SOURCE: A River Runs Through It: A 100-Year History of the Columbus Water Works. Editors: Beth Bickerstaff, Jim Patterson, and Bob Tant, 2002.
One of the first acts of the Water Board after the settlement of the lawsuit brought by bondholders of the bankrupt Columbus Water Supply Company was to hire a Superintendent. The Board employed Dudley Chipley (pictured below) on November 5, 1914. He served in that capacity for some three and a half years. In January 1915, the Board authorized the Superintendent to purchase a motorcycle for his use. This is the first record of a motor vehicle being owned by Columbus Water Works.
By 1916, the Water Works' original plant consisted of a pump station on the banks of the Chattahoochee River, with a pumping capacity of five million gallons per day, and a 20-million-gallon raw water reservoir. There was also a filter plant with six filters with a rated capacity of six million gallons per day, and a 2.5-million-gallon clear water reservoir, which supplied the city, by gravity, through a 24-inch cast iron main down Third Avenue. The water was distributed via 60 miles of cast iron mains, with 550 public fire hydrants in service. On October 2, 1917, a one-ton Republic truck was purchased for $1,225, and on January 7, 1919, the first Columbus Water Works automobile was authorized to replace the motorcycle.
An interesting historical footnote concerns the introduction of chlorine into the water in 1919. The Board authorized the purchase of a chlorine gas machine for application of the gas as a disinfectant in February 1919, and chlorine gas has been used as the principal disinfectant ever since.
Lowering a 20-inch cast iron pipe laid in 1915 on 3rd Avenue just North of 17th Street - one of the main feeders from the Filter Plant into the City.
Charles F. Jordan who had served as secretary for the Board was appointed as Superintendent of Columbus Water Works on April 29, 1918, to replace Chipley, who had resigned. Mr. Jordan had been employed originally by the private Columbus Water Works Company. He was a lifelong resident of Columbus and was a member of a distinguished local family. Mr. Jordan would serve as superintendent until his death on January 4, 1928.
Jordan was succeeded as superintendent by Mr. Albert J. Smalshaf, who had been the Assistant Superintendent. Mr. Smalshaf, a graduate of Princeton University, had originally come to Columbus as a member of the Public Health Service stationed at Camp Benning (now Fort Moore). Meanwhile, the city— and its need for water— continued to grow. The drought of 1925 pointed to the need for more filter capacity, and two more filters with a capacity of one million gallons each were in use by the end of 1926.
Due to this same drought, Phenix City requested that Columbus Water Works provide drinking water to their city. The agreement had Columbus Water Works selling the water to the Alabama Water Company and they in turn supplied Phenix City. This arrangement lasted from August 1925 until the pipe was disconnected in May 1929 at the request of Phenix City.
In 1928, two more million-gallon per day filters were added, bringing the total filter capacity of the plant to 10 million gallons per day. During the early 1930s, which represented the worst years of the Great Depression, the Water Board, like state, local, and federal officials, tried to stay "above water," rather than take large strides forward. In 1935, the Chattahoochee Valley Chamber of Commerce was organized by James W. Woodruff, Sr., a man who would continue to work for river development for many years.
Relocating 24-inch supply line on 3rd Avenue between 38th and 45th Streets in 1937.
In 1939, the Water Board authorized its engineer to help Muscogee County authorities prepare plans for providing water throughout Beallwood, a densely populated residential section just north of Columbus. Dr. J.A. Thrash, County Commissioner of Public Health, and Bentley H. Chappell, county attorney, asked the water commissioners to help the County Commission build and install a water works distribution system to serve the area. They expected to borrow the necessary funds from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and needed help getting data and specifications to apply for the funds.
A.J. Smalshaf retired in December 1940 after twenty-two years of service. Smalshaf was succeeded by George R. Lowe, who was appointed with the new title of General Manager on January 7, 1941.
In the same year, peacetime ended with the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor —1941 — a 3-million-gallon concrete clear water reservoir was built underground in Columbus, costing $100,000, increasing the plant's clear water storage capacity to 5.25 million gallons.
In 1942, the U.S. government, through the Federal Works Agency, granted $76,365 to the city of Columbus to help finance the construction of defense public works, estimated to cost $152,731, consisting of Water Works facilities.
In 1943, in response to a letter from the Commissioner of Roads and Revenues stating, "the early establishment of the much-needed Air Mail Service to the Columbus area and military personnel of Fort Benning," the Water Board agreed to install water facilities at Muscogee County Airport. The cost was to be borne by the County.
The war ended in 1945, after the Germans surrendered in May, and the first atomic bomb was dropped in Japan in August.
Muscogee County Airport, 1949.
The war's effects in Columbus continued to be felt. The Water Board voted in 1948 to take over the water system serving Benning Hills and Columbus homes subdivisions, free of charge. Between 1941 and 1943, 122 new homes had been built in Benning Hills, made up entirely of commissioned Army officers and their families, according to a 1943 issue of The Columbus Magazine.
