Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-14

= to 1--WE Of them and because of the favor -,
s. able results Of analyses Of water samples =,
from the remaining three wells Of the
eight excepted. However, two Of the =
= last mentioned three wells were ordered ..
closed on November 6, 1907. because Of :
evidence Of contaminated water. There
fore, the closing OF So of the 50 public
. shallow wells In the District Of Columbia
: was ordered and the work begun In 1907 =.
"At" the present time there are two
Of these public shallow wells with pumps
in service, one In the northwest section /.
and one in the northeast section. There
are also IL pubic deep driven wells with =,
pumps In service. there being eight in
northwest. three In the northeast, ive
in the southwest and one IN the southeast
sections Of the city" -, a., a.'., ,...&
The beginning of the end Of springs and
pumps started when Potomac water was intro
duced into the District from Great Falls. This
project had Its inception in April, 1852, when
Congress appropriated 5000 for the purpose
Of making the necessary surveys etc., 'for
determining the best means of affording the
cities Of washington and Georgetown an un-
falling and abundant supply of good and whole
some water" = - ..". + '-'' -
DLANS having been submitted TO Congress q
year later. an appropriation of 500 600 was
made with which to commence the work, and
in 1885 $25O,000 was added with which TO con-
tinue the work. Further sums of $3.50, 900,
100000. 100000 and 100000 were later
made. bringing the total appropriation for the
Washington AQueduct, to June u.s. 1860, up to
$2,905 900.
The building of this aqueduct entailed q
considerable amount of engineering skin.
Montgomery C.. Meigs was In charge Of the
work and Cabin John Bridge in particular viii
ever remain monument to his ability. .,.
An early, description Of the aqueduct Is
worth repeating here, since it gives some inter-
esting details. It says: t.. I.
THE vast enterprise has cost the Ma
ton nearly three millions of dollars
Some of the difficulties Of its construc-
ton may be inferred from the follow >.
ing ofhcial description Of the country
through which it passes: The traveller
ascending the banks of the Potomac
=. from. Georgetown to the Great Falls :.
would conclude that a more unpromiS-
ing region for the construction Of an =
: aqueduct could not be found. Sup ..
ported by high walls against the face !.
Of jagged and vertical precipices, in con- :
tinual danger of being undermined by
the foaming. torrent which boils below,
the canal dhe Chesapeake & Ohio is a ::
monument of the energy and daring Of
our engineers. The route appears to be
occupied and no mode Of bringing in the :.
water, except by iron pipes secured to the
rocks, or laid in the bed Of the canal,
seems practicable. Such were my own
impressions; and though knew that In
this age, with money, any achievement
of engineering was possible, I thought the
survey would be needed only to demon
strate by figures and measures the ex-
travagance of such a work, But when
the levels were applied to the ground,
found, to my surprise and qualification,
that the rocky precpces and difacult
passages were nearly all below the line i
which, allowing a uniform grade would -
naturally be selected for our conduit; and
that instead of demonstrating the ex-
travaganee of the proposal, it became my ~
duty to devise q work presenting no CON- \
siderable difficulties and affordng no up-