmond Hill serKoir proposed.
 The advantage of having the storage on the opposite side of the city from the pumps Is in having the pipe from the pumps take care of the domestic consumption while the pipes from the tanks take care of the fire With the above program in case of fire water comes pouring into the city through the pipes from the pump from Bates Hill and Oak Hill, three instead of one as proposed with a reservoir on Rich mond Hill
 In the program for the rebuilding of the water works. the step of installing three million gallon day pump and motor was reached in 1923 and the Council approved the request of the Commissioners for this expenditure without a question. The appropria. ton for this installation was S7. 900 IL has been run about an hour in q test.
 Fail to Rejoice
 Tn the report of the Commissioners to the Council above given this puml and placing the filters in service up tf 3.000.00O gallons a day was part of the program leading up to placing the pumping station on one shift. This plan according to the letter in the pa. pers has now been abandoned and NC will save S9,2O7 which was to have been spent on the filters. Under the circumstances We do not feel like re. Joicing with the Commissioners that our pumping equipment k adequate to take care of a population nearly three times our present h
 We feel it is poor business Co tie uu money in equipment large enough to care for the needs of a city three times as large as ours, as We feel this popu. latlon will not be reached for very many years. We believe the same principle should be applied to the dis. tribution system and to the storage There is no such thing as solving the water problem once and forever. A manufacturer does not build a plan, big enough to care for the size of his business as expected twenty-five years in the future. There is nothing per. manent. There is no need of over mortgaging this generation Co prepare water supply for the distant future Conditions and methods constantly change and should be met as they de velop.
 We believe the above program for storage and distribution is all the city should attempt at this time It is larg CT than We hoped to get along with al : first, and We regret that some yielding could not have been made from the , first plan submitted by the Water Commissioners whereby the commit tees could agree.
 The request for the right to issue Si35.000 of bonds from the legislature simply puts the city in the position of being able to spend the whole amount or any part thereof as it may deter mine.
 We have confidence in Mir. Palmer. who has been advising us in the en- gineering questions. He is a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute. a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, past President of the Connecticut Society of Civil Engineers and a partner of the firm of Chandler Palmer They have been engineers for the Water Department of Norwich for many years. They designed and are now in charge of building the new supply for Norwich at an expenditure of Sl l,0s0.000 They designed and built the water supply for Baltic and the new supply for Taftville. and are now the consulting engineers for these