Thomas J. Bell

“ QUALITY OF POLLUTION.
Scientists tell us that it is not so much the quantity as the quality of the sewage:
“It is true a large amount of refuse material is of such character as to be, except in excessive quantities, of no appreciable influence on the human system; the addition of the inorganic compounds of lime, soda, potash, etc., would have no deleterious effect; in fact, although the lime compounds increase the hardness of water, and make it less desirable for washing, the presence of a moderate amount of mineral substance makes the water more palatable and very probably more wholesome. ”

“ The principal reliance, during the summer, is the large “Shield” engine, which is most extravagant on fuel, and has a wrought-iron [124] force-main, of weak material, intrenched 35 feet below the surface of the street. Some of the boilers are of an age that require them to be treated with the greatest care, and should be condemned. The principal buildings do not afford protection or access to the pumps in case of derangement during average high water. The hill-top service is inadequate, and a larger and more comprehensive system should be adopted for the supply of the increasing territory. ”

“ AERATION
is the destruction of animate life by oxidation, and is best accomplished by placing weirs across streams, sheet flashing, or spreading of water in thin sheets, or by roughness of beds or banks of running waters. The benefits may be ascertained, chemically, by the presence of nitrates and nitrites. The Water Supply Commission of Engineers, for the investigation of the water system of Philadelphia, say:
“This is one of nature’s processes for purifying water, not only of the land, but of the ocean, and bodies of water deprived of it, other processes are apt to set in. ”

“ SUBSIDENCE is the most popular method of clarification of water by the deposition of heavy matter, accomplished in large storage reservoirs.
“If the reservoir be very small and shallow, and containing not more than a day’s supply, for example, it is plain there can be but little opportunity for subsidence; but even in such cases, if the reservoir be kept full, or nearly full, the floating impurities might never enter the circulation. In the case of a large reservoir, holding many days’ supply, it is quite different. Time is then afforded for the heavier impurities to settle to the bottom ”

“ In Mexico and Peru are found water channels of marvelous length, while India is noted for the numerous impounding reservoirs of wonderful dimensions,—the Poniary reservoir, having an area of 50,000 acres, and banks 50 miles in extent.
While the ancients have left monuments of their skill in gathering and conducting waters, modern science has been, and is, endeavoring to leave a reputation for its devotion to the knowledge of pollution in, and purification of waters required for mankind. ”

“ Mere exposure to the air, even if accompanied by violent agitation, is comparatively powerless for the removal of polluting organic matter from water. Although, however, the flow of a river has thus but little effect in purifying the water by the oxidation of the dissolved organic matters, it has a most material influence in the removal by subsidence of a large proportion of the suspended impurities both organic and mineral, especially if the flow be sluggish in places. ”

“ By taking water to Cincinnati from the river, you injure the power supplied by the river at all points between Middletown and Cincinnati, and you would find great objections raised by users of power along the canal. The power derived from the canal is the life-blood of the town of Middletown, and of the mills along its banks—at Excello, Woodsdale, Rockdale, Hamilton, Rialto, Port Union, Crescentville, Lockland, and other places. The mills have large interests, and would not surrender their rights without a struggle. ”

“ Shallow and deep wells are those which are sunk through a permeable stratum, and form, as it were, reservoirs, into which the land springs may filter and accumulate; whilst artesian wells are those which [37] are sunk through an impervious upper stratum, to reach a subterranean water-bearing stratum lying, in its turn, upon an impervious upholding bed. In the former cases, the quantity of water obtainable is simply that which can filter through the sides of the well to replace the water removed, or which may accumulate in any reservoir formed below ”

“ As for furnishing ten million gallons a day for any length of time, there is no well in the world, which we know of, of such a capacity, and all experience is against the probability of such an one being discovered.”
GRAVITATION is that system of supply where the rain-water drainage of elevated water-sheds is gathered in natural or artificial storage basins, and conveyed through conduits by gravitation to the point of supply. ”

“ The value of a pumping system recommends itself on the point of economy in construction, for the outlay is in proportion to the existing necessities, which can be increased as the demands require. The original water consumers are not, therefore, taxed so heavily for future exigencies of gravity works. This idea can be better illustrated by the comparative cost of construction and maintenance of gravitation and pumping works:
The reservoir system is the most preferable of the three methods, when natural elevation can be secured, for the pumping service is distinct from the distribution ”

“ The doubtful character of any underground supply of water, especially when it is drawn from beneath a territory occupied by a densely settled community, makes frequent examination of its quality a duty not to be disregarded. ”

“ A chemist can tell you the amount of organic matter contained in the water, but that covers an infinite variety of matters. He has no means of discrimination as to what is really the ferment—the infectious material—of cholera from a great number of other organic matters. ”

“ POLLUTION OF WELL WATER.
It is stated that about fifteen millions of the British population live in towns and urban districts. Even if we assume, [39] which is not yet the case, that all these people are supplied by water-works, the remaining twelve millions of county population derive their water almost exclusively from shallow wells, and these are, so far as our experience extends, almost always horribly polluted by sewage and by animal matter of the most disgusting origin. ”

“ The parts of nitrogen obtained, in the form of nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia, less .032 part of 100,000 for that portion in rain, is that nitrogen derived from animal matter. Animal matters dissolved in water, such as those contained in sewage, the contents of privies and cess-pools, or farm-yard manure, undergo oxidation in lakes, rivers and streams very slowly, but, in the pores of an open soil, very rapidly. When this oxidation is complete, they are resolved into mineral compounds; their carbon is converted into carbonic acid; and their hydrogen into water ”

