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4-2261 FEDERAL WOR..XS AGEHCY WORK PROJECTS .ADMINISTRATION For Release Saturday, Ai1gust 9, 1941 R.AJ?ID 001'.ri:PLETIO:H OF WAT3R SUPPLY FOR NEW BOivillER PL.AlTT DRAWS PRAISE FOR i'lORKERS F?..Ql\I W1'A COMMISSIO1'ER Water sup1,ly~ necessary for operation of t he newly expanded Glenn L. Martin Company aircraft plant a t Middle River , Md., was pr ovided this wee~ by construc tion at a pace that far exceeded all estima~es , Howard 0~ Hunter., Commissioner of Work Projects , a1mouncod tod.a;r. '.::hrco contractors 11ad osttmated that tho work would req_uire 48 to 61 work clays , Mr . Hun.tor said. The job , involving installation of nearly fivo nilos of 16-inch main, was c1.one by WPA crows as a special nationa l defense proj c~c t i n only 35 work days$ At the samo time a sowor sys t em necessary to serve the big bomber plant was placed in operation, connecting newly insto.l l cd lines to part of an existing sys~em and utilizing a pumping station installed at Middle River by '\vPA, lYir. Hunter ,ms advisod 0 Legal difficulties had ma.do it impossible for tho Martin Company, Baltimore County or tho City of Baltimore to instal l tho neccs~ary utili tics to serve tho ar my D.nd nrvrJ buildings at tho now plant. Finally, last May,_ the county _officials proposed to sponsor the work as a '·ii"PA projo c~. Thoy wore unable to finance the full sponsor t s share of non- labor costs , but tho War Department cer tifiod tho job as important for military purposes and provided $75 , 000 from tho Emergorrcy Plan~ Facili tics Fund in rn;l.a..i tion to $21, 933 put up b~r tho county and $101,888 authori zed by W'.P~ Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-2261 President Roosevelt approvod the project on this basis June 9, e..n.d 'WPA crows were . on the job two hours a.ftor the President~ s signa,... tu.re had been affixed. A force of 250 t~ 280 men was employed. As the water line must underpass the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad at one point , a temporary main was constructed . over a railway bridge to provide service at the earliest possible date~ The permanent main under the railroe.d wilJ. not be finished for a week or 10 days, it was reported., bu.t the tompora;-y section made it possible to provide the water tho first of this week. W.aen the sewer s;irstem is complete it will bo independent of ~ the old lines, but adeg_uato service was mad.o available as soon as tho water was ready by utilizing :part of tho existing system. Tho sower construction work involved excavations to a depth of as much as 38 foot and cut through g_uicksand in part of the seven-mile linc, .but the onti?o job will be done in about hro months and there will be no difficulty in serving the Middle River plant in tho meantime, Mr. Hunter was toid~ The WPA Commissioner conga~ulatod Harry D. Williar , Jr., the State WPA Administrator, and E. L. Gonyou, tho nrca onginoor in charge of the work, upon the speed with which they had :provided thio service.and asked that his appreciation also be o:x:prossod to tho project workers~ --oOo-- Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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