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<br />I <br />I- <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />I <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />. <br />I <br />. <br />. <br />I <br />. <br />. <br />-. <br />. <br /> <br />In the early years of the town's history, water was distributed <br />to the town's residents by a gravity system which was supplied by_ <br />a small reservoir located north of the town, on Silt Mesa. Records <br />.show that on September 3, 1917, the town obtained a license to <br />cross the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad tracks with an <br />8" wrapped steel water line. Together with the issuance of -a <br />$15,000 water bond in Mar~h of 1917, the license to cross the~rail- <br />road tracks implies that the new water system was constructed during <br />this time. Raw water was pumped from an island on the Colorado River <br />up to the distribution network which serves the town. It is <br />believed the raw water was obtained by a shallow infiltration gallery, <br />direct diversion or a combination of the two methods. <br /> <br />Subsequent to the water bond issue of 19l7, the town issued <br />additional bonds in 1930 to improve and extend some of the distribu- <br />tion lines within the town, According to the town clerk the <br />remaining wooden stave pipes which were constructed during the <br />early days of the town were replaced around 1949 with an assortment <br />of wrapped steel, cast iron, and asbestos cement or concrete pipes. <br />It is not certain the exact time that the two 75,000 gallon concrete <br />surface storage tanks were constructed, but it is estimated that <br />they were built during the 1940's. <br /> <br />In 1960, the- improvements to the system as they generally exist <br />at present were constructed. These improvements consisted of an <br />infiltration gallery system, clear well, and pump house, which were <br />constructed on the same site as the original raw water diversion, <br />the island in the Colorado River. The infiltration gallery, which <br />consisted of perforated-corrugated steel pipe collected river seepage <br />and gravity drained the infiltration into a clear well where the <br />water was chlorinated and pumped to the water storage tanks located <br />on the north edge of Silt. Due to the elevation of the infiltration <br />gallery as constructed, the full capacity of the clear well could <br />not be utilized by a gravity flow. Correspondingly, if the clear <br />well was filled by other means,the water exfiltrated back through <br />the infiltration gallery to the approximate elevation of the intake. <br /> <br />11-3 <br />