ASCE 1193: The Water-Works and Sewerage of Monterrey, N. L., Mexico: The 4th article from the June, 1911, Volume LXXII, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Paper No. 1193, Feb. 1, 1911.Conway, G. R. G. (George Robert Graham)
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ASCE 1193: The Water-Works and Sewerage of Monterrey, N. L., Mexico: The 4th article from the June, 1911, Volume LXXII, Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Paper No. 1193, Feb. 1, 1911.
JAMES D. SCHUYLER, M. AM. SOC. C. E. (by letter).--For completeness of
detail and wide range of subjects of general interest to engineers, this
paper is certainly one of the notable contributions to recent engineering
literature. It is a minute and painstaking record of the successful
accomplishment of construction work under unusual climatic conditions and
difficult circumstances, and reflects credit on the author, not only in
his capacity as an engineer, but as a faithful recorder of facts. It was
particularly fortunate that he was an eyewitness of the disastrous and
extraordinary flood which swept through Monterrey, destroying many lives
and much property, and has thus been able to give an intelligent estimate
of the maximum discharge of the river during the height of the flood wave
of August 27th-28th, 1909, when the rate of run-off per unit of area of
water-shed drained reached an amount which has seldom been equalled or
exceeded, as far as reliable records extend. It is worthy of note that
works deriving their water supply from the source of such torrential
floods should have survived with so little actual damage, and with
scarcely any interruption of service. The repair of all damages to the
system was estimated to have cost not more than $20,000.
As Mr. Conway did not assume charge of construction until May, 1907, he
was spared the responsibility of deciding on the general plan of securing
an abundant supply of pure water from sources permitting of delivery by
gravity under adequate pressure for fire protection--a responsibility
which devolved on the writer, assisted by G. S. Binckley, M. Am. Soc. C.
E., Mr. Conway's predecessor, as Chief Engineer. Not only the water-works,
but the system of sewerage and sewage disposal by broad irrigation were
subsequently carried out on the plans submitted to the State Government by
the writer in 1906, and given provisional acquiescence at that time.
There was no lack of water at hand for the supply of a city of that size,
as there are large perennial springs which flow out of the travertine of
the plain, and are used for irrigation in the valley below the city. One
of the largest of these, near the civic center, has a normal flow of
nearly 30 cu. ft. per sec.; another nearby, also within the city limits,
flows some 10 or 12 sec-ft., while both the Estanscia and Robalar springs,
but a few miles below (shown on Plate II), discharge more than 20 sec-ft.,
as nearly as memory serves. Besides this supply, the water to be developed
by sinking shafts in certain parts of the plain, as demonstrated at the
brewery and elsewhere, was apparently a reliable source of large volume.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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