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Show Danger of Famine Is Averted and Partial Cessation of Heavy Drain on Part of Wasteful Users From the City's Big Supply System. FAMILY DISTRESS ONLY TEMPORARY Forces cf Men Hurried to Canyons to Chop Away Ice by Lantern Light and Clear the Creek Channels to Permit Per-mit Better Flow; Situation Sit-uation Quickly Improves. Im-proves. Water shortage began with the draining of the Thirteenth East street and Fifth South street reservoirs. res-ervoirs. The pressure fell from tho nor-! nor-! ' mal of eighty pounds to ten pounds " shortly after noon, climbed bark to thirty-five pounds by 5 o'clock in the afternoon and to sixty pounds at midnight, according to the gauge at the central fire station. Water borrowed from irrigation systems fed by Big Cottonwood served materially to increase the city's supply. Gangs of men chopped ice by lantern lan-tern light from the channel of the stream in Big Cottonwood canyon last night. An expedition will start for the reservoirs at the head of Big Cottonwood Cot-tonwood canyon at 7 o'clock this morning to release some . of the 300,000,000 gallons of water stored there. The menace of a water famine galvanized not only the waterworks department de-partment but the entire city administration adminis-tration to active concern yesterday morning. The immediate results were hurried measures to insure increase of the water and the sending out of an earnest appeal to the householders to conserve the water in the system. The pressure of the water in the sys-tem sys-tem dropped from the normal of about eighty pounds to but ten pounds at noon and climbed back to sixty pounds by 32 o'clock la.t night, according to the pressure gauge at the central fire station. The pressure continued near the low mark until abottt 3:30 o'clock, then started upward. By 5 o'clock the gauge registered thirty-five pounds' pressure and from then on the increase was steady. Increase Is Rapid. The supply of water in the city water system was increased from a rato of 17,55 1,000 gallons for twenty-four hours at 2:30 o'clock in the afternoon to more than 20,000,000 gallons by 9 o'clock last night. This increaso of supply was accomplished accom-plished largely by the borrowing of water from irrigation ditches supplied from Big (.'ot ton wood canyon. Strenuous Strenu-ous efforts were put fortli also to increase in-crease the flow from the canyon stream. A crew of men cut ice from the water channel by lantern light last night anil thev were relieved this morning by another an-other crew. The amount of water being be-ing poured into the system from 0 j o'clock on last night was approximate- lv at the rate of 3,000.('i'i(i gallons! greater in twenty-four hours than norV mal for this time of year, according t the figures of Commissioner W. J .Shearman, head of the waterworks 1 pnrtment. The supply was com';! 13,000,000 gallons from Rig ( ottonwe 3,o'oi,000 gallons from Farley's cant .V50,00 from City creek and t',2So. from Immigration creek. The wa from Kmigration was turned into t system yesterday afternoon. Expedition (o Lakes. .Recovery of the pressure is credited by Commissioner Shearman to the re-spnne re-spnne of the citizens to the appeal that, the water be conserved, as much as to (Continued on Page Nine.) WATER If HIS AT SAFE PRESSURE (Continued from Page One.) the increase in the supply. Strict conservation con-servation would have righted the condition con-dition without increase of supply within with-in a day or so, it is thought, but, in combination with the accomplished increase, in-crease, resulted in speedy correction of the state of shortage. By midnight last night it appeared that the dilemma had been checked safely from progressing to the serious stage of shortage that was suffered four years ago. The boldest stroke for relief of the situation is to be launched this morning, when H. K. Burton, water resource engineer, en-gineer, will lead an expedition traveling on snow shoes to the lakes in the head of Big Cottonwood canyon to let down some of the 300,000,000 gallons of water stored there in the Phoebe-Mary and Twin lakes reservoirs. An appeal that the citizens should make every effort to conserve the water supply was made in a proclamation issued is-sued yesterday afternoon by Mayor W. Mont Kerry. It- requested that "all citizens be sparing of the use of water, even for domestic purposes. High Parts Affected. By afternoon, the shortage had be-, come so severe in the north-east part of the city that the sprinkling wagons were put into service to supply water to residences and apartment houses for domestic use. Lifter in the day conditions condi-tions began to improve. Universal filling fill-ing of bathtubs aud other containers with the first alarm is credited with having temporarily aggravated the shortage. A statement given out. by f'ommia- sinner Shearman was to the "effect that the waterworks department would be powerless to prevent further scarcity unless the residents of Salt Lake lend every assistance by conservation of the ! water. Jn his statement. Commissioner i Shearman pointed out that the supply : of water coming into the city yesterday ! afternoou at '2:'.0 o'clock was 17, , 151,-! 