An article in that same edition, published by W.C. Woodall, describes changes in Columbus due to World War II: "Take water. It's always a good indication of population growth. Everybody drinks water. Some 20 miles of water main have been added to the Columbus system since 1940, and 2,500 new meters have gone on the lines. In 1940, the Water Works pumped out an average of 5.5 million gallons a day; in 1942, it was up by 2 million a day to 7.5 million."
At the Water Board's September 1954 meeting, the chairman, Jack M. Passailaigue, commented how fortunate Columbus was that due to the Water Works' $2.25 million expansion – finished in the summer of 1953—the water works didn't have to ask customers to curtail water use, compared to "the majority of communities in the Southeast." He reminded the Board that, due to the extreme summer drought, the city's facilities were taxed almost to capacity, and he thought it wise to have the engineers survey the facilities.
As a sign of residential growth in the city, the chairman said 145 new services were installed in August, compared to 58 the previous August.
At its April 1955 meeting, the Water Board read a letter from Dr. J.A. Thrash, County Commissioner of Public Health, enclosing a request from the Board of Health to fluoridate the water soon, to protect the children of the community against tooth decay. The Board reiterated its position taken in 1954, not to fluoridate the water supply due to limited information on the process. This would not, by a long shot, be the last time the question of fluoridation would come before the Water Board before action was taken. Opponents of fluoridation over the years had labeled it as "poison, sinful, and communistic," according to a publication sponsored by the American Cast Iron Pipe Company. (Fort Benning's water supply was fluoridated in 1957.)
Turning on a 12-inch valve supplying Newton D. Baker Village in 1941.
This military housing development was taken into the Columbus Water Works system at the request of the Federal Government.
Upon the request of the Commissioners of Roads and Revenues, the Water Board agreed at its June 7, 1955, meeting to collect sewage fees if the details could be worked out for all concerned, according to Board minutes.
At a July 12, 1955, meeting to discuss the Water Works' proposed $2.7 million expansion, City Manager R.G. Hicklin expressed concern the expansion would increase the debt service, because this loan would reduce the Water Works' appropriation to the city too much.
The Water Board, however, proceeded with asking the City Commission to authorize and validate the sale of the proposed $2.7 million revenue certificate issue.
There was a called meeting December 23, 1955, to "familiarize the Board with the city's plan to seek legislation in the next General Assembly giving the Board of Water Commissioners exclusive jurisdiction of the sewage system of the city, within and without corporate limits," minutes showed.
In light of the Georgia General Assembly approving the Water Board's taking over city sewage, the Water Commissioners resolved in April 1956 to direct its engineering firm to prepare plans for its proposed sewerage system outside city limits, at an estimated cost of $1.1 million. They also requested a report on the need for sewage disposal facilities, especially the effect on the Fort Gaines Reservoir, which is downstream from Columbus.
The Water Board resolved, at the city manager's request, to amend the request for $2.7 million in water revenue certificates to be a joint water and sewer issue.
Aerial view of Columbus Water Treatment Plant in 1954.
By this time, the older buildings had been demolished and new buildings housing filter and chemical application equipment had been constructed.
Meanwhile, in September 1956, the Water Board discussed moving the raw water pumping equipment due to the building of Lake Oliver Dam. This came after members learned the 1915 deed of the Columbus Power Company dated August 23, 1915, conveyed the raw water pumping station site on the riverbanks, right-of-way for pipelines from the river plant to the Filter Plant, and the right-of-way for discharging waste from the filter plant was subject to certain conditions.
The deed spelled out that if the grantor builds a dam on the Chattahoochee River backing water over Columbus Water Works intake, the grantor would give the city land equal to the size of the pumping station site. The Water Works would pay to move the equipment to a new pump station site, estimated at $250,000.
A committee of Water Works officials met to try to persuade Georgia Power representatives they should pay at least half the cost of the moving expenses because the power company was causing the situation. According to the minutes, "Power Company officials declared having no funds for the project, and said they didn't feel obligated, even morally."
The Water Board agreed to have the law firm Hatcher, Smith, and Stubbs send a letter to the Power Company stating legal action was a possibility.
Construction of Oliver Dam.
The new water intake facility is being built on the left edge of the photo.
The Board also agreed to take its attorney's advice to ask the City Commission in a letter to object to the Georgia Power Company's plans to make the Water Works pay for its move when Oliver Dam was constructed. In August 1957, the Board discussed a letter from the engineers showing it would cost $120,272 less to build a new pump station below Oliver Dam than above.
The Power Company agreed to reimburse Columbus Water Works for the difference — if the Water Board would build the intake above the dam. The Board approved sending a letter asking Georgia Power Company to reimburse the amount.
The Board authorized an agreement dated November 5th with Georgia Power Company covering the Power Company's participation in relocating the Columbus Water Works Raw Water Pump Station, caused by the building of Oliver Dam. As part of the agreement, the Water Board approved going ahead with building the necessary parts of the raw water pumping station in order that the schedule would coincide with the construction of Oliver Dam, and not create delays.
NEXT WEEK: The final installment.