February 2, 1891.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
563 
forced down by weighting to a bearing should any set- 
tlement take place. In only five instances has this 
occurred, and has thus been met without risk and in 
only one instance with stoppage to the supply by he 
main pipe. All are now sound. 
The two highest localities in the town were Bite 
House, where the ground is 100 ft. above the sea, arid 
Maligakanda, where the top of the hill was 70 to 5 ft. 
above the sea. It was therefore impossible to obtain 
the usual working pressure for the town d stribution 
piping of 150 to 200 ft., and this was therefore reduced 
to the lowest safe working limit of only 10 ft. per mile 
of distribution. 
The Blie House site had the advantage of 25 ft. greater 
elevation, butto deliver the water from Labugama there, 
instead of Maligakanda, added about a mile in 
length to the main pipe, while after being brought 
there the greater bulk of all the water had to be 
conveyed back again about three miles to the middle of 
the town, whereas at Maligakanda it was ready to hand. 
Besides the additional cost of these four miles of large 
piping ab out K200,000, the greater distance the water 
had to be conveyed from Biie House required 30 
feet higher elevation in a reservoir there than a; 
Maligakanda to give the same general pressure over 
the town. 
The water had to be delivered, at such times as the 
full demand exists, at the levels equivalent to 80 ft. in 
the Port and Wolfendah), 70 ft. at Fishers’ Hill, and at 
least 40 ft. at Pasbetal ill the north end Wellawalta in. 
the south,. These requirements have been since proved 
correct by the frequent complaints of want of water 
and want of pressure previous to the recent completion 
and use of the service reservoir, and created the neces- 
sity of raising the service reservoir to give the level of 
100 ft. to the water at Maligakanda or 130 ft. at Blie 
House ; in either case an elevation of 30 ft. above the 
aronud level. 
The cost of the reservoir would therefore be the same 
at either place, and tbe Maligakanda site was adopted, 
as it saved the four miles of large pipes and gave a 
much mere convenient centre for woiking the distribu’ 
tion. As it is, the northern main from tbe reservoir 
is five and a half miles long and the southern pipe 
fonr miles. 
By tbe original design this reservoir was excavated 
from 10 to 15 ft. into the ground, and the water level 
was raised 30 feet above the surface with mas- 
sive walls of Cement concrete. The top was 
covered with a double ventilating roof of thm 
concrete arches, and the floor was also lined with 12 in. 
of cement concrete. The concrete for the whole of tbe 
work was put liquid into the site, the walls being faced 
with 10-in. concrete blocks on both sides. The inside 
dimensions of the work were 190 ft. and 191 ft. 4 iu.; 
depth of water, 40 ft.; the height of the walls from 
foundation t > top of parapet, at upper roof, 49 ft.; and 
thickness of walls varying from 5 it. 9 in. at top water 
level to 19 f'. 9 in at the bottom, the r of perapet b* ing 
from 3 to 2 ft. tldek. The water capacity of the reser- 
voir was to be 8,500,000 gallons. 
Then follows tbe history of the service reservoir, 
until the addition of an earthen (inbankment and 
division into sectior s preserved the concrete wall 
from expansion and contraction, from changes of 
tempeiature so great occasionally, we believe, as a 
difference of some 70® in the 2* hours, while per 
eolation through the cement and concrete which Mr. 
Burnett, (mistakenly, we believe) held to be imper- 
vious, Whs prevented by an internal skin of water- 
proof and elastic nsphalte. Our readers will be in- 
terested to learn that the weight of the masonry 
of the Maligakanda reservoir is no less than 
40,000 tons ; of the earthwork 39 000 tons ; of the 
water 38,000, or 117,000 tons in all, resting on the 
[aterite foundation. The total length of piping 
of all sizes is no less than 851 miles ; public 
stand pipes in Colrmbo 6G4 ; houses wiili separate 
services laid 1,414; trade supplies 30; garden 
supplies 43. As regards separate services for 
houses, it must not be forgotten that in many 
oases there are excellent wells attached to a good 
many houses, such as those on the sea-side of 
the road at Kollupitiya. Brackets, as recommended 
by Mr. Burnett, are now being attaohed to some 
of the standpipes, and it is to be hoped that the pre- 
sent reckless waste of water at these standpipes 
where many of the people bathe as well as draw 
water in a most careless manner, may be checked, 
if not entirely prevented. The consumption of 
water per head of the population at present aver- 
ages 19 gallons per head per diem. The use of the 
service reservoir, containing 8,350,000 gallons, with a 
depth of 39 feet, the inside dimensions being 190 
feet by 191 feet 4 inches, has added 40 per cent, 
to the water available by day to the town, with an 
increase of 40 feet pressure. If roads are to be 
thoroughly watered, drains properly flushed, public 
baths provided, and the Colombo Lake kept full of 
water, even when evaporation takes away half an 
inch per diem from its surface, a new pipe from 
Labugama to Colombo must soon be laid. The 
difficulty is that already, in consequence of the 
necessity of meeting interest and sinking fund for 
the repayment of the portion of Water Works Loans 
allotted to the Municipality, the assessment of 
property in the town has reached 11 per cent, on 
the annual value. But with its grand harbour and 
other advantages, the population of our chief city is 
rapidly increasing, and wealth and the value of urban 
property must increase in proportion. The oost of 
bringing pure mountain water from the beautiful 
Labugama Lake within reach of the inhabitants 
of Colombo has been not far short of £350,000. 
But even so, the oost is comparatively moderate 
and the boon in a sanitary and general sense is 
really priceless. The oost for each gallon of 
water sold in Colombo, before the Waterworks 
came into play, was 1 cent ; it is now the merest 
fraction of a fraction of a cent. For a consumption 
of 19 gallons p-r diem, or about 7,000 gallons per 
annum, per hi ad of the population the average 
c 'St per annum for each person is only 65 cents, 
the water being as pure as any in the world ; 
while the supply in olden days was frequently 
brackish, unwholesome and insufficient. Let 
the inhabiiants of Colombo, therefore, while 
grateful for the berefi's of one of the best water 
supplies in the world, remember with respect the 
name of the engineer who, bearing up bravely aga nst 
anxie y, ob oquy and the inroads of fatal disease, just 
survived to tee tbe great woik he had initiated and 
carried on to a su eessful conclusion, so thorough 
a puecesa as it now is. A memorial stone in 
honour of Mr. Burnett ought to be erected on the 
bund of the beautiful Lake of pure mountain water 
at Labugama. 
B fore saying farewell to the lovely Lake of 
Labugiima, and its romantic Burroundines of 
hill and forest and greensward I must refer to 
a few unextended notes. The elephants, be- 
sides levelling a score of coconut palms on 
the border of the Lake, which belonged to 
the submerged village, also killed a oaju tree 
by denuding it of bark. Recalling reminisoenoes of 
“ The Lady of the Lake,” we asked Mr. Gibson if 
ho had 1 ver seen deer take to the water at Labu- 
gama. The answer was in the affirmative ; sambur 
and red deer end that exquisitely formed miniature 
deer, the meminna, hau all been observed swim- 
ming. With reference to the climate and soil, too 
we were told of a rain storm of 9i inches in 4 
hours, which had produced no appreciable wash. 
Having thus noticed the main incidents of our 
pleasant trip to the Labugama lake and some 
of the main facts connected with the transmission 
to and distribution in Colombo, of its waters, by 
gravitation (we were told of a pressure of 107 
lb. to the square inch ?), we reserve for a final 
