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Title: History of the Water Supply of the World - arranged in a comprehensive form from eminent authorities.
Author: Bell, Thomas J.
Language: English
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HISTORY
OF THE
WATER SUPPLY OF THE WORLD,
ARRANGED IN A COMPREHENSIVE FORM
FROM EMINENT AUTHORITIES,
CONTAINING A DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIOUS METHODS OF
WATER SUPPLY, POLLUTION AND PURIFICATION OF
WATERS, AND SANITARY EFFECTS, WITH
ANALYSES OF POTABLE WATERS,
ALSO
GEOLOGY AND WATER STRATA OF HAMILTON COUNTY, OHIO, STATISTICS
OF THE OHIO RIVER, PROPOSED WATER SUPPLY OF
CINCINNATI--TOGETHER WITH A NUMBER
OF VALUABLE TABLES AND
DIAGRAMS.
BY
THOMAS J. BELL,
_Assistant Superintendent of the Cincinnati Water-Works_.
CINCINNATI:
PETER G. THOMSON, PUBLISHER.
1882.
COPYRIGHT,
1882,
BY PETER G. THOMSON.
CONTENTS
PAGE
Chapter I. 5
Chapter II. River Pollution. 15
Chapter III. Purification of Waters. 27
Chapter IV. System of Supply. 36
Chapter V. Historical and Statistical. 68
Chapter VI. Other Articles. 92
Chapter VII. Cost of Constructing Water-Works. 125
INDEX. 132
INTRODUCTION.
The original intention of this work was to arrange a treatise, in
the form of a compilation, of general and local information on water
supply, in all its bearings, with special reference to Cincinnati,
in view of the fact that the question of a new supply would become
an important one when the “Markley Farm Project” presented a more
tangible form.
As the work progressed, its scope became broader, so much so that the
author was induced to depart somewhat from the original idea, and
arrange the plan in a more comprehensive form for general use.
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 authorities quoted are the highest, and the general facts are
from the most reliable sources. Considerable space is given to
pollution of water, believing it to be the most important question
that bears on the subject before us. Water-works officials will find
useful information in the work, which is so frequently desired and
sometimes difficult to obtain.
Due acknowledgments are made for information derived from the
following works: Rivers Pollution Commission, (London,) 1874;
Humber’s Water Supply of Cities and Towns; Fanning’s Water Supply
Engineering, (New York,) 1876; History and Statistics of American
Water-Works, by J. James R. Croes, C. E., Engineering News,
(New York,) 1881; Hughes’ Water-Works, Weale Series; Hydraulic
Engineering, Weale Series; Die Städtische Wasserversorgung, Von
E. Grahn, (München,) 1878; Practical Hydraulics, by Thomas Box,
(London,) 1873; Kirkwood’s Filtration of River Waters, (New York,)
1869; Ohio State Geological Works, 1870; U. S. Census Reports, 1881;
The National Board of Health Bulletins; The Sanitary Engineer and
Engineering News; Catch Water Reservoirs, by C. H. Beloe, London.
January, 1882. T. J. B.
HISTORY OF WATER SUPPLY.
CHAPTER I.
It is an historical fact that the water supply of Rome, during
the first century of our era, was so abundant “that whole rivers
flowed through the streets of Rome.” The quantity was estimated at
375 million gallons per day, an equivalent to 375 gallons for each
inhabitant. This supply was conducted to the city through nine costly
and marvelous conduits of brick and stone, that tunneled hills and
crossed rivers and ravines in the boldest manner, presenting most
skillful engineering ability. The number was afterwards increased
to fourteen. The principal aqueducts were: Aqua Martia, erected B.
C. 431, was 38 miles in length, part of which was composed of 7,000
arches. Aqua Claudia, a subterranean channel for 36¼ miles; 10¾ miles
a surface conduit, 3 miles a vaulted tunnel, and 7 miles on lofty
arcades, had a capacity for delivering 96 million gallons daily. New
Anio was 43 miles in length. Some of these aqueducts were made of
three distinct arches, one above the other, that conveyed waters from
sources of different elevations.