151,-! U'lO gn lions, while the supply of the J same date a year ago was 17,743,000 gallons. I'nusual consumption, rather than the i difference in the supply, is regarded by I th-1 commissioner as the reason for the ' s'uidcn shortnge. The reservoirs usually i tiil at night, but for the past several uights the drain upon them has been heavier than in the day time, with the result that both the Thirteenth Kast and the Fifth South street reervoirs uere empty at i' o'clock yesterday morning. Tha watr was shut off yesterdav from one house In hi-'h it wlis found that a water tap had ben lft runninp. A city ordinance provides that where waste of watfu- Is detected the supply may be cut oiT and the offender subjected to a fine of $;'. Members of the waterworks fop-e went out last nii;ht doinp detective work to determine. de-termine. If possible, nny places of water w:istinp through the b-avin open of tips. .When the supply is cut off such action ; will be with repard only to bouses were waste jp detected and no district or section sec-tion of the city is to be cut off from s:ich i supply as is available, accord mp to Commissioner Com-missioner Shearman's announcement. Help Is Offered. ! Offer of l.OOOju'O gallons of available ! water from the reservoir of the l'tah ! Power & Lipht companv tn Hip Cottonwood Cotton-wood canyon was made to the water- worhs department. it was determined, however, to reserve this tor final emergency emer-gency because of the danper of an ice dam from heavy draining of water from : the reservoir. In the meantime everythtnp possible is beinp done to prevent further lessening of i lie flow of water from the canyon streams. A gang of men was sent up Bii? Cottonwood canyon yesterday Rt'ter-noon Rt'ter-noon to cut Ice from the water channel. This is the firftt ice out tins that hns ever been necessary in the canyon. Some difficulty was experienced in getting men to undertake the w ork, and some men who reported were turned hack because of doubts that they were sturdy enough to stand the rigors of t he work. The first effect of the shortage was reported re-ported from the lusher localities of the city. Several hundred telephoned complaints com-plaints revealed the fact to tho waterworks water-works department that all the lines supplying sup-plying high localities were empty and that the supply was failing in the upper stories of many of the taller buildings. The shortage of water threatened complications com-plications at some of the city hospitals. The L. D. S. hospital had a normal supply of water, being supplied from City creek, but doubts were entertained as to how long it would last and bathtubs bath-tubs were filled. ! St. Mark's hospital reported that , the 1 water supply there was normal, but a ! serious condition existed at Holy Cross i hospital, where it was reported that t he I water pressure was extremely low. The ! hot -water pipes were empty. The sit-j sit-j uatlon made it necessary for nurses to work overtime to meet the wants of the , patients. j The county hospital is the most fortunate fortu-nate of the institutions. Its water supply 1 is independent of the city system. The low pressure during a shortage of water would not seriously handicap the fire department so long as water remained re-mained in the mains, according to the statement last night of Fire Chief William Wil-liam H. Bywater. If the pressure should fail and water remained in the mains, it could be drawn out by means of lhe motor engines and thrown upon a fire with practically as much effectiveness as if the pressure were up to normal, the chief said. Householders Warned. The complaints of water scarcity telephoned tele-phoned to the office of the wa ter works department indicated that the area most affected was the northeast section of the city, extending south to fourth South street and west to West Temple street. The part of the northeast berfch supplied exclusively by City - creek, however, did not suffer. Whenever 'complaints of water failure were telephoned in I he householder was warned to open the hot-water laps to leave a vent for the steam of the hot-water hot-water tank and leave them open until the water should return to the pipes of the house. This was advised as a precaution against explosion of the tanks. While it is not anticipated now that the water from the reservoirs in the head of Cottonwood canyon will actually be needed, need-ed, it is determined that the experiment of turning some of the water down shall be car r i ed 1 1 1 rou g h . A depth c f from seven to ten feet of snow on top of the ice covering Silver lake, which lies in the channel below the reservoirs, is expected to prove a serious stay to the progress of the water when the gates of the reservoirs reser-voirs are opened. It