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Ogden's New Public
Service Building:
A Look Below the
Surface
By James Bohne
Ogden City has built a number of public
facilities to improve our quaint and aging
downtown. It is easy to appreciate how the Peery
Egyptian Theater and the newer Ogden Amphitheater
add character to the city. Less noticeable and
somewhat removed from the 25th Street area is a
more modest project to house the City's Public
Works Department. In many ways it reflects the
general truism that even our more subtle actions
often have greater underlying significance than
appears on the surface.
This simple, efficient, and unassuming building
stands at the 30th Street gateway at Wall Avenue,
greeting passersby and daily commuters as they
depart the city. The building makes a welcome and
needed improvement to the area of the city where
the industrialized section joins commercial and
residential areas. Attractive landscaping adorns
the building's western and southern wings that
surround the work yard, effectively protecting
the neighboring community from the necessary
noise of heavy machinery. In addition, its
construction kept city funds within the city by
contracting with local businesses - Salerno
Bartoldi Architects and R & O Construction
Company.
Approaching the building from the north side of
town you can see columns made from large concrete
water pipes at the entrance to the administrative
offices. Principle Architect Bill Salerno
explains the use of water pipes for building
columns is symbolic of the key role of water
management to civilization.
Few people give thought to the role water
management has played in the development of
civilization. Waterborne diseases such as typhoid
fever and cholera were serious epidemiological
problems before the development of water
treatment facilities in the late nineteenth
century. Today we take the safety of our culinary
water system for granted. Indeed, the invention
of irrigation and viaduct plumbing were what made
it possible to build cities.
Utah being the second most arid state in the
nation is especially dependent on its water
supply. The collection, storage, delivery and
usage of water have always been critical to our
survival and growth. The history of water usage
in Northern Utah reflects the ingenuity,
resourcefulness and perseverance of our early
settlers. In the arid Utah valleys access to
major streams and rivers determined survival.
Here in Northern Utah the Ogden and Weber Rivers
are the principal sources of surface water.
Pioneers diverted water from these natural
waterways by digging canals and ditches to
irrigate their farms and orchards, and provide
water for their families.
The area's first irrigation system was
established in 1848 from the stream flowing out
of Waterfall Canyon to an area near present day
32nd Street and Harrison Boulevard. Most other
farms and settlements diverted water from the
Ogden River. As the population grew, a more
sophisticated system of canals became necessary.
This effort was so critical that every able-bodied
member of the community was required to build and
maintain the system.
The Weber, Ogden Bench, and Mill Creek Canals
provided most of the water service to Ogden City.
They not only provided water for domestic and
agriculture uses, the canals also operated water
wheels to power early industrial operations such
as lathes and mills. Other diversions, most
notably the Hooper and Layton Canals, provided
water to the western parts of Weber County. The
settlers of the western areas constructed canals
and smaller ditches to provide irrigation and
drinking water to farmlands. Water was diverted
by a system of dams to deliver amounts
proportionate to labor provided for the projects.
After the next twenty-one years of settlement,
the arrival of the railroad to Ogden City in
March 1869 earmarked the beginning of the end of
the pioneering era, and brought in new citizenry
of diverse cultural backgrounds. By then there
were 12 major diversions from the Ogden River.
Nevertheless, the northern communities regularly
experienced water shortages each summer, the
distribution systems were regularly in need of
repair and were perpetually deepened or
lengthened to meet new demands. Flooding from
high spring run-offs would wash out portions of
the conduits. In addition, wooden pipes that
carried water to homes and commercial enterprises
were prone to leakage.
Two major events that dramatically increased
population into northern Utah were the Railroad
Boom and World War II. The Echo Dam on the Weber
River in 1930 and the Pineview Dam on the Ogden
River in 1937 alleviated the increased demand for
water following the Railroad Boom. Military
installations created during World War II placed
further demands on the water supply, and
subsequently led to the Weber Basin Project in
1949, which formed the Weber Basin Water
Conservancy District. Over the following 20 years
a comprehensive water management system
consisting of dams, reservoirs, groundwater wells
and storage facilities were constructed under the
project.
Today the Ogden City water system is supplied by
six wells in the upper valley, which supplies
most of the city's drinking water, a water
treatment plant at Pineview and Wheeler Creek,
and supplemental water supplied by the Weber
Basin Water Conservancy District. Ogden City
Water provides an average usage of 17.4 million
gallons of water per day to a population over 77,000.
Water demand peaks during the summer to over 34
million gallons per day.
Where the northern pioneers delivered water to
their homes with shovels and sweat we have the
luxury of simply opening a water faucet. Electric
pumps and hydraulic pressure do the work for us.
