TUE WAslliSdTijX AQUEDUCT .m 



a (lam, a ina.sonry conduit, two rest-rvoirs, ami the noccs.saiy 

 bridge.s. Estimated daily .supply, .36,015,400 gallons : cHtimatcd 

 cost, $1,921,214. 



This last estimate was based upon a conduit of seven feet in 

 diameter and a bridge of a difleront design from that (inaliy 

 built over Cabin John creek, (ienc-ral Meigs recommended an 

 increase in the diameter of the conduit to nine feet, which, with 

 the changed plan of the bridge just mentioned, made the final 

 estimated cost about $2,435,000 and increased the estimated ca- 

 l)acity of the conduit to 67,596,400 gallons, a most fortunate 

 change for the citizens of the District of ("oluml)ia, for, had the 

 seven-foot conduit been built, the limit of its capacity would 

 have been reached about six years ago. 



In his report General JSIeigs urged the adoption of the third 

 plan, calling attention to the fact that the waterworks of this 

 country had been almost invariably designed on an inade<iuate 

 scale, and that the history of all these works showed that the 

 daily [)er capita consumption of water was increasing at a rate 

 comparatively rapid. In con3e(iuence of tliis fact and of the 

 rapid growth of poi)ulation, many of these earlier works proved 

 insufficient within a few years after construction. 



Too mucli praise, then, cannot be given to the man who in 

 1853 planned a conduit with an ultimate daily capacity e<pial to 

 one and one-half tiines the amount then furnished to the city of 

 London, nearly four times that furnished to Paris, two and one- 

 half times that furnished to New York, five times that furnished 

 to Philadel[)hia, and one and one-half times that then furnished 

 to Rome, although in A. D. 101 Rome had a daily supply of 

 377,000,000 gallons. Be it remembered that (leneral Meigs did 

 this when the combined population of Washington and (ieorge- 

 town was but 58,000, which it w'as estimated would then re(}uire 

 for all public and domestic purposes a total supply of but 

 5,220,000 gallons, about one-fifteenth of the ultimate capacity of 

 the conduit. 



General Meigs' recommendation of the enlarged Great Falls 

 plan and his reasons therefor carried such weight that they re- 

 ceived the strong indorsement of General Joseph G. Totteii, Chief 

 of Engineers, when he forwarded the report to the Hon. C. M. 

 Conrad, Secretary of War, who submitted it to President Kill- 

 more without comment. 



The first appropriation for the construction of tiie mjueduct 

 was made in March, 1853, and the actual work of breaking ground 