Constantinople presents remains of the skill possessed by the Romans
in the numerous subterraneous reservoirs, covered with stone arcades
supported by pillars. Pont du Gard is another relict that supplied
the town of Nismes, France. “It consists of 3 tiers of arches, the
lowest of 6 arches, supporting 11 of equal span in the center tier,
surmounted by 35 of smaller size. Its height is 180 feet, the channel
way being 5 feet high by 10 feet wide; the capacity was estimated at
14 million gallons per day.”
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.
The vast amount of literature devoted to this subject, containing a
varied scope of discussions, arguments and analyses, has a tendency
to lead one to the conclusion that wholesome water scarcely exists.
In fact, the theory advanced by the Massachusetts State Board of
Health, in their Fifth Annual Report, is not so premature. They say:
“The time may come when it will be necessary to supply our drinking
water from sedulously guarded but limited sources of supply, and to
furnish for manufacturing and other uses less pure water. This plan
is partly carried out in Paris, and it is the purpose to enlarge
it, although much of the water is unfit to drink.
“The injurious character of a water, impregnated with sewage
matter, might not be discovered for years. You might go on using
it for years and might not be discovered, and you might have some
outbreak of disease in the place, which nevertheless might be
connected with the use of that sewage water.”
The Rivers Pollution Commission of Great Britain struggled with
this subject for six years, and at last resolved upon the following
classification of potable waters:
{ 1. Spring water. }
Wholesome, { 2. Deep well water. } very palatable.
{ 3. Upland surface water. }
{ 4. Stored rain water. } moderately
Suspicious, { 5. Surface water from cultivated lands. } palatable.
{ 6. River water to which sewage gains }
Dangerous, { access. } palatable.
{ 7. Shallow well water. }
The constituent parts of pure water, in volumes, are two parts of
hydrogen and one of oxygen, and by weight one part hydrogen and eight
parts oxygen. When pure it is transparent, tasteless, inodorous,
and colorless, except when seen in considerable depths. But having
such high solvent powers and affinity for almost every substance in
nature, one can account for suspicions that science places on all
waters, for it is never free from impurities. And well it may not, if
doctors are to be believed, for they tell us, that chemically pure
water is not best for man; that good potable waters have from one to
eight grains weight in each gallon of certain impurities diffused
through them. Impurities are arranged under the following general
heads:
Rain Water--Atmospheric influences.
Spring and Well Water--Mineral properties.
Rivers, Lakes--Vegetable and animal organisms.
But what can we consider good drinking water? Dr. Frankland, of
England, has given the following as a minimum limit of mechanical and
chemical impurities held in suspension or solution, to be considered
bad or polluted liquid:
_A._ Every liquid which has not been submitted to precipitation,
produced by a perfect repose in reservoirs of sufficient
dimensions, during a period of at least six hours; or which, having
been submitted to precipitation, contains in suspension more
than one part by weight of dry organic matter in 100,000 parts
of liquid; or which, not having been submitted to precipitation,
contains in suspension more than three parts by weight of dry
mineral matter, or one part by weight of dry organic matter in
100,000 parts of liquid.
_B._ Every liquid containing in solution more than two parts by
weight of organic carbon, or three parts of organic nitrogen, in
100,000 parts of liquid.
_C._ Every liquid which, when placed in a white porcelain vessel to
the depth of one inch, exhibits under daylight distinct color.
_D._ Every liquid which contains in solution, in every 100,000
parts by weight, more than two parts of any metal, except calcium,
magnesium, potassium and sodium.
_E._ Every liquid which in every 100,000 parts by weight contains
in solution, suspension, chemical combination or otherwise, more
than 0.5 metallic arsenic.
_F._ Every liquid which, after the addition of sulphuric acid,
contains in every 100,000 parts by weight more than one part of
free chlorine.
_G._ Every liquid which in every 100,000 parts by weight contains
more than one part of sulphur, in the state of sulphuretted
hydrogen or of a soluble sulphuret.
_H._ Every liquid having an acidity superior to that produced by
adding two parts by weight of hydrochloric acid to 1000 parts of
distilled water.
_I._ Every liquid having an alkalinity greater than that produced
by adding one part by weight of caustic soda to 1000 parts of
distilled water.
_J._ Every liquid exhibiting on its surface a film of petroleum, or
hydrocarbon, or containing in suspension, in 100,000 parts, more
than 0.5 of such oils.
