WATER SUPPLY OF CAMDEN, N. J.

The first water supply of Camden, N. J., was furnished by the Camden Waterworks company in 1845, when the population of the town was about 6,500. The plant was a 30 x 48-ft. pumping station at the foot of Cooper street. This did duty for ten years, during which time the population increased to nearly 12,000, and several factories had sprung up in the city. The plant was then moved to Pavonia—a station now' abandoned, and a new system was installed, which, with occasional enlargements, has supplied the city for forty years, during twenty-four of which the municipality has owned it. The Pavonia system was superseded in 1897-98 by the present artesian well w'orks at Morris. This artesian well system was inaugurated because the waters of the Delaware had become too contaminated to be used any longer for domestic purposes. In December, 1895, 46-in. wells were sunk, and in June, 1896, a contract for constructing an artesian well plant, with a capacity of 20,000,000 gal. at Morris station was awarded to George Pfeiffer, jr. In March, 1898, the plant was installed. It consisted of two Holly, high-duty, horizontal, compound, condensing pumping engines, two independent airpumps and a boiler-feed pump. In the boilerroom were six National water-tube boilers divided into units of two 250-h. p., and tw'O 125-h. p.— total, 750 h. p. In an extension oc the main building was installed an fngersoIl-Sargcant air-compressor. The wells lie between the Penssauken creek on the northeast, Pnchack run on the southwest, the right of way of the Amboy division of the Pennsylvania railway on the southeast, and the Delaware river on the northwest—a tract of 94.75 acres, with a frontage of three-quarters of a mile on the Delaware and an average width of about 1,200 ft. between the right of way of the Pennsylvania railway and the riparian commissioners’ Delaware line. The shallow wells are from 50 to 70 ft.; the deep wells from 90 to 125 ft. Roth classes extend into and draw their supply from sands and gravels entirely within the “Plastic clay” of the Raritan division of the cretaceous, which underlies that territory. The wells number 103 in all. Close to the pumping station is a pump well 30 ft. in diameter and 35 ft. deep. To these all the wells are connected by 30-in. syphons, except those in the airfield, whose discharge is conveyed to the pump well by a 20-in. gravity main. The suction-pipes of the pumps arc connected to the pump wells, as well as by bypasses direct to the suction-lines, which aggregate about three miles and one-half in length. The water was originally discharged by the pumping engines through one 36-in. main, about 19.000 ft. long, to a point where it divided into two 30in. mains into Camden, the surplus water flowing into a standpipe 30 ft. in diameter and 1 to ft. high, built on Liberty Park hill. An additional 30-in. main has been laid, paralleling the original 36-in. main. The wells, on being tested as to their total output, ranged from 17,883,375 to 19,031,375 gal. per twenty-four hours. In 1899 the Pavonia pumping station was finally shut down as a source of domestic supply, the Morris plant then pumping between 15,000.000 and 16,000,000 gal.—show a consumption of above 200 gal. per capita per twenty-four hours. The introduction of the exclusive artesian well supply reduced the prevalence and mortality of typhoid fever from 2.95 cases and thirty-six deaths on a population of 58,313 in 18590 to five, with one death in a population of 92,458 in 1907—a splendid showing in favor of the purity of the artesian well system. It must not be forgotten, however, that, since so many residents of Camden work every day in Philadelphia, many of the typhoid cases had the seeds of the disorder sown there, and were not to be set down to drinking Camden water. The rapid growth of population in Camden foreshadows an estimated population of 135,000 in 1930, with a corresponding consumption of water. What the average daily consumption of water in the city was up to 1902. In that year it was 11,640,000 gal.; it is now 14,562,000, and would undoubtedly have been much greater had it not been for the introduction of meters. If the present ascertained daily consumption of 160 gal. per capita is maintained, 19,000,000 gal. will be called for daily in 1902 and 22,000,000 in 1930. That there is considerable waste of water in Camden is shown from the fact that the hourly consumption is nearly as great during the night as during the day— about forty per cent. Much of this waste is probably due to leakage in the valves and fittings of the service-pipes, etc. It has considerably atfected the pressure at the pumping station, which in 1902 was 47.5 lb. at the pumping stations and last year was 