AMERICAN SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS

INSTITUTED 1852

TRANSACTIONS

Paper No. 1170

THE WATER SUPPLY OF THEEL PASO AND SOUTHWESTERN RAILWAYFROM CARRIZOZO TO SANTA ROSA, N. MEX.[A]

By J.L. Campbell, M. Am. Soc. C.E.

With Discussion by Messrs G.E.P. Smith, Kenneth Allen, andJ.L. Campbell.

Location.—The El Paso and Southwestern Railway traverses thearid country west of the 100th Meridian in New Mexico, Texas, andArizona, as shown on the map, Fig. 1. The water supply hereindescribed serves that division of this road lying between Carrizozo andSanta Rosa, a distance of 128 miles.

Rainfall.—The average annual precipitation is 9.84 in. The year1909 was exceptionally dry, with a rainfall of less than 5 in.

Original Water Supply.—East and west of El Paso, for distances of270 miles in each direction, the railway crosses no streams, and thesupply was obtained from wells ranging from 100 to 1,100 ft. in depth.On the division served by the new supply, this well-water is of verybad quality, as shown in Table 1.

After the most thorough practicable treatment, these waters werestill so bad that they caused violent foaming, low steam pressure, hardscaling, rapid destruction of boiler tubes, high coal and water consumption,extraordinary engine failures and repairs, small enginemileage, low train tonnage, excessive overtime, and a demoralizedtrain service.