Joseph Race

“ Long experience and accurate meteorological records may in some cases enable those in charge of chlorination plants to anticipate changes in the conditions of the water supply, but it is always preferable to provide a positive method of preventing sudden changes by using chlorination merely as an adjunct to other processes of purification. Unpurified waters that are objectionable on account of their bacterial content only are very rare, as the cause that produces the bacterial pollution usually produces other conditions that are equally objectionable though not so dangerous to health. ”

“ If the sludge is run into the same body of water that forms the source of supply, it must be discharged very slowly to prevent a possibility of over dosage and damage to fish life. With proper control, sludge losses can easily be kept under 2 per cent. and often under 1 per cent.
The greatest source of unavoidable loss in hypochlorite plants is from deterioration of the bleach during storage; in warm climates this loss may exceed 10 per cent. In Ottawa where high temperatures are only experienced during the summer months the loss from this cause has averaged from 7-8 per cent. ”

“ A disinfectant is usually described as a substance capable of destroying bacteria and other micro-organisms, and an antiseptic as one that restrains or retards their growth or reproduction. This distinction is entirely arbitrary as the ability of a substance to kill organisms or merely inhibit their growth depends upon the concentration employed. ”

“ When the dosage is small, a small number of active organisms, in addition to the spore bearers, will escape destruction, and others will suffer a reduction of reproductive capacity. The flora of the aftergrowth in this case will only differ from the original flora by the elimination of a majority of the organisms that are most susceptible to the action of chlorine and the weaker members of other species of greater average resistance. As the dose is increased these factors become relatively less important until a stage is reached when only the most resistant cells, the spores, remain. ”

“ Chlorination is an invaluable adjunct to other forms of water purification and it is not improbable that, in the future, filter plants will be designed to remove æsthetic objections at the lowest possible cost and that chlorination will be relied upon for bacterial reduction. Chlorination is the simplest, most economical, and efficient process by which the removal of bacteria can be accomplished and there is no valid reason why it should not be used for that purpose. ”

“ Chlorination does not change the physical appearance of water; it does not reduce or increase the turbidity nor does it decrease the colour in an appreciable degree.
The chemical composition is also practically unaltered. When bleach is used there is a proportionate increase in the hardness but the amount is usually trifling and is without significance. During 1916 when the Ottawa supply was entirely treated with bleach at the rate of 2.7 parts per million (0.92 p.p.m. of available chlorine) the average increase in the total hardness as determined by the soap method was 2.5 parts per million. ”

“ The general reactions are of three types (1) oxidation of the organic matter, (2) direct chlorination of the organic matter, and (3) a bactericidal action.
In the treatment of waters that contain appreciable amounts of organic matter almost all the chlorine is consumed in reaction (1) and even with filter effluents it is probably true that oxidation accounts for the greater portion of the chlorine consumed. The author has found that a dosage of 0.02 part per million of available chlorine was more effective in destroying B. coli in distilled water than 0.40 p.p.m. ”

“ The germicidal activity of oxidising agents has been shown by Novey and others to be somewhat proportional to the energy liberated during the reaction but even when this factor is taken into consideration chlorine compounds are more active than other oxidising agents. Hypochlorous acid is far superior to hydrogen peroxide as a germicidal agent and is as active as ozone, which liberates a greater amount of energy. ”

“ A committee of the Pittsburg Board of Trade, appointed to investigate complaints as to pipe corrosion, reported in 1917 that they were largely due to inferior qualities of pipes and not to the method of water purification employed (slow sand filtration and chlorination) .
The effect of chlorination on the plumbo-solvency of water was investigated in 1904 by Houston who found that chlorine, as chloros, in amounts between one and ten parts per million, did not appreciably increase the plumbo-solvent action of either unfiltered or filtered water. ”

“ Control of Hypochlorite Plants. If efficient operation and regular dosage is to be obtained, it is necessary that hypochlorite plants should be controlled by a trained chemist. Good results are occasionally obtained without such control but in every plant circumstances arise at some period or another which only a chemist is qualified to deal with.
The points that require consideration are (1) the composition of the bleach; (2) concentration of available chlorine [79] in the prepared solutions; and (3) chemical tests for free chlorine in the treated water. ”

“ The danger of gas leakages can be eliminated by placing the apparatus in a small separate room provided with a fan and a ventilation duct. By the liberal use of glass in the construction of the room, the operation of the plant can be seen at all times without entering the chamber.
A portion of the liquid chlorine apparatus is made of glass and is consequently easily fractured. Duplicates of the glass parts should be kept in stock to prevent interrupting the supply of gas; a duplicate machine is also advisable in large installations. ”

“ There is no evidence of any marked difference in the resistance of ordinary water bacteria to chlorine and these are the first to be affected by the added germicide. The common intestinal organisms are also very susceptible to destruction by chlorine and there is considerable evidence that B. Coli is slightly more susceptible than many of the vegetative forms usually found in water. The specific [53] organisms causing the water-borne diseases, typhoid fever and cholera, are, on the average, not more resistant than B. coli. ”

“ In practice no substance acts entirely as an antiseptic as the organisms present have varying degrees of resistance and the less viable ones are killed by doses that are only antiseptic to the more resistant ones. An example of an antiseptic effect followed by a mild disinfectant action, caused by small doses of bleach is shown in Table XV. In this experiment the water designated as control was from the same source as the treated water. ”

“ If bleach is properly broken up and thoroughly agitated in the mixing tank at least 95 per cent of the available chlorine should be extracted. The efficiency of the extraction process is checked by comparing the tests of the storage liquor with those of the dry bleach and each batch of liquor should be tested daily. It is sometimes advisable to take two samples from each tank, one soon after a tank has been put into operation, and a second sample at the end of the run. ”