33.0. To increase the pressure there must be either less waste or greater pumpage. How to increase the supply for better fire protection is the problem. To pump the Delaware water into the pipes in case of fire is to court disease, and it is proposed to install large wrought iron tanks on Bethel hill, the tanks to be 100 ft. in diameter and 60 ft. high, capacity to be something over 7,000,000 gal. each. The cost of such an arrangement, including the pipe-lines, to connect the tanks and the present mains would be $150,000. An auxiliary artesian well system on Forest Hill Park flats would not be a success, as, although the supply is ample, the water is so impregnated with iron as to prevent its being used for domestic, laundry and many manufacturing purposes. The maximum possible continuous supply at Morris is about 17,000,000 gal. The present output is only 14,560,000 gal.; but it is thought the additional 2,440,000 gal. may be obtained by the introduction of new strainers of full capacity and efficiency throughout the plant. That increase, however, would be barely sufficient only for the present domestic, manufacturing and fire-protection of the city under existing conditions. It is possible a 22,000,000-gal.-per-day artesian plant of fifty wells may be sunk in territory outside of the city’s present property, the pumping plant to be electrically driven, long-stroke power-pumps discharging through a 24-in. delivery main directly into the city mains, the power to be supplied by a current furnished by a generator located in the Morris pumping station. Other plans are suggested. During the past year the department has laid 13,256 ft. of main, 12-in. to 4-in.; set nineteen new fire hydrants; driven 592 new ferrules; installed eighty-eight new iron valve-boxes; six new brick meter-boxes. The pumpage has been 4,890,701,846 gal.—a slight increase over 1906 amounting to 127,642,238 gal. The daily average pumped was 159,563,050 gal., as against 157.007,612 in 1906. Four Smith cuts, 2-in.. 4-in., and 6-in. were also made. On June 30, 565 meters were installed as follows: Hessey, 286: Indent, 124; Crown, IT6; other makes, thirty-nine. Twenty-nine meters were installed during the year. The various improvements in the waterworks system have all been successfully carried out under the efficient management of Chief Engineer Robert Hollingsworth.

The first water supply of Camden, N. J., was furnished by the Camden Waterworks company in 1845, when the population of the town was about 6,500. The plant was a 30 x 48-ft. pumping station at the foot of Cooper street. This did duty for ten years, during which time the population increased to nearly 12,000, and several factories had sprung up in the city. The plant was then moved to Pavonia—a station now' abandoned, and a new system was installed, which, with occasional enlargements, has supplied the city for forty years, during twenty-four of which the municipality has owned it. The Pavonia system was superseded in 1897-98 by the present artesian well w'orks at Morris. This artesian well system was inaugurated because the waters of the Delaware had become too contaminated to be used any longer for domestic purposes. In December, 1895, 46-in. wells were sunk, and in June, 1896, a contract for constructing an artesian well plant, with a capacity of 20,000,000 gal. at Morris station was awarded to George Pfeiffer, jr. In March, 1898, the plant was installed. It consisted of two Holly, high-duty, horizontal, compound, condensing pumping engines, two independent airpumps and a boiler-feed pump. In the boilerroom were six National water-tube boilers divided into units of two 250-h. p., and tw'O 125-h. p.— total, 750 h. p. In an extension oc the main building was installed an fngersoIl-Sargcant air-compressor. The wells lie between the Penssauken creek on the northeast, Pnchack run on the southwest, the right of way of the Amboy division of the Pennsylvania railway on the southeast, and the Delaware river on the northwest—a tract of 94.75 acres, with a frontage of three-quarters of a mile on the Delaware and an average width of about 1,200 ft. between the right of way of the Pennsylvania railway and the riparian commissioners’ Delaware line. The shallow wells are from 50 to 70 ft.; the deep wells from 90 to 125 ft. Roth classes extend into and draw their supply from sands and gravels entirely within the “Plastic clay” of the Raritan division of the cretaceous, which underlies that territory. The wells number 103 in all. Close to the pumping station is a pump well 30 ft. in diameter and 35 ft. deep. To these all the wells are connected by 30-in. syphons, except those in the airfield, whose discharge is conveyed to the pump well by a 20-in. gravity main. The