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Show WATER SYSTEM IS VASTLY IMPROVED DURING THE YEAR a: & a? di SUPPLY IS AUGMENTED AND RENDERED MORE PURE W? '-'.'" " - - Mil! I hi...,- ' , 1 q I Artesian Wells Secure City Against Danger of Shortage Short-age in Future. STAXDTX-G out most prominently in the programme of municipal improvements for Ogden City during dur-ing 1915 may be found the development de-velopment of the waterworks system by which Ogden is virtually insured against a water shortage for years to come. This important improvement, for which Mayor A. G. Fell deserves the greatest amount of credit, consists of the driving of twenty-two artesian wells in Ogden valley and the construction of a five-mile pipe line to convey the pure subterranean water to the city reservoirs reser-voirs on the east bench. Some of the wells were driven prior to 1915, but the development of the artesian ar-tesian water supply, together with the construction of the pipe line, occurred wholly within the pnst year. At a total cost of $145,239.68, according to the city engineer's figures, Ogden was provided pro-vided with an auxiliary water supply estimated at this time to .be more than 6,000,000 gallons every twenty-four hours. This enormous volume of water is sufficient for six or eight months a year to supply the entire needs of the city. Together with the previous sources of water supply Wheeler creek, Coldwater canyon and the Ogden river the total is now sufficient to supply the city 's every need. Supply Is Pure. ( After the initial purchase of twenty acres of .land in the artesian well belt of Ogden valley tne first two-inch test well was driven in October of 1914. Water was encountered at a depth of 100 feet. Upon being tested for impurities im-purities it was found to be absolutely free from bacteria, it also being the opinion of Professor G. W. Bailer, bacteriologist, bac-teriologist, that the water could not be contaminated. Herman Harms, state chemist, reported the artesian water to be of "first-class organic puritv, " desirable de-sirable for drinking and household purposes, pur-poses, boilers and laundries. It having been finallv established that a plentiful supply of water existed, the city purchased a well-boring machine and drilled twenty-one four and six-inch wcils, the last two being driven to 190 feet, ot- forty feet lower than the point where the principal flow was encountered. encoun-tered. Geologically, the location of the wells is perfect, according to such engineers engi-neers and geologists as Dr. Samuel For-tier, For-tier, chief engineer of irrigation and drainage for; the department of a-m-eulturo, Washington. D. O.; Dr. Fred J. Pack, geologist, University of ' Utah-Dr. Utah-Dr. Douglas W. Johnson, Columbia university, uni-versity, New York, and E. S. Hincklev geologist, superintendent of the state industrial in-dustrial school. Twenty-one Wells. Although all of the twentv-two wells have been driven within a comparatively comparative-ly small area, no diminution has resulted since the first well was put down According Ac-cording to careful measurements made by the engineering department from time to time, the actual flow of water from the wells at the present time is nearly 6,000,000 gallons everv twenty tour hours, and the amount," it is believed be-lieved by engineers, can be kept un to more than 7,000,000 gallons bv frequent-lv frequent-lv cleaning the pipes. The temperature of the water remains about the same 4b degrees all the year. Concerning the probable pennauencv of the artesian water supnlv the best argument is advanced bv Mr. Hinck'ev who for the past twentv-four vears has been engaged in geolosricnl research Mr Hinckley has been connected with the department of geologv in several educational edu-cational institutions of the state and has also been engaged in Government service. He was one of the three co'o-gists co'o-gists appointed bv the federal a over n. merit to investigate causes of the San I rrancisco earthquake several vears a"o Of the city's artesiau wells Mr. Hinck-lev Hinck-lev savs: Ocr.leu City is certain!.- !o he co--srrauilated on her excellent waW supply, and lncidentailv I feel ;hat man who conceived an.1 proposed the artesian well plan is a irreat benefactor bene-factor to every citizen. Valley Development. Several Urn during t!.e past sea- I sou I nave gone into 0rten valiev and eacn trip lias impressed me mce i favorably with tl-.c pcrwarptiw o' the supply, the souice of the j-ipoly bein-equal bein-equal to the entire catchment area or I watershed of the ogden vaiiev. and the reservoir ttal In area to tiie ze of the valley itself. 1 With tiie development of Oqden val- ! I ley throng':) vario-.is orographic, move- 1 I tr.erits came the process of !ts fiilinc I From th;? litre oi its oriirin to tii? ' close of the Bonnevilie perio.-f. whii-'i was vunte-i porary with tile Xortii American ciacial period, it was a lake or conneetm? hav to the e-reat Lake Bonneville. Durir.s; this long period I it was slowlv t:i with travel, I sand an-i sol!. The volume of the reset von s. therefore, is ciual to the area of tire pervious layers uriltiplied by their thicUnw. W.iU these per. meaiiie strata of crave! and sand, ranging from a tew feet In ;h!eknes ; to tuty feet or more, with strata I of impervious materia! 