Glimpses at the Past and Future of the Chicago Water Supply

Abstract

This is an informal talk made at the request of the new city engineer of Chicago, Alexander Murdock, and is based on the information gathered and opinions formed during a connection of about 37 years with the water works of the city. So much has been written and said about the subject that it is difficult to tell anything new, but an attempt will be made to show how the experience of the past throws light on the problems of the future. When the author first entered the city's service in 1884 the area of the city was 37 square miles and its population was 601,000. There were two pumping stations, the Chicago Avenue Station and the socalled West Side Station on Ashland avenue near 22nd Street. Each station had old-style vertical beam engines, the oldest one, Old Sally at Chicago Avenue, having been installed in 1853, and the newest ones, the pumps at the West Side Station, in 1876. Some additional beam engines were placed in this station in 1884. The nominal capacity of the Chicago Avenue Station was 56,000,000 gallons, and of the West Station 30,000,000 gallons per day. There were two tunnels, 5 feet and 7 feet in diameter, supplying these stations from a crib located at that time two miles from shore. The distribution system consisted of 520 miles of cast iron mains, interspersed with some remnants of old bored logs. Today the population of the City is 2,800,000 and its area about 200 square miles. There are ten large stations with a combined nominal capacity of 1,170,000,000 gallons per day and more additions are under way. There are about 64 miles of water tunnels supplying these stations from six intake cribs, and the water is distributed through 2940 miles of mains. From the old beam engines the pumping machinery has developed into high-grade triple-expansion engines