suction-pipes of the pumps arc connected to the pump wells, as well as by bypasses direct to the suction-lines, which aggregate about three miles and one-half in length. The water was originally discharged by the pumping engines through one 36-in. main, about 19.000 ft. long, to a point where it divided into two 30in. mains into Camden, the surplus water flowing into a standpipe 30 ft. in diameter and 1 to ft. high, built on Liberty Park hill. An additional 30-in. main has been laid, paralleling the original 36-in. main. The wells, on being tested as to their total output, ranged from 17,883,375 to 19,031,375 gal. per twenty-four hours. In 1899 the Pavonia pumping station was finally shut down as a source of domestic supply, the Morris plant then pumping between 15,000.000 and 16,000,000 gal.—show a consumption of above 200 gal. per capita per twenty-four hours. The introduction of the exclusive artesian well supply reduced the prevalence and mortality of typhoid fever from 2.95 cases and thirty-six deaths on a population of 58,313 in 18590 to five, with one death in a population of 92,458 in 1907—a splendid showing in favor of the purity of the artesian well system. It must not be forgotten, however, that, since so many residents of Camden work every day in Philadelphia, many of the typhoid cases had the seeds of the disorder sown there, and were not to be set down to drinking Camden water. The rapid growth of population in Camden foreshadows an estimated population of 135,000 in 1930, with a corresponding consumption of water. What the average daily consumption of water in the city was up to 1902. In that year it was 11,640,000 gal.; it is now 14,562,000, and would undoubtedly have been much greater had it not been for the introduction of meters. If the present ascertained daily consumption of 160 gal. per capita is maintained, 19,000,000 gal. will be called for daily in 1902 and 22,000,000 in 1930. That there is considerable waste of water in Camden is shown from the fact that the hourly consumption is nearly as great during the night as during the day— about forty per cent. Much of this waste is probably due to leakage in the valves and fittings of the service-pipes, etc. It has considerably atfected the pressure at the pumping station, which in 1902 was 47.5 lb. at the pumping stations and last year was 33.0. To increase the pressure there must be either less waste or greater pumpage. How to increase the supply for better fire protection is the problem. To pump the Delaware water into the pipes in case of fire is to court disease, and it is proposed to install large wrought iron tanks on Bethel hill, the tanks to be 100 ft. in diameter and 60 ft. high, capacity to be something over 7,000,000 gal. each. The cost of such an arrangement, including the pipe-lines, to connect the tanks and the present mains would be $150,000. An auxiliary artesian well system on Forest Hill Park flats would not be a success, as, although the supply is ample, the water is so impregnated with iron as to prevent its being used for domestic, laundry and many manufacturing purposes. The maximum possible continuous supply at Morris is about 17,000,000 gal. The present output is only 14,560,000 gal.; but it is thought the additional 2,440,000 gal. may be obtained by the introduction of new strainers of full capacity and efficiency throughout the plant. That increase, however, would be barely sufficient only for the present domestic, manufacturing and fire-protection of the city under existing conditions. It is possible a 22,000,000-gal.-per-day artesian plant of fifty wells may be sunk in territory outside of the city’s present property, the pumping plant to be electrically driven, long-stroke power-pumps discharging through a 24-in. delivery main directly into the city mains, the power to be supplied by a current furnished by a generator located in the Morris pumping station. Other plans are suggested. During the past year the department has laid 13,256 ft. of main, 12-in. to 4-in.; set nineteen new fire hydrants; driven 592 new ferrules; installed eighty-eight new iron valve-boxes; six new brick meter-boxes. The pumpage has been 4,890,701,846 gal.—a slight increase over 1906 amounting to 127,642,238 gal. The daily average pumped was 159,563,050 gal., as against 157.007,612 in 1906. Four Smith cuts, 2-in.. 4-in., and 6-in. were also made. On June 30, 565 meters were installed as follows: Hessey, 286: Indent, 124; Crown, IT6; other makes, thirty-nine. Twenty-nine meters were installed during the year. The various improvements in the waterworks system have all been successfully carried out under the efficient management of Chief Engineer Robert Hollingsworth.

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