The Wilmington morning star., 1940-10-27
Wade Reviews History of City's
Water Supply And Salt Problem

earding Wilmington's water sup
DIV since the beginning of the cur
rent lack of fresh water in the CITY
mains and of action taken by tn
city's governing body since 1sz
relative to the same problem Il
contained in the report and rec
concentrations made t. the cit.
commissioners at Wednesday
meeting of record by Commission
er j. E. L. Wade.
The report follows:
ION October 3, 1910, the Boare
of City Commissioners approved
NV Recommendation that an emer
gency appropriation be made tf
water for drinking and cooking
purposes, from deep wells ano
pumps approved by the Board O.
Health.
Following this action the Pub
lie Works Department w or e c
night and day, and within forty
eight hours, pumps and wells were
available to the public in varlous
parts of the City. Since that time
many additional pumps ave beer
provided.
Upon my return from Washing
ton last week my attention was
called to a copy of a letter address
ed to the Mayor and Council OF the
City of Wilmington, under date Of
October IA. reporting on the sail
content of the water and con-
tanning recommendations by M
Kean Maffitt, Superintendent OF
the Water Department.
This letter had been present
ed to Mayor Cooper, to be con-
sidered by the Commissioners, be-
cause of it's extreme Importance.
On Monday morning I took the
matter up with the Board to as
certain if anything had been &C
complished.
LAS no action had been taken
relative to the above, l lmmedl-
ately recommended that findings
and recommendations of the SUI
rerintendent of the Water Depart
ment be approved and that we
proceed at once to connect the
Rose Ice Company, The Indepen-
dent Ice Company, the Boyle Ice
Company, the White Ice Cream
Company, and such other d ee F
wells as could be used for this
purpose, to the City mains, through
the necessary pipes and pump con-
nections, purifying water by chlor'
ination between intake and mains
The tabulation shows approximate
ly 205O gallons per minute OF
water we can expect from this
source, and the estimated cost oil
this installation S6,632.20. This is
to be considered as a temporary
measure only.
Il advised the Board that a fur
Their recommendation would be
made on Wednesday for a per
manent intake for a water supply
for Wilmington, at and a b o v
Kings Bluff, (Cape Fear Rivel
Lock and Dam No. y, approx
mate estimated cost of project be
ing 5000, 100000 as recommend.
ed in survey made b j. Y. Becton
and filed with the Board of CITY
Commissioners in December 1882
along with other findings.
''These recommendations were
made verbally at the usual ter
o'clock meeting in the office o:
Mayor. No action was taken by
the Commissioners and the mat
ter is still awaiting approval by
the Board.
"At this point I would like to re
call some facts in the development
of the water supply for Whining
ton. In 1922 the records dis
close that Wilmington was con
fronted by a situation where its
water supply was affected by three
factors, namely; Sewerage con,
tamination; Salt content; and, I'm
pleasant celebration of water. The
intake at that time was from the
North East River at the Hilton
Plant. To correct the trouble, the
Governing Body, after exhaustive
study, selected TONERS Creek as
the new intake, rather than Castle
Hayne which was also being ad-
vocated, but where the North East
River water carried a high rate OF
celebration, and no guarantee that
salt contamination would not oc-
cur in the future.
'sThis change required the con-
struction of a "a inch cast iron
pipe line two miles long, plus i'm
provements at the water plant. The
TONERS Creek Extension w a
placed in service April %, 1923.
and is the present source Of sup
ply for the City.
IT wish to enlarge on the three
factors for this change;
"First;-The bacterial contain.
ination in Northeast Cape Feal
River had reached an a er a &c
count of 1000 plus colonies per GU
bic centimeter of raw water, thus
the load on the publication plan
was about the maximum consid'
cred safe.
"Second,-The confluence of the