Check-Valves.—Check-valves are placed in the pumping main to prevent the backward flow of water. There is one near the pumps, and one at the upper end and outside of the reservoir into which the main discharges.
Blow-Off Valves.—These valves are located in all material valleys or depressions.
Stand-Pipes.—Between the gate-valves, at certain points where the maximum hydraulic grade is not more than 60 ft. above the surface of the ground, open stand-pipes are erected. If the grade line is too high, relief-valves are used, as stated. Also at two points, where a steep grade ends near the ground surface and is followed by a flatter grade, stand-pipes are erected.
These stand-pipes are of 6-in. iron pipe standing in a special casting in the pipe line and enclosed in a concrete base. They are, of course, open at the top, and vary in height from 15 to 60 ft., depending on the elevation of the hydraulic grade. They have given some checks on the position of this grade during the velocity measurements hereinafter described. Their locations are shown on the profile, Plate V.
Nogal Reservoir.—Nogal Reservoir is the storage unit of the system, and is on the north edge of a table-land, 1,700 ft. above the railway, on the Carrizozo plain, 15 miles away. It is 11-1/2 miles from the head of the pipe on Bonito Creek.
This reservoir is a natural basin or bowl, 1/2 mile in diameter across the top, 1/4 mile on the bottom, and 36 ft. deep. A level line, 1500 ft. long, drawn from its bottom, comes out to grade on the north declivity of the table-land. On this level line an open cut was made and the outlet pipe laid. The cut was then closed by a dam.
The supply pipe from Bonito Creek delivers water into the basin over the top of its southern rim, the water, as it leaves the pipe, flowing over a standard weir, without end contractions, into a stone gutter. A by-pass pipe, with suitable valves, passes around the western side of the basin and connects to the outlet pipe.
This comparatively small amount of work equipped a very good natural reservoir with a capacity of 422,000,000 gal., which can be increased to 1,000,000,000 gal. by embankments across low places in the rim.
Service Reservoirs.—At Coyote, an artificial service reservoir, 100 by 200 ft. on the bottom, with slopes of 1-1/2 on 1 and a total depth of 15 ft., serves as an equalizer of the flow to and away from the pumps at that point. The pump-house is built alongside this reservoir. The delivery pipe from the Nogal Reservoir runs directly to the pumps, but has a tee-branch, 50 ft. long, into the Coyote Reservoir. This branch passes through a valve chamber between the pump-house and the reservoir. In this chamber there are controlling valves and an automatic overflow. This overflow is provided against the contingency of a full reservoir and idle pumps. If the pipe line is delivering water faster than the pumps discharge it, the surplus goes into the reservoir. This arrangement is self-acting and controlling. There is a similar arrangement at the Luna pumping plant, also at the Carrizozo service reservoir, and at the regulating reservoir on the Corona summit.
Each of the four service reservoirs is of the same size, and lined with 4 in. of 1:2:4 concrete. At Luna and Corona the concrete is reinforced with 3/8-in. round rods spaced 12 in. from center to center, both ways. This reinforcement should have been used in all the work.