Impounding six billion gallons of water for Manila

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Impounding six billion gallons of water for Manila
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 6 (Issue No.6) June 1926
Year: 1926
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Fulltext: 14 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, 1926 Impounding Six Billion Gallons of Water for Manila «« ** ** ** ** v* ** New Water Supply System 100,000,000 Gallons Daily John Qordon of Qordon 4Haley. Build ing Impoudinq Dam al noualiches that the manager of Manila now has a maximum daily water supply of 22 million gallons, and needs more than twice that volume, as has been the case for many years. The Metropolitan Water District is therefore building* a new water system, with the proceeds of 1*12,000,000 of bonds sold in the United States. It was ten years ag the water district. A. Gideon, then city engineer—for the publicly owned corporation had not then been or ganized—cited the growing scarcity of water and urged the building of a new and adequate system. When the weather was dry some attention was given his counsel; then it would rain and the mains would run full, and the city fathers would postpone action, though, in their favorite way, accept ing the project in principle. For this reason and some others, Manila suffered a water famine during the dry season broken only late in May. It will however not be long before permanent relief is provided by completion of projects in the new system now under construction. The Montalban system, the one supplying THE MAN RESPONSIBLE A. Gideon, manager of the Metro politan Water District, who left Ma nila June 2 and may not return at the end of his leave, is the man to whom the new water system must be credited—whom Manila owes a lasting debt. Gideon is a Cornell man, class '9.5. He came to Manila in 1904, 23 years ago, to a position in the bureau of public works, having previously been chief engineer of the Havana (Cuba) Sewerage System. In Manila he was given charge of administration of water Service and sewers. In 1912 he became chief engineer of the Depart ment of Sewer and Waterworks Cons truction, to which position that of City Engineer was added in 1910. When the Metropolitan JFafer Dis trict was organized, July, 1919, he went to the post as manager, which he still holds. the city and district at present, furnishes a maximum of 22 million gallons per day; the new system will provide 80 millions more, making 100 million gallons altogether and relieving nil anxiety as to an adequate supply of water, for at least fifty years. Gordon and Haley are now building the big impounding dam on the Novaliches river. The cost is in the neighborhood of 1'1,300,000 and the job is to be finished, it is contem plated, before the next dry season becomes severe. This dam will be connectel with the Montalban pipeline and even prior to the drawing of water from the Angat river it will afford a considerable extra supply of water. The Novaliches dam will impound six billion gallons of water when finally con nected with the Angat conduit. It will stretch across the Novaliches gulch as shown in one of the illustrations. The first step required Avas the construction of a triple-barrel aqueduct to take care of the river flow while the dam is under construe tion. This, as is seen in the pictures, is nearly completed, and the concrete wall to prevent seepage is also well along. The dam itself will be of mixed clay and en dorated material found adjacent to the site of the dam. A half million cubic meters of this material must be placed, after the present soil has been removed. Units of (principal importance in the new water system, known as the Angat system, are: A gravity spillway dam on the Angat river below the mouth of the Ipo, emptying into the Angat. This dam will be 50 feet high and 500 long; it will require 40,000 cubic yards of masonry and is estimated to cost Pl,200,000. An aqueduct-tunnel from the mouth of the Ipo to the San Juan reservoir. Four kilometers of the conduit and two kilome ters of the tunnel comprising portions of this aqueduct are being constructed by J. B. Findley, the contract involving about Pl,000,000. The aqueduct will be 31 kilome ters long when completed. Its height, inside, will be fine feet, and width five feet.. The cost is estimated at P4,000,000. Underwood Typewriters Equip your office with Underwoods. Admitted the finest typewriter yet made. “The Machine you will eventually buy”. Write for catalogues and prices. Smith, Bell & The Dictaphone A modern system for the prompt and more convenient handling of your correspondence. Is always ready to record every thought. As essential to the Business Man as the Telephone. Company, Ltd. Sole Agents for the Philippine Islands. Hongkong & Shanghai Bank Building. IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, 1926 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 15 WHY BE AN EASY MARK FOR CROOKS AND DEADBEATS PROTECT YOURSELVES AGAINST LOSSES 