But to arrive at a fair and impartial conclusion, authorities now
agree that analyses and investigations must be often, and for a
prolonged period of not less than one year. The aim of modern
scientists, in their analyses, is to detect the amount of organic
(especially sewage) contamination. Dr. Frankland’s method is by the
estimation of organic carbon and nitrogen, while Wanklyn, Chapman,
and Smith reach their conclusions by estimation of nitrogenous
organic matter, by breaking up the organic bodies and separating
their nitrogen in the form of albuminoid ammonia. Ammonia is the
measure of that portion of organic matter not decomposed but in state
of or capable of undergoing putrefaction.
The maximum amount of free ammonia permissible in good drinking water
is .5 of a grain per 1000 gallons, and of albuminoid ammonia .9 of a
grain per 1000 gallons.
Upon the above basis the relative merits of the following waters may
be formed:
NUMBER OF GRAINS OF SEWAGE IN EACH THOUSAND GALLONS.
============+=============+=====+=======+========+========+================
| | | | |Albumi- |
| | | | Free | noid |
Cities. | Source. |Date.|Author-|Ammonia.|Ammonia.| Remarks.
| | | ity. |Grains. |Grains. |
------------+-------------+-----+-------+--------+--------+----------------
Philadelphia|Schuylkill |1874 |Booth &| 1.17 | 1.76 |Fairmount.
| | |Garrett| | |
“ | “ | “ | “ | 5.85 | 5.11 |Belmont.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 7.31 | 5.12 |Flat Rock.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 1.46 | 7.31 |Perkiomen.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 17.50 | 8.75 |Spring Garden.
“ |Delaware | “ | “ | 25.74 | 11.70 |
London |Artesian Well| “ | “ | none | 1.75 |Bryn Maws.
“ |Thames | “ | “ | 1.00 | 5.31 |
Detroit |Detroit |1879 |Stearns| 3.09 | 7.29 |Hydrant.
Hoboken |Passaic |1880 |Leeds | 1.72 | 19.22 |Hydrant water.
Jersey City |Passaic | “ | “ | 2.96 | 22.28 | “
Patterson |Passaic | “ | “ | 1.50 | 30.90 | “
New York |Croton | “ | “ | 1.60 | 15.70 | “
Brooklyn |Long Island | “ | “ | .50 | 4.80 | “
Boston |Lake | “ | “ | 7.60 | 35.60 | “
| Cochituate | | | | |
Rochester |Hemlock Lake | “ | “ | .90 | 13.00 | “
Philadelphia|Schuylkill | “ | “ | .60 | 10.50 | “
Wilmington |Delaware | “ | “ | 2.00 | 17.50 | “
Baltimore | | “ | “ | 2.90 | 11.70 | “
Washington |Potomac | “ | “ | 3.50 | 15.70 | “
Oswego | | “ | “ | 2.00 | 15.20 | “
“ |Well | “ | “ | 4.90 | 12.30 | “
Cincinnati |Ohio River | “ | “ | 6.70 | 14.00 | “
“ | “ | “ |Stuntz | .87 | 1.40 |Markley Farm,
| | | | | |best condition.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 2.45 | 36.42 |Markley Farm,
| | | | | |worst condition.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 3.15 | 4.37 |Dayton Sand B’ch
| | | | | |best condition.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 2.33 | 14.24 |Dayton Sand B’ch
| | | | | |worst condition.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 13.48 | 11.67 |Eden Reservoir,
| | | | | |best condition.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 12.20 | 42.50 |Eden Reservoir,
| | | | | |worst condition.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 2.92 | 9.10 |Pump House,
| | | | | |best condition.
“ | “ | “ | “ | 4.43 | 79.73 |Pump House,
| | | | | |worst condition.
------------+-------------+-----+-------+--------+--------+----------------
The Rivers Pollution Commission value the quality of water by the
previous sewage or animal contamination, as they term it. This
expression is obtained by taking, as a standard of comparison, the
amount of total combined nitrogen (which is assumed as 10 parts),
in solution, in 100,000 parts of average London sewage. 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; but their nitrogen is transformed partly into ammonia
and chiefly into nitrous and nitric acids. The following table is a
compilation of their analyses:
POTABLE WATERS, FROM ANALYSES BY RIVERS POLLUTION COMMISSION, (1874,)
(PARTS OF 100,000 PARTS.)