0crlvin5 and sealing each, with til valley en- ItireU' Mil-rounded v.ith mountains, and Oitden canyon the only apparent outlet, out-let, the penrMijchey of the llow seems assured. This, coupled with a catch-I catch-I merit area of 1000 square miles or more, wdth an annual precipitation of i approximately eighteen inches and I the surface and underflow all converging con-verging to the location of the wells, makes the proposition doubly hopeful. hope-ful. Flow Is Permanent. If one is safe ill assuming that the basis taJien by prominent geologists and hydrographic engineers Is correct, cor-rect, the precipitation of an ordinary district is disposed of approximately as follows: One-third runs directly off the surface, one-third is evaporated evap-orated and one-third percolates into" the earth to form subterranean water. If this holds good, and I see no reason rea-son wdiy It should not, since the major part of tills underground water wa-ter finds its way in the artesian reservoirs, reser-voirs, there can be but little doubt that the flow will be Indefinitely kept up. A later and more careful examination confirms my opinion that the various igeologlc and meteorologtc evidences point to reasonable certainty cer-tainty that the flow will be regular and permanent. I feel, as a citizen of Ogden, that we should congratulate ourselves on the good judgment and untiring effort you have put into this project. The wells have been drilled in an irregular semicircle several hundred yards in diameter and a circular intake reservoir of concrete was constructed nearest a common center. This intake tank is twenty-one and one-half feet in diameter and nine feet deep, with a weir capacity of twenty-five second-feet. second-feet. The we'lls are connected with each other in groups of two and three, according ac-cording to their location, and about fiftoen of these common pipes enter the intake at a point about four and one-half feet above the gTOund level. Each well is controlled by an individual valve. Long Pipe Lines. From the collecting tank a thirty-six thirty-six inch wood stave pipe carries the water 2.12 miles toward the city through a portion of Ogden canyon. This wood pipe connects with a twenty-four-inch Alatheson joint pipe at a point near Idle-wild. Idle-wild. The iron .-joint pipe continues an additional 3.20 ' miles entirely within the canyon to the main distributing reservoirs at the. east end of Twenty-first Twenty-first street. This new conduit provides the city with two distinct pipe lines almost al-most entirely through Ogden canyon. A comparatively new pipe line between the reservoirs and Coldwater canyon ia also connected with the six-foot power pipe line of the Utah Pow-er & Light company com-pany for use in case of emergency. For the purpose of defraying that portion of the total cost of the system over and above the funds earned by the waterworks system the taxpayers of Ogden voted special bonds in the sum of $75,000 to carrv on the improvement. improve-ment. The total cost of drilling the twenty-two wells was almost the smallest small-est item of the entire expenditure of $145,239.68. According to a recent report re-port by City Engineer Washington Jen-funs, Jen-funs, the itemized cost of the artesian well system has been as foilows: Land, 73.4 acres, $11,410; wells, $11,851.17; intake, $9831.12; pipe and trench, $112,-147.39; $112,-147.39; total, $145,239.68. It is a significant sig-nificant fact in connection with this municipal improvement that should the artesian water supply ever fail the city will not be deprived of the use of the new pipe line, which extends in the direction of the only logical water source for the city. Extensions Made. General improvement work by the waterworks department in the city system sys-tem during 1915 included the construction construc-tion of 6744 feet of six-inch water main extensions, 17,312 feet, of two-inch and the renewal of 538 feet of two-inch pipe. Eight new fire hydrants were put in during the year and six old fire hvdrants in the downtown district were changed to modern "plugs" with steamer connections. This improvement improve-ment marked the complete equipment of the warehouse and wholesale district of Wall avenue with fire hydrants of the more improved type. The water department also installed six 'sanitary drinking fountains at loca-i tions in the business district during the year. A new motor truck of big ca-pacitv ca-pacitv and a smaller utility truck were added to the equipment of the department. depart-ment. At the small cost of $65 Frank J. Hendershot, assistant superintendent superintend-ent of the department, added an electric elec-tric pipe locater to the equipment. This device saves hundreds of dollars annually an-nually in the cost of locating water pipes underground. ; 7 ' "ti myy'i. '.y lisiissl ; v J: , s - - ' " I m$WMf0y ;: yy-M. MX m mysm y0fiify : " ;ji s:.:;.:;f; ": v yy'yf ...! I ' ' '.- ' t t - " ' ' .',"' 1. JKii.::. ..... : .7 2' !","':,..;"'.'-;.---.:.'.: :V ;"..'..'.. !";'- ':";.y 'Jjgi V-; .. "r-i-i. : '; ? M- -'.'i (" ' . '- 'I;- VX.-f.- ;'-' ' '.-jyy." y t r.(, v Left Four-inch flowing well in Ogden system. Eight Six-inch which runs more than 600,000 gallons ,each twenty-four hours. |