The majority of culinary water is drawn from the
ground underlying the upper valley. The six wells
are like large straws sucking groundwater from
between grains of sand onto the surface through
some 269 miles of water mains for delivery to our
homes and businesses. These aquifers are
recharged every spring by the same mountain run-off
water that feeds our streams and rivers. The
amount of water available to us depends on the
amount of run-off water infiltrating into the
aquifer, and the amount withdrawn for usage.
Water levels in the wells are seven inches lower
than a year ago. If you consider the breadth of
land underlying northern Ogden you can appreciate
the amount of water involved. According to Marvin
Zaugg, Manager of the Ogden Department of Water
Utilities that drop in water level reduced the
output of the wells from 16 million gallons per
day to 12 million gallons per day going into the
summer peak season.
Ogden City's population is steadily increasing.
Our population has grown from 66,909 in 1990 to
77,226 in 2000, an annual growth rate of just
over 2%. Our future growth will be as dependent
on water as it was during settlement and water is
a nonrenewable resource. It is our single most
growth-limiting resource. We will have no more
water to support future populations as we have
today. We are at the point where conservation of
our current water supplies is far more cost
effective than trying to develop less accessible
sources. In order to meet the needs of future
residents, we need to do our part to use our
water wisely.
Since over 60% of our summer water usage is
outside our homes Mr. Zaugg suggests residents
avoid watering lawns between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Landscaping with drought resistant plants will
also reduce summertime usage. Running washing
machines and dishwashers only for full loads
lessens water usage, as will the repair of
leaking taps and toilets. The Department of Water
Utilities strongly encourages prompt reporting of
any water main leaks so they can be repaired as
quickly as possible.
City employees who maintain and repair these
systems more than deserve their new facility from
which to serve the city. The building and its
water pipe columns stand as testimony to their
vital service and also as another important
gesture -- it is a tribute to the toil borne by
our forefathers to bring fertility to this arid
valley and to that of our civil servants who
continue their work. While there is a great deal
of architectural expertise on design of work
areas for the comfort and productivity of white-collar
professionals, these aesthetic considerations are
often strikingly absent from work areas designed
for manual production. In my trade as an
industrial hygiene, safety and environmental
management professional I have seen first hand
the dramatic effect workplace environment can
have on employee morale.
The work these civil servants perform for us is
unglamorous, unnoticed by most of us, and carries
its share of risks: vehicle accidents, occasional
extremes of outdoor weather, exposure to water
treatment chemicals, bacteria, parasites, and
hazards associated with entering confined spaces.
Without their services the streets wouldn't be
passable after winter storms, nor could we take
the delivery or safety of our drinking water for
granted.
Likewise construction workers who built the
facility are in one of the most hazardous
occupations. Construction workers suffer more
fatal injuries than do those of any other
industry. So it was fitting that during the
cornerstone ceremony for the Public Works
Building a prayer was given which included a
special blessing for the safety of these workers.The
Chaplain of the Utah Grand Lodge of the Free and
Accepted Masons, commonly referred to as
Freemason's, delivered the convocation. They are
the largest and oldest fraternity in the world,
who view the intricacies and art in construction
of the great gothic cathedrals as symbolic of
internal processes within each of us during
growth and maturity as human beings. They
describe themselves as a society whose purpose is
to make good men better. During the ceremony they
illustrated their system of symbolism which uses
common stonemason tools to describe fundamental
principles of character: the square for measuring
actions against moral principles, the level to
view all humans regardless of class or means as
equals, and the plumb symbolically measuring
rectitude of action.
These may seem like unrealistically lofty traits
to ascribe to common laborers. But recent history
has shown us the mettle of these citizens. Last
September, the nation watched as New York City's
service workers -- firemen, policemen,
steelworkers, heavy vehicle operators --
displayed great dedication and heroism in service
to their fellow citizens. It was in this context
of disaster that the invisible minions of that
great city became giants in the eyes of an
astonished nation. When tragedy hits home, such
as the natural disaster we are sure to have
someday, we will likewise depend on the public
servants of our home communities to get the
infrastructure of civilization up and running
once again. I for one applaud Ogden City for
recognizing their employees worth by constructing
this building.
James
E. Bohne, Jr., REALTOR®
Mobile: (801) 791-9579
Office: (801) 476-9500
Fax: (801) 476-9581
E-mail: j.e.bohne@att.net |
Crest
Realty Inc.
Equal Housing Opportunity.
Equal Opportunity Employer. |
Copyright
© 2003-2005, James E. Bohne, Jr., All Rights
Reserved
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