As Morgantown grew, reliance on the Monongahela River for an adequate water supply raised persistent concerns about year-round water quality. In the 1920s, West Virginia University researchers found that the river water's main problems and their causes lay upstream, though they also identified lesser issues in water from the Tibbs Run Reservoir. They recommended different chemical treatments in different amounts depending on the water source. In 1935, a 250 foot by 100 foot wall of wooden sheet pilings, with a walkway, was built around the outlet tower where water was collected so sediments could settle and the water could be chemically treated. A chemical feed house was also built there in 1935, containing a scale, a hopper that fed lime into a mixing box, and an electric-driven Gould pump that pulled water from the reservoir into the mixing box before the lime mixture was returned to the reservoir. Chlorine was added through a separate line from the house back into mixing chambers along the enclosure walls. When the water level is very low, the remains of the wall can still be seen. David Fields, who lived on the adjacent property, served as the first reservoir caretaker, and Ralph Lemley followed soon after.