================================================+=======+=========+========
|Organic| Organic |Previous
|Carbon.|Nitrogen.| Sewage.
------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+--------
| parts | parts |
Rain-water, collected in leaden gauges | .070 | .015 | 42
“ “ “ from roofs, etc., for | .257 | .080 | 12031
domestic use | | |
Dew or hoar frost collected on leaden gauges | .264 | .076 | 1536
Sea-water | .278 | .165 | 103
Upland surface, from non-calcareous strata | .278 | .033 | 0
“ “ from calcareous strata | .346 | .037 | 33
Land drainage water, from sewage farms | .082 | .191 | 10443
Deep well waters, in the chalk below London clay| .093 | .028 | 797
Spring waters, from the chalk | .044 | .010 | 3511
Bristol, from springs and deep wells | .172 | .024 | 16620
Edinburgh, from springs and streams-- | .145 | .026 | 2020
water filtered | | |
Glasgow, from Loch Katrine | .204 | .017 | 0
Liverpool, Green Lane well | .020 | .020 | 3840
“ Rivington River, gravity supply, | .243 | .031 | 0
unfiltered | | |
“ “ “ gravity supply, | .210 | .029 | 0
filtered | | |
Birmingham, from Bourne River, normal | .211 | .039 | 2480
“ “ “ “ in flood | .640 | .059 | 3890
“ “ “ “ filtered | .460 | .045 | 2720
“ from Aston well | .034 | .006 | 1440
“ mixed waters--river and well | .040 | .010 | 1380
London, Thames water from Hampton | .246 | .033 | 3270
Grand Junction Works | | |
“ “ “ after subsidence “ “ “ | .262 | .042 | 3270
“ “ “ after filtration “ “ “ | .231 | .032 | 3140
Jacob’s Shallow Well, at Sheffield | 1.200 | .126 | 590
------------------------------------------------+-------+---------+--------
They consider reasonably safe water, when it is derived from deep
wells, (say 100 feet,) or from deep-seated springs, although it
contains previous animal sewage, but does not exceed 10,000 parts
in 100,000 parts of water. Suspicious or doubtful water is, first,
river or flowing water which exhibits any proportion, however small,
of previous sewage; and, second, well or spring water containing
10,000 to 20,000 parts. Dangerous water is, first, river or flowing
water which exhibits more than 20,000 parts of previous animal
contamination; second, river or flow water containing less than
20,000 parts of previous contamination, coming from sewage discharged
into it directly, or mingling with it as surface drainage; third,
well or deep-seated springs containing more than 20,000 parts,
because previous contamination is in direct proportion to the amount
of such contamination.
The value of an analysis, sanitarily considered, is questioned. Mr.
Simon, medical officer of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, testified,
before the Royal Commission on Water Supply, on this point, as
follows:
“There are dangerous qualities of water supply with regard to
which, so far as I know, chemists are totally unable to measure,
even to demonstrate the fatal influences that a water may have.
A water may be, for instance, capable of spreading the cholera,
but chemists be unable to identify the particular contamination
which produces that effect. It is, I think, a matter of absolute
demonstration that, in the old epidemics, when the south side of
London suffered so dreadfully from cholera, the great cause of the
immense mortality there was a badness of the water supply then
distributed in those districts of London.”
Prof. Frankland says:
“That we have no reason to believe that the injurious character of
either sewage or of the gases from a drain depends fundamentally
upon the quality of that sewage or of that gas. In all probability
it far more depends upon the quality of the sewage, namely, what
it consists of. Now, what is the nature of the poisonous matter
in the atmosphere or in the sewage? We do not know that, at all;
therefore you can not possibly say when that poisonous matter is
got rid of from the water or from the air. Chemical analysis can
not do it, for its limit is by the power of weighing and measuring.
It is not sufficiently advanced, and is one of the poorest things
possible to reach those delicate points.”
Vital statistics are sources of reliable information; and from them
we can learn more of the propagation or dissemination of certain
diseases through the water supply, and the relation of water to
health. The cholera epidemics of Great Britain exhibit striking
examples.