'ffie COMMERCIAL INFORMATION EXCHANGE IS A CLEARING HOUSE FOR CREDIT INFORMATION GET A LINE ON YOUR CUSTOMERS A FEW PESOS PER MONTH MAY SAVE YOU THOUSANDS WRITE OR TELEPHONE FOR PARTICULARS COMMERCIAL INFORMATION EXCHANGE 3rd FLOOR, 322 PACIFIC BUILDING TEL. 2-23-61 J. L. PIERCE, Manager Settling basins and sand filters capable of treating- 50,000,000 gallons of water per day must be provided. These auxiliaries are expected to cost about P2,500,000. Enlargement of the San Juan reservoir will cost some P500.000. Extension of the distributing system in Manila will cost Pl,000,000, with a similar cost for exten sion and improvement of the sewer system. Visws 0} the Rew Waterworks Showir.q Concrete Curtain Acron Bale oj Impounding Dam. novalichei River: Left Inset. Uieu> oj Tunnel near Impounding Dam: Riqht Iniet, Head oj Triple-Barrel Aqueduct for River Flout While Dam li Under Construction. Of r_ ’ - ‘ ' AG. River control, supervision, etc., and the building of 31 kilometers of highway along the aqueduct, wil absorb another 1’800,000. The project was authorized by the Legis lature under Act 2852, carrying a provision for bonds in the sum of P12,000,000. But it was the opinion in the United States that these bonds would be taxable; they therefore would have carried an interest rate of perhaps seven per cent. There was further delay until amendments could be made. The bonds bear interest at five per cent, and sold at the rate of 4.72 per cent. They mature in 30 years. By effecting the changes alluded to, Gideon saved the public of the water district some 1’8,000,000 in interest charges alone. He devoted him self tirelessly to every phase of the project, yet a large portion of the Manila press was never happier than when disparaging his efforts—chiefly, perhaps, because he insisted that the city pay the water district the charges due for water furnished. He probably saved the public another huge sum by rejecting the hydroelectric project coupled with the original plans. He believed this would be a failure, involving an annual deficit on operations and main tenance of about P350.000. Another scheme was to supply Manila with water from artesian wells. He exploded it. “If each well flowed 70,000 gallons daily,” he said, “then 800 wells would be required to supply 56,000,000 gallons of water. The cost would be P6,000 per well, or P4,800,000, besides maintenance and operation costs. The wells are not properly speaking artesian wells at all; they do not flow, but require pumps. The proposition is so full of risks that no reputable engineer would dare risk the possible waste of public money that it involves. “What we do require is a fairly large river with a minimum flow of more than 50 million gallons per day—located as near Manila as possible and with little or no population on the watershed. The river bed must be of sufficient elevation so that we can cheaply construct a gravity aque duct system with settling basins and sand filters, and still maintain the same water pressure as we now have in the city. The Angat river comes nearest to fulfilling all these desired requirements, and we have found, after a careful comparative study of every other available source, that it offers the only solution to our problem.” The Pagsanjan river was rejected because of its distance from Manila. The authorized bonds axe only disposed of as money becomes necessary for the purchase of materials or payment for work. The original indebtedness for the Montal ban project was P8,000,000; the Angat project adds not more than 1’12,000,000; about 1928 the whole indebtedness will be highest, around P18,000,000, and by 1950 it will be down again to 1’10,000,000. The net profits of the water district, unless lowered under new management, are sufficient to take care of all charges of operation and maintenance, interest and sinking fund. Even with the Angat system operating it will still be necessary to maintain the Montalban system, the godsend to Manila built under the administration of Colonel J. F. Case, back in 1903, because the Mariquina valley towns are in the water dis trict and entitled to the water service. But the Montalban reservoir leaks, leaks like a sieve; the expectations that the crevices and faults in the limestone would silt in, the silt forming a sort of cement, were (not fulfilled, so that the minimum flow is many millions of gallons daily below the estimates of the engineers. (Andositc is the formation at the projected Angat dam, and less leakage is anticipated.) Of lhe Montalban system Gideon says: “The whole system was proportioned for a maximum draft of 20,500,000 gallons per day. Provided the storage had been what it was originally intended to be and no leakage occurred at the dam, and the mi nimum stream flow had been 11,000,000 gallons per day. ban-ing accidents the sys tem would probably have been sufficient till the end of 1921..’ The engineers made a remarkably good estimate of future con sumption. They would not have been jus tified in providing for much more than IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OP COMMERCE JOURNAL 16 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, 1926 four times the then daily consumption of water in a period of twenty years. “The watershed of the Angat river is located due noth and adjacent to the Mariquina watershed. It occupies practically the whole of the eastern side of Bulacan province, adjacent to Tayabas. At Pared (the town near the projected dam) it covers an estimated area of 280 square miles, 173,200 acres, or about 2.6 times the area of the Mariquina watershed at Montalban dam. It is of a rugged nature, similar to the Mariquina watershed, has no lakes, ponds or swamps or large areas of levei land. . . The dam at Pared is to be located in a deep gorge with sharply rising walls, and is more or less favorable for the loca tion of a high dam. The gorge is quite narrow at this place, which means a very much shorter dam and consequently less masonry than would be needed for a dam of similar height elsewhere on the Angat river.” But think of a city of Manila’s population using 50 million gallons of water a day! It actually would do so, if the water could be supplied; and it does use 25 million gal lons, with all services metered and wastage estimated lower than in American cities, not more than 25 per cent. In 1903 there were 3,000 services; in 1918, 8,000, and now there are 20,000. In accordance with the Carriedo will, water is furnished free to the poor, to Santa Clara convent and the Franciscans. The city is charged for its water, and on these grounds: it is a cus tomer of the water district, and the water system is maintained by the charges for the service, not by taxation. The insular auditor, Ben F. Wright, ht-s endeavored to get the city’s debt to the water district paid, and thereby thrown a pretty case into the United States supreme court; so that as yet the sum due from the city remains a bill receivable; of doubtful worth. When the water district took over ad ministration of the water system from the city, in 1919, there was an annual deficit. Collections in 1918 were 1*4525,0 0 0, expen ditures 1’875,000, the deficit 1'250,000. (The interest on the 1’8,000,000 bonds annually is P320.000, at four per cent, and the sink ing fund P155.000. An operating charge of P-100,000 makes up the remainder of the 1918 expenses). If the city pays its $200,000 for last year, the collections will be Pl,480,000; deducting the city’s bill, however, the collections were actually Pl,280,000. Interest on the old bonds was P320.000, and on the new 1’125,000. The sinking fund was 1’156,000, and operations expense P.399,000. This rounds out an ex pense of Pl,000,000, to use approximations, and leaves a net profit to the water district of P280.000, or 1’180,000 if the city pays. “We can install the new system, assuring Manila abundance of pure water for fifty years, without increasing the rates.” is Gideon’s parting assurance, as he leaves Manila the community where he rendered 23 years of work of the stamp generally commended by men able to weigh its worth. Myers-Buck Co., Inc. Surveying and Mapping. PRIVATE MINERAL AND PUBLIC LAND 230 Koeedler Bldg. Tel. 161 ZAMBOANGA DROUTH COSTLY From the Mindanao Herald: Yesterday morning, May 7, the people of this community were filled with unadul terated joy when the clouds suddenly open ed and poured forth a deluge of rain upon a parched and withering land. This was the first rainfall recorded in Zamboanga in 120 days. The extent of the damage to agriculture would be hard to determine. The coconut trees, which are the main source of the province’s wealth, have suffered enormous ly. It requires about one year for a coco nut to mature, from flower to ripe nut, and as a large percentage of the flowers and small nuts have fallen from the trees, the TME TRADE MARK THAT GUARANTEES QUALITY Five La Minerva Cigars with World-Wide Reputations Czars Monte Carlo Fancy Tales Excelentes Monarcas Sold Everywhere La Minerva Cigar Factory, Inc. 2219 Azcarraga Tel. 12-69 Makers of the Choicest Cigars Since 1883 effect of this drought will be felt for months to come. A 50G shortage in copra production during 1926 would be a very conservative estimate. This has been the first severe drought suffered in Zamboanga since 1912. We are fortunate that they do not come oftener, and it is probable that this region suffers less through drought than any other part of the Philippines. It is possible we were becoming entirely too self-sufficient and an all-wise Provi dence caused this visitation to teach us to be more humble and not so inclined to crow over our superior advantages. Anyhow, the rains have come in time for our rice and corn crops; the coconuts, hemp and rubber will be revived by th? refreshing showers, and next year we will .probably be even more cocky than ever before. The Trade-Mark That Has Identified The Choicest c^Hanila Cigars Since 1883 zA Shape for Every Taste and Every One A Source of Perfect Joy IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNA.
pages: 14-16