is expected that from two to three days will bo required for , the water to reach the city system. Travel on Skis. Mr. Burton and three companions will ; Ips ve this morning from Holliday by ! sleigh a nd will drive up the canyon to I where the road branches to t he Cardiff ! mine. From there the journey will he continued on skis, the expectation being that Brighton will he reached by night. The men wiil carry packs of provisions weighing each about twenty pounds. The members of the party, in addition to Mr. Button, are Carl Hammond of the waterworks water-works department and George and Krnest Green of Holliday, both acquainted wit h the canyon a ndi both experienced at traveling on skis.' Once the reservoirs are reached, it will be necessary to clear away tho snow from the steel rods that operate the gates and rut through, four or five feet of ice until they are free to he operated. Then ! the stored wa ter will be started upon : its journey to the city water mains. The reservoirs are not full, the combined ca-jpaeity ca-jpaeity beins 546.001). 000 gallons. The water wa-ter was partly drained off in anticipation anticipa-tion of winter. Such water as Is now turned out of them will be replaced by tho melting of the snow in the mountains moun-tains higher up next spring. C. F. Barrelte. superintendent of waterworks, wa-terworks, remained on duty last night at the offices in the city and county building build-ing until near midnight directing the work of getting the situation under control, con-trol, while Commissioner Shearman likewise like-wise remained awake and in touch at his rooms in the Hotel l'tah. The continued lessening of the. water supply from the canyon streams because of freezing, the leaving open of water taps to protect pipes from freezing a nd the heavy drain upon the water system occasioned by' the use of wafer in fighting fight-ing the fire at the building of the Myers Cleaning company and Salt Lake Cos-t Cos-t u m e co m pan y W ed n esd a y night coin -blned to precipitate the shortage of yesterday, yes-terday, according lo the waterworks officials. of-ficials. Mayor's Proclamation. Following is the proclamation issued by Mayor W. Mont Ferry: Whereas, the unprecedented and continued cold weather has caused a serious shortage of water; and. W h e r ea s, e x 1 ra o rd i n a r y e ff ort s to relieve the situation by the oity have been unavailing owing to waste of water by householders and others, especially during the night : Now. therefore, by direction of the board of commissioners.. I hereby e;itl upon all good citizens to he sparing iu the use of water. evn for domestic do-mestic purposes, and forbid any person per-son whatever to allow thir water taps to run to prevent t he freezing of pipes, or to waste it in any other manner. In this unusual emergency T ap-P'1 ap-P'1 to the citizens to give instant heed to this pru.-Iamat ion. Shearman's Statement. Water Commissioner W. II. Shearman put forth the following statement on the situation: j The water situation is just this: We had at 2:30 this afternoon. .January .Janu-ary IS. 17, 000 gallons coming into the city, and have had even more. In January. l:U5, the consumption was I7.74C.uen. We have enough to supply the reasonable rea-sonable demands cf tho citizens, but are absolutely unable to cope with the wast e that is going on. The. consumption con-sumption at. night, at which time we have always been able to build up our reserve in the. reservoirs, is equal to or greater than the consumption during dur-ing the day. showing that the people, are wasting tremendous quantities or water at nisht by running their taps to precent the freezing of pipes. Thymus Thy-mus t stop, and this department will use summary mafurrg and shut off the water entirely from any premises where waste Is going mi. besides prosecuting undrr the ordinance. We have receive p. -ores if on Us from people who Bay they have been , advised that the city ts going to turn off iho water to allow the reservoirs to (ill, and say thry have been ad- ' visfd to till up all receptacles, etc. This statement is untrue and. if persisted per-sisted in. will cause a further drain. The water will not be turned ofT from any district. We have gangs of men in Parley's and Cottonwool canyons endeavoring to clear the streams of ice, and have a party which will start for Biighton tomorrow morning to at tempt to set water from the reservoirs there. We have begged, borrowed aud rented all available water and have done everv-thing everv-thing that, can he done. The situation Is in the hands of the people themselves. them-selves. If they will stop wasting, there is water enough. If they do not, the city is powerless. If the situation situa-tion is not improved by morning the city will attempt to run watering carts in the districts which are entirely en-tirely out of water in an endeavor to at least furnish water for culinary purposes. Of course, the people will have to get the water from the wagons wag-ons themselves. |