“ In practice no attempt is made, except in special cases, to destroy the spore-bearing organisms as they have no sanitary significance and the concentration of chlorine required for their destruction would cause complaints as to tastes and odours if the excess of chlorine were not removed. Such doses are unnecessary and result in waste of material. It is found that, when the dose is sufficient to eliminate the B. coli group from 25-50 c.cms. of water, the majority of the residual bacteria are of the spore-bearing type. ”

“ If electrical power can be obtained at a very low cost, or if the cost is merely nominal, as it is when there is an appreciable difference between the normal consumption and the peak load upon which the rate is based, the electrolytic hypochlorite method offers some advantages but in the great majority of plants it cannot economically compete with bleach. The instability of the liquor and cell troubles have also prevented the process being generally utilised. ”

“ Sulphuric acid, even in very small quantities (5 p.p.m.) , has a marked accelerating effect and the total effect produced is much greater than can be accounted for by the germicidal activity of the acid alone. Weak acids such as carbonic acid and acetic acid are also effective accelerators. In one experiment a 0.01 per cent solution of bleach was found to be 40 per cent hydrolysed. By passing carbonic acid gas this was increased to 95 per cent and the velocity of the germicidal action of this solution was found to be approximately 100 per cent greater than that of the uncarbonated one. ”

“ Experiments made by the author indicate that a suspension of 1,000 B. coli per c.cm. in water, in the absence of organic matter, can be reduced to a 2 B. coli per 100 c.cms. standard (the U.S. Treasury Standard) by 0.1 p.p.m. of available chlorine in ten minutes at 65° F. This experiment indicates the amount of chlorine that is required for the bactericidal action only; such a dosage could never be used in practice to meet a pollution of this degree because of the accompanying organic matter. ”

“ The condition that produces turbidity, however, produces a concomitant increase in the pollution and some of the organisms are embedded in mineral or organic material that prevents access of the chlorine to the organisms which consequently survive treatment. A larger concentration is required to meet these conditions but it is not necessitated by the turbidity per se. ”

“ If the dosage is maintained at a level sufficiently high to meet these abnormal conditions, complaints as to taste and odour would ensue, and in general, such a practice is impossible. Some supplies have been chlorinated successfully for years but the principle of using chlorination as the first and last line of defence cannot be recommended. Success can only be obtained by eternal vigilance and the responsibility for results is more than water works officials should be called upon to assume. ”

“ The popularity of this process has suffered through the efforts of over zealous enthusiasts who have been unable either to recognize its limitations or to appreciate the fact that a domestic water supply should be something more than a palatable liquid that does not contain pathogenic organisms. Every system of water purification has its limited sphere of utility and chlorination is no exception to the rule. ”

“ A number of the strains that survived several treatments were cultivated in lactose broth and the acidity determined quantitatively. All the cultures produced less acid than the original culture, and the average was materially less than the original. These results point to a diminution of the bio-chemical activity by action of the chlorine.
A point of perhaps more scientific interest than practical utility is the relative proportion of the various types of B. coli found before and after treatment with chlorine. ”

“ During the winter of 1915-1916 the price of bleach, however, advanced to extraordinary heights and the author then determined to try out the process on a practical scale for the purification of water. A subsidiary plant pumping about 200,000 Imperial gallons per day (240,000 U. S. A. gallons) was found to be available for this purpose and the chloramine process was substituted for the bleach method previously in operation. The process was commenced by the addition of pure ammonia fort, in the amount required to give a chlorine to ammonia ratio of 2 : 1, to the bleach solutions in the barrels. ”

“ Ammonia, when added to solutions of chlorine gas, diminishes the property of liberating iodine from potassium iodide, the bleaching effect on dyestuffs, and the germicidal action. It is often assumed that chlorine forms hypochlorous acid on solution in water Cl2 + H2O = HClO + HCl but the results obtained on the addition of ammonia indicate that either very little hypochlorous acid is formed or that ammonia and hypochlorous acid do not form chloramine in the presence of hydrochloric acid. ”

“ The water supply of Chicago was obtained from Lake Michigan by means of intake pipes and pumped to various parts of the city. The distribution system was divided into four districts and, although there was a certain amount of mixing along the borders, the water supplied to each district was substantially separate. The rapid and progressive decline in the typhoid rate of Chicago (from 19 [139] in 1900 to 10.8 in 1911) subsequent to the diversion of the city sewage from the lake, led to the assumption that water-borne typhoid had ceased to be of any moment. ”

“ The object of German sanitarians seems to have been to obtain practically instantaneous sterilisation of water for the use of travellers and troops in the field. Until the commencement of the European War they did not have a high opinion of chlorination and generally regarded it as inefficient. Schumberg [19] expressed the opinion that no chemical method of disinfection could be absolutely relied upon, under all circumstances, to prove fatal to bacteria. Plucker [20] stated that several investigators, particularly Schuder, had shown that chlorine, even in the proportion of 40 p.p.m. ”

“ For small plants, barrels have often been used as solution and storage vessels with, in some instances, fairly successful results. The bleach process, however, cannot be recommended for small installations because the chemical control necessary for successful operation is usually not available. One drum of bleach may suffice for several months operation and as the powder gradually loses strength, the dosage constantly diminishes and may jeopardise the safety of the supply. Liquid chlorine machines are much more suitable than hypochlorite installations for supplies having no chemical control. ”

“ Chlorine, although one of the most widely distributed elements known to chemists, is never found in the free condition in nature; it exists in enormous quantities in combination with sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, etc. As sodium chloride, common salt, it occurs in practically inexhaustible quantities in sea water together with smaller quantities of other chlorides. ”