“ An ordinary well is first sunk to such a depth that the water below will rise, through the boring, into it. The object is to partly facilitate the object of boring, but chiefly to enable the pumps to be fixed without too great a length of suction. In deep wells, windlasses, driven by steam power, are used for operating the tool; the size of rod being, usually, 11⁄4 inch square; but for an eight foot boring, a 41⁄2 inch square rod was used. ”

“ The finding of large bowlders in fields are the deposit of icebergs that once floated over our country. The glaziers reached as far as Cincinnati, planing, grinding down, smoothing all rock surfaces, and excavating the basins of our great lakes. The retreat of the glaciers left clay and bowlders and a great inland sea of fresh water, filling basins, before occupied by ice, 500 feet above the present surface of Lake Erie. ”

“ On the test for the respective capacities, the 10-inch pipe delivered 21⁄2 millions per day, against two millions for the 12-inch pipe.
Hard water has but little effect on cast-iron pipe, due to the carbonates; but soft water attacks it so vigorously, that it not only gives a turbid appearance to the water, but seriously weakens the pipe by corrosion, and the consequent formation of concretions that reduce the capacity of the pipe. Hard water also causes the formation of lime deposits, that offer great impediments to the flow of water. ”

“ The Cincinnati beds have their inferior limit at low water of the Ohio, and for an upper boundary the highest stratum found in the Cincinnati hills. Their greatest elevation, above low water-mark, is 450 feet. The Eden, or middle shale, is so named because of its prominence in Eden Park hills. It has no economical value, indeed its relation to economical interests are mainly in the way of disadvantages to be overcome, because of its instable character. Of the 250 feet not more than one foot in ten is limestone, the remainder being shales, clay, or soapstones. ”

“ The city of Brooklyn gathers its supply by intercepting ponds. The source is the southern slope of Long Island, with a drainage area of 60.25 square miles. The plain is composed of fine sand, which is saturated with excellent water, the surface of which rises twelve feet per mile from the tide level at the shore, and which appears at the surface of the ground in springs and streams, where depressions occur in the ground level. The minimum observed flow occurred in 1880, and was equal to 9.4 inches on the water-shed. The available supply is, at times, quite small. ”

“ Where the surface soil and underlying drift possess sufficient porous qualities for absorption of a large portion of the rain-fall, together with the natural benefits of the impervious stratum beneath, having a proper axis of inclination favorable for conducting the infiltration of adjoining water-sheds, a large supply of water may be secured by the construction of dug wells for intercepting the subterraneous water. ”

“ The new conduit for water supply of Baltimore is a continuous tunnel, seven miles long, running from the dam to the receiving reservoir—“Lake Montebello.” In its construction no open cuts were made; all work being done by drifting. Its depth below the surface of ground varies from 65 to 360 feet. The internal diameter is 12 feet; the fall is one foot per mile; capacity 170 millions daily. Fifteen shafts were sunk during the constructive work. Two miles of the tunnel were through material that required to be arched with brick ”

“ Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, and several other large cities were obliged to resort to like severe methods enforced at Manchester. New York has been using every gallon that the aqueduct is capable of supplying; and, during the drought of last summer, when the head of water at Croton Lake was diminished, the capacity of the aqueduct was so reduced that the flow of water to the city was reduced, and a water-famine averted only by a Providential rain-fall. ”

“ To condense a large amount of information in a few pages, so as to make it interesting as well as intelligent, is a work requiring patience and diligence. While the work may be of little service to the profession, it is hoped those connected with water-works and the general reader will find sufficient compensation for the time lost in its perusal. ”

“ The direct system, commonly called the Holly Plan, does away with reservoir and stand pipe, and delivers the water directly into the mains under a pressure usually fifty pounds per square inch for domestic use, which is increased to one hundred pounds when fires occur. In the Holly Plan, a reserve power is used for fire purposes, besides mechanical device for regulating and controlling the variable pressure.
In either the stand pipe or direct system, a reserve power should be provided equal to the largest daily consumption. ”

“ The stand-pipe is double-legged, connected at four points, each connection having a valve, except the highest. The highest connection is 200 feet above the pump-house, the lowest about 115, with others intermediate. The water of the small reservoir, when full, stands at about 110 feet above the pump well. There were eleven filters in 1875, with an area of 400,000 square feet. During the summer only eight of the beds are used effectually. They are cleaned in winter every month, and every week in summer. One-half of the old sand is replaced each time of cleansing with new sand. ”

“ A special staff of men is employed to make house-to-house inspection of all water fittings and appliances. The cost of the water-works was about 10 million dollars, and is inadequate. They are now constructing an artificial lake, 1 mile wide by 5 miles long, for impounding the waters of the Vyrnwy River in North Wales, 780 feet above the sea level, and 67 miles distant from the city. The area of water-shed is 22,000 acres. The dam will be a masonry structure, 120 feet extreme depth, and 100 feet wide at base; storage capacity, 1,900 million gallons. ”

“ That in time of flood a large proportion, both of the suspended and dissolved filth, is conveyed down to the intakes, and in ordinary weather considerable portion of soluble organic matter makes its way to the pumping works, and is still present in the water distributed to the consumers. ”

“ Again, in the case of some of the vegetable dye-stuffs, the weak-spent dye liquors, although they communicate a very foul appearance to the water for some distance, yet contain a comparatively small amount of solid matter, and, if discharged into a stream of considerable size, as soon as disseminated through it, are diluted to a very great extent. ”

“ An overflow results only when the surface that supplies the water-bearing stratum is at an elevation superior to the surface of the ground where the well is located, and the water-bearing stratum is confined between impervious strata. ”