Abstract
THE town of Birkenhead, containing a population of 120,000 inhabitants, at present depends for its supply of water on local sources; the wells in the Wirral Peninsula, however, are liable to salt water filtering from the sea and rendering the supply brackish. The Corpora tion of Birkenhead so far back as ten years ago realised that the condition of the water supply was not satisfactory, and appointed a committee to inquire as to a source from which a purer supply could be obtained. After a long inquiry, and acting on the advice of their consulting engineer, the late Mr. Deacon, a site was selected in Wales, fifty miles distant, which involved the construction of a large reservoir in the Denbighshire mountains on the River Alwen, a tributary of the Dee. In 1907 an Act was obtained conferring the necessary powers for carrying out the scheme and borrowing the money required. A few days ago these works were inaugurated with some cere mony by the Mayor and Corporation, a large granite block being fixed in one of the masonry piers of the dam now in course of construction, the contract for which has been placed in the hands of Messrs. McAlpine and Co. The amount of the contract for the reservoir is 186,153l. This dam is 1250 feet above sea-level; its length is 458 feet, and height 90 feet. The reservoir will be three miles long and about 350 yards wide, and will hold three thousand million gallons of water. The area of the ground from which it will be supplied covers 6300 acres, part of which is covered by peat, which in some places is 20 feet deep. This will all have to be removed. The average rainfall over the district is 51 inches, and the estimated average yield of water eleven million gallons a day. At the present time a large staff of men is employed on the works, about 400 being housed in wooden huts erected for the purpose. The water is_ to be conveyed to Birkenhead through steel and iron pipes varying in diameter from 20 to 30 inches. The estimated total cost is 11/4 million pounds. The works have been designed and are being carried out under the direction of Sir A. Binnie and Co., who took the matter up after the death of Mr. Deacon.
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New Water Supply Works . Nature 87, 497 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/087497a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/087497a0