Council Proceedings: April 1 and April 30, 1904

JOHN B. HAWLEY, CONSULTING ENGINEER, MEMBER AMERICAN SOCIETY CIVIL ENGINEERS. MEMBER ENGINEERING ASSOCIATION OF THE SOUTH. CITY ENGINEER, FORT WORTH

FORT WORTH, TEXAS 190

Engineer Department.

The Engineer Department has during the past year attended to its manifold duties in a way wholly satisfactory to the Mayor, and with great credit to its management.

The Houston Street paving; The design for new sewer systemsin the Seventh and Eighth Wards; Completion of Storm Sewer work; Remodelling and relaying many old sewers and construction of several miles of new ones; The building of several school additions, and the construction of emergency Fifth Ward School, the supervision of Mead work, and all the manifold hundreds of smaller duties of the office, have been attended to with so much dispatch, and with great economy, as to command the unqualified commendation of the Council;

An inspection of official reports from other Cities, in Texas and elsewhere warrants the statements that we have one of the best administration run , and wholly the most economically run, engineer departments in the United States.

[image: map of Fort Worth]

Waterworks.

Two things have occurred within the last year that have added, in my judgment, at least one million dollars to the value of the Fort Worth Waterworks: the successful completion of the Meade contract, which gives us a supply of artesian water, and the completion of the meter system, which has resulted in a great saving of the amount of water pumped and also in an increase in the revenues of this department. Four years ago at the end of the fiscal year the total revenues of the department were $58,450.85; March 31, 1902, they were $62,275.92; in 1903 they were $64,627.08, in 1904, after the meter system was completed and a portion of the year artesian was pumped through the mains, the receipts aggregated $77,148.96---in face of the fact that when the meter system was first established the price per thousand gallons was cut from forty to twenty cents. I consider the showing of the last year to be very remarkable indeed.

The Meade system of pure water coupled with the meter system has solved two problems: first, and the greatest in importance, the city's water problem; and second, the financial problem of the Fort Waterworks system.

During the year just past this department has addded 728 new connections to the water mains, making a total of 4387 connections; and the connections added this year exceed those of any previous year by one hundred per cent, and for most years by two hundred per cent; and the assurance of getting pure artesian water has created a demand for connections, and the indications are that the year that is now starting will greatly exceed in connections made and in total receipts the record of last year. It is my opinion that inside of five years the Meade system will have paid for itself in the increased revenues of the department over what it would have been had artesian water not been put into the mains.

For the first ten days of April in 1901 the water pumped was three million gallons every twenty-four hours, or one million

gallons more per day than we pumped for the same time in 1904; and in 1904 we have sixteen hundred more water tankers than we had in 1901. This of itself, independent of the increased revenues, shows the wisdom of the City Council in adopting the meter system. We are pumping now over a million gallons less per day than we were in 1901, and yet our revenues are $21,000 more than in 1901, even after the price of water has been cut in two.

The artesian water system now used by Fort Worth is perhaps the greatest municipal achievement in the history of Texas, and it is agreed by the prominent engineers of the State that the present system can be largely extended, it being only a question of sufficient finances to do the work. The success of the system can be utilized for municipal water supply in parts of Texas as well. In truth it may solve the water problem of all the large cities in our great State.

In view of the great growth of our city and the certainty that it will within a year or two be necessary to increase the output of the Meade system, and also in view of the fact that Fort Worth owns five deep wells not at present connected with the system, I think it advisable, and therefore recommend that the City Engineer be instructed to examine the situation and report upon the most economical way of securing an extension of the present Meade system, at least so far that the city will receive the benefit of wells not now connected with the system.

This system has been in actual use about six months, and so far as observation goes there has been no change in the physical aspects of the system, and it is practically the same as it was at the conclusion of the preliminary test made last year; if anything, the flow into the tunnels is a little stronger than it was then. You are referred to the report of H. L. Calhoun, Secretary of the Water department, for a more detailed statement in regard to the water supply.

Streets and Alleys.

The streets of Fort Worth, while needing a great deal of work, are in better condition than they were a year ago, and under the efficient management of the Street Commissioner much work has been done in this department with very limited means. Houston street has been paved with a combination of asphalt and brick pavement. This has added very much to the appearance as well as the value of the street and has enhanced the value of property abutted thereon. The citizens will now have an opportunity to judge the relative merits of asphalt and brick paving, as Main street is paved entirely in brick.

A recent decision of one of the courts of appeal in the State has practically reversed decisions that have stood in the way of paving in municipalities having over ten thousand population; and if this decision stands the final test of the supreme court the city will, by creating taxing districts be enabled to compel property owners to pave in front of their property abutting streets where the benefits of such paving equal the cost of the improvements. In the congested business districts it will be an easy matter to establish by evidence before a court that the benefits of paving largely exceed the cost of same; and if this d ecision sticks it will enable the City Council of Fort Worth, by proper legislation, to compel the paving of the cross streets between the courthouse and the depot from Throckmorton to Rusk. That this should be done is evident to all, and the City Council should commence at once to take active measures to compel the paving of these cross streets and do as much as it can under the state of the city's finances to assist in such work.

Public Utilities of the City.

Under the city charter of Fort Worth the City Council is limited in its authority to regulate the public utilities in Fort Worth. In my judgment these powers should be enlarged by appropriate amendments to the city charter, and the governing body