The following are tabulations from the Rivers Pollution Commission
Report, 1874:
LONDON.
YEAR. CHARACTER OF WATER. MORTALITY. RATE PER 10,000.
1832 Polluted 5,275 31.4
1849 Very much polluted 14,137 61.8
1854 Less polluted 10,738 42.9
1866 Much less polluted 5,596 18.4
Between the years 1849 and 1854, the water supply was much improved
by removal of intakes to purer sources.
The area of intense cholera of 1866 was confined within the limits of
the foul or unfiltered water supply by the East London Company; and,
when notified and stopped the rate of deaths immediately decreased.
It was almost exactly the area of this particular water supply,
nearly if not absolutely filling it, and scarcely at all reaching
beyond it.
MANCHESTER AND SALFORD.
YEAR. CHARACTER OF WATER. NUMBER OF DEATHS.
1832 Used polluted water 890
1849 Used polluted water 1,115
1854 Used pure water 50
1866 Used pure water 88
In 1851 the new supply of unpolluted upland-surface water was
introduced in place of shallow wells.
GLASGOW.
YEAR. CHARACTER OF WATER. NUMBER DEATHS. RATE PER 10,000.
1832 Polluted water 2,842 140
1849 Polluted water 3,772 106
1854 Polluted water 3,886 119
1866 Pure water 68 1.6
In 1859 the present source, Loch Katrine, was first used for water
supply.
PAISLEY AND CHARLESTON.
YEAR. CHARACTER OF WATER. NUMBER OF DEATHS.
1849 Polluted water 182
1854 Polluted water 173
1866 Pure water 7
The testimony of Dr. Daniel Richmond, the medical officer of Paisley,
before the Rivers Pollution Commission of 1874, in reference to
the cholera epidemics, is of sufficient interest to be embodied
_verbatim_:
“1. Have you any complaint to make of the water supply? No. The
water that we have in Paisley is of a very superior character,
and there is an unlimited supply to the whole of the inhabitants.
The supply is constant, and I regard that as one of the greatest
blessings the people ever received.
“2. Is there any water used which is obtained from wells? None.
During the last epidemic of cholera the wells were ordered to be
entirely shut up.
“3. When did the last epidemic of cholera occur? Four years ago.
But I should say it was not epidemic in Paisley then. It was
threatened in 1866.
“4. Had you any cases of cholera then? No. There was a danger felt
about it, but I had no fear of it; and I expressed that opinion
before the Sanitary Committee, that we should have no attack of
cholera, and that the city of Glasgow would not have it.
“5. On what did you found that opinion? Upon the unlimited supply
of pure water that we had, and on the supply of pure water that
Glasgow had obtained from Loch Katrine.
“6. Was your prediction fulfilled in both cases? Yes.
“7. When had you cholera last in Paisley? Was it in 1854? In 1854.
“8. Had you an attack of cholera in 1849? Yes. A very sharp attack.
“9. What was the state of the water supply in 1849? In 1848 and
1849 the town was but partially supplied with water, and some of
the large suburbs, such as Charleston, were not supplied with the
town’s water. Charleston was supplied with water from wells. There
was one well that belonged to Baille Smith, which supplied a large
quadrangle of buildings; that well was at the bottom of an incline,
surmounted by buildings on all sides except one. Those wells took
a supply from the surface. They were surrounded by dung-pits, and
the wells imbibed the impurities of the dung-pits. I took occasion
to warn the people of the district not to use water from the wells,
but to get the town’s water. I recommended the authorities to open
pipes connected with the town’s water, and to supply Charleston
with pure water; and very soon after that was done the cholera
disappeared from that district. At the last threatened visitation
of cholera, in 1866, the Sanitary Committee took the precaution to
remove all the handles from the pumps, and they had the wells shut
up.
“10. Do you think there is a direct connection between the water
supplied to a town and the propagation of cholera? I believe that
there is a very intimate connection between the use of impure water
and the propagation of cholera; and the proper antidote to that is
a free and unrestricted supply of pure water.”
In Calcutta the yearly death rates from cholera averaged nearly 4,000
from 1841 to 1870. When water-works were introduced the rate of
deaths were:
1870 1,560
1871 790
1872 1,068
1873 1,134
The famous Broad Street pump, in London, in 1848, killed 500 persons
in a single week.
In 1866 many deaths occurred from the use of water from a famous
pump in Brooklyn. All trouble was brought to an end when the health
officers removed the handle.
Typhoid fever and diarrhea are universally traced to impure water,
and numerous examples can be given that were directly due to this
cause. The enterprising town of Rugby, on the Cincinnati Southern
Railroad, furnished us with a case of this nature. In Millbank
Prison, England, typhoid fever was especially fatal until the year
1854, when the supply was taken from an artesian well in Trafalgar
Square, instead of the Thames; and immediately thereafter, and up to
April, 1872, a period of eighteen years, there have been only three
deaths from typhoid fever.
CHAPTER II.
RIVER POLLUTION.
This subject is possibly most interesting to Cincinnati, because of
its direct application to our source. River water is next to the most
suspicious of waters, and the character is the bone of contention
among scientists. Just how far and how much sewage may be admitted,
and what influences are exerted to destroy it, are interesting
discussions, part of which we have quoted.
The Rivers Pollution Commission of Great Britain arrived at the
conclusion “that there is no river in the United Kingdom long enough
to effect the destruction of sewage by oxidation.” And a direct
contradiction of the statement by the eminent physician, Dr. Letheby,
medical officer to corporation of London, “that if sewage matter be
mixed with twenty times its bulk of ordinary river water, and flow a
dozen miles, there is not a particle of that sewage to be discovered
by chemical means.”
The experiments of this commission show “that scarcely two-thirds of
the sewage was destroyed in a flow of 168 miles, at the rate of one
mile per hour, or after the lapse of a week.”
Investigations of the Rivers Pollution Commission on Sewage Pollution
are as follows:
REDUCTION BY OXIDATION IN RUNNING WATER.
--------+--------------+-----------+---------------------------------
| | | PERCENTAGE OF REDUCTION OF
NAME OF |LENGTH OF FLOW|TEMPERATURE| ORGANIC ELEMENT.
RIVER. | IN MILES. |CENTIGRADE.+---------------+-----------------
| | |IN ORG. CARBON.|IN ORG. NITROGEN.
--------+--------------+-----------+---------------+-----------------
Irwell | 11 | 6 to 8 | 4.5 | 0
“ | 11 |12 | 0 | 11.8
“ | 11 |17 | 29.6 | 0
Mersey | 13 | 4 to 4.8| 20.8 | 17.9
Darwin | 13 | 6.8 to 10 | 0 | 13.2.
--------+--------------+-----------+---------------+-----------------
REDUCTION OF SEWAGE BY AERATION.
One volume of filtered London sewage mixed with nine volumes of
water, the mixture contained .267 organic carbon and .081 organic
nitrogen. After agitation and freely exposed to the air and light
every day, and being syphoned, in a slender stream, from one vessel
to another, the result, after 96 hours, was .250 organic carbon, and
.058 organic nitrogen; and, after 196 hours’ test, was .2 organic
carbon, and .054 organic nitrogen. Temperature, 20° centigrade.
The above results would correspond to a flow of 96 miles, at rate
of one mile per hour, with a reduction in per cent of 6.4 organic
carbon, and 28.4 organic nitrogen; or a flow of 192 miles, at rate
of one mile per hour, with a reduction in per cent of 25.1 organic
carbon, and 33.3 organic nitrogen.
Test of a mixture of fresh sewage with Thames water, and enclosed
in stopped bottles, and opened to air at following intervals, with
results opposite the respective periods:
PER CENT OF SEWAGE DESTROYED.
1. Period of 24 hours 6.8
2. Period of 24 hours 8.9
3. Period of 48 hours 14.3
4. Period of 24 hours 5.4
5. Period of 24 hours 5.8
6. Period of 24 hours 2.1
----
Total 43.3
Dissolved oxygen contained in the enclosed water was determined by
boiling off the dissolved gases.
REDUCTION OF URINE BY AERATION
Urine, in proportion of one gallon (imperial) to 3,077 gallons of
water, exposed to the air and briskly agitated:
PARTS IN 100,000 PARTS.
DATE. ORGANIC CARBON. ORGANIC NITROGEN.
Feb. 17, 1874, .282 .243
“ 18, “ .298 .251
“ 19, “ .244 .255
“ 24, “ .225 .253
“ 25, “ .214 .259
“ 28, “ .214 .276
Results show that fresh urine with a large volume of water is, under
atmospheric influences, more permanent and indestructible than sewage.
The agents of destruction of sewage are:
Infusorial animals.
Aquatic plants.
Fish.
Chemical Oxidation.
Dilution.
Deposition.
Sir Benjamin Brodie, in his evidence before a former River Pollution
Commission, stated: “That it was simply impossible that the oxidizing
power acting on sewage running in mixture with water over a distance
of any length is sufficient to remove its noxious quality; that
the oxygen in the water and on its surface does not exercise any
rapidly oxidizing power on organic matter.” He believed “that an
infinitesimally small quantity of decayed matter is able to produce
an injurious effect upon health; that if a large proportion of
organic matter were removed by oxidation, the quantity left might be
sufficient to be injurious to health. To destroy organic matter the
most powerful oxidizing agents are required. We must boil it with
nitric acid and chloric acid and the most perfect chemical agents. To
think to get rid of organic matter by exposure to the air for a short
time is absurd.”
Prof. Frankland, one of the Rivers Pollution Commission of 1874,
says:
“That I should rely upon dilution quite as much and more than upon
the destruction of injurious matter; that the flow of a river has
a most natural influence in the removal of subsidence of a large
proportion of the suspended impurities both organic and mineral,
_especially if the flow be sluggish in places_.”
Prof. Brodie stated:
“There are causes operating, as we all know, to destroy the sewage
which, to a certain extent, will effect that end; but the question,
as I understand it, is, whether those causes are really adequate
to destroy the sewage, not partially but absolutely and entirely,
during a given course of the river? _I do not think, in the present
state of our knowledge, to pronounce an absolute opinion upon that
point._ But if you ask whether it is wise to drink water into which
you have put sewage, knowing that you have no means of getting that
sewage out of it, that is a question which any one can answer for
himself, assuming always the injurious character of sewage.”
The fifth annual report of the Board of Health of Massachusetts
(1875), contains the following, on the effects of oxidation,
dilution, and deposition:
“_Oxidation._--Although it is not practical, in the case of a
running stream like the Merrimack, to trace the progress of the
destruction of the organic material by oxidation, yet there is
no doubt that a certain amount is so destroyed. The presence of
nitrogen in the form of nitrites and nitrates is mainly due to the
oxidation of nitrogenous organic material. In the last report of
the Board, the reasons are given which lead to the belief that the
effects of oxidation have been overrated, although they are not, on
the other hand, to be depreciated.
“_Deposition._--Much waste material, thrown into rivers, is made up
wholly or in part of substances insoluble in water. A portion, and
a very considerable portion, even in a running stream is deposited
upon the bottom or stranded upon the banks. At the time of spring
freshets much that during the summer may have been deposited at
one part of the stream, in the bed or on the banks, is washed up
again, and mingling with the earthy materials, held in suspension,
is swept onward to the sea or enveloped in the earthy matter,
especially if this be of a clayey nature, is deposited lower down
the stream. These spring freshets are relied upon for cleansing
banks used for infiltration.
“_Dilution._--By far the most important reason of the apparent
disappearance of sewage and other waste material, is the fact that
the amount of solid matter is so small compared with the volume of
water into which it is thrown, that it is disseminated through the
mass and thus lost to observation, and in many cases to chemical
test.
“Analyses of water, below and above Lawrence and Lowell, showed no
increase in chlorine. The substance can not escape from the water
in gaseous form, nor does it deposit in insoluble combination, yet
first inspection would lead to a conclusion that no real increase
existed. The facts are that the reduction was due to dilution, and
not to any destruction or decomposition. Much depends of course
upon the size of the stream into which the refuse is thrown. Thus,
while into the Merrimack at Lowell, even during the minimum summer
flow of 2,100 cubic feet per second, it would be necessary to throw
more than 100 tons of solid matter daily in order to increase the
amount in the water by one grain to the gallon; another and smaller
stream might be hopelessly fouled by a single factory.”
The effects of dilution are shown in the analysis of the Schuylkill
River--there being less sewage at Fairmount Dam, the nearest to
the outlet, than any point above. It is estimated that 300,000
inhabitants, exclusive of those in Philadelphia, live within the
water-shed of this river, less than 150 miles above Philadelphia,
the undiluted sewage from these persons amounting annually to
150,000 tons. In addition to this pollution 15,000,000 gallons daily
flow from 115 establishments located on the banks, not considering
the 57 collieries and 76 anthracite furnaces. Yet with all this
contamination the water at Fairmount, chemically considered, is as
pure as most sources. The chemists in their report say: “Having now
shown that the Schuylkill water is about as good a water as we might
wish to find for a large city in its mineral and organic content.
“Since the present water is good enough, we may keep it so, and even
improve it by a system of sewage gradually extended up both sides of
the river, especially the left bank, above the influence of Monayunk,
and by procuring sufficient legislative power to control the escape
of sewage or possibly injurious manufacturing residue. The long line
of many miles would tend greatly to the purification of the water by
aeration, deposition, or abstraction of possibly injurious substances
from the water by the time it reached within using distance of the
city.”
The increase of solid matter in the Schuylkill has been as follows:
1842, 4,421 grains in 1,000 gallons.
1854, 6,109 grains in 1,000 gallons.
1862, 7,040 grains in 1,000 gallons.
1875, 8,139 grains in 1,000 gallons.
The recent analysis by Prof. Stuntz of the Ohio River, also shows the
effects of dilution. (The results express the number of pounds of
sewage in one million gallons.)
GENERAL WORST GENERAL
CONDITION CONDITION AVERAGE
LBS. LBS. LBS.
At pumping works, 1.81 11.39 4.18
At mouth Eggleston Avenue sewer, 4.41 17.91 11.16
At Storrs and Lower River, 1.96 10.00 5.94
Although increased by the whole sewage of the city in addition to
Licking River, Covington, and steamboat contamination, the proportion
of sewage at Storrs in its worst condition is chemically shown to be
little better than at the pumping works.
THAMES RIVER.
Although the water of the Thames has been submitted to analyses by
different chemists, on many hundred occasions, no constituent which
could be pronounced noxious, has been detected; but the history of
the water traced in the inorganic constituents above referred to,
always reveals that which is, indeed, well known to be the fact--its
previous contamination with sewage or animal matters--(Rivers
Pollution Commission, 1874.)
The area of water-shed drainage of the Thames above pumping station
is 3,675 square miles, the minimum summer flow of 350 millions of
gallons daily. There are one million persons above the intakes of
pumping works. The whole river and its principal tributaries are
under strictest sanitary regulation, which the government is able to
enforce, notwithstanding a great mass of sewage is poured into the
stream.
The Rivers Pollution Commission, of 1874, sum up their investigation
of the Thames and Lea Rivers as follows:
“1st. That the river receives the sewage from a large number
of towns and other inhabited places, the washings of a large
cultivated land, and the filthy discharge from many industrial
processes and manufactures.
“2d. That the water is used for bathing, washing of sheep and
cattle, and dirty linen and putrid carcasses of animals float upon
its surface.
“3d. That it is the common water way for a large amount of
dangerous polluting matter, etc.
“4th. 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_.
“5th. That the water is, nevertheless, when efficiently filtered,
free from any offensive taste or odor.
“6th. That, notwithstanding the application of partial remedies,
for sewage pollution, at Banbury, Eton, and Windsor, and the
great care exercised by most of the companies in the storage and
filtration of the water, the organic pollution contained in the
Thames water delivered in London, though subject to fluctuations
from the greater or less prevalence of floods, does not diminish.
The proportion of organic impurity present in Thames water, as
delivered in London, was:
“In 1868, 1,000
In 1869, 1,016
In 1870, 795
In 1871, 928
In 1872, 1,243
In 1873, 917
“7th. That there is no hope of this disgusting state of the river
being so far remedied as to preclude the presence of animal and
other offensive matters, even in the filtered Thames water as
delivered in the metropolis.
“8th. That the Thames should, therefore, as early as possible, be
abandoned as a source of water for domestic use.
“9th. That the temperature of the water drawn from the company’s
mains is liable to excessive fluctuations, being near the
freezing point in winter and so warm in summer as to be vapid and
unpalatable.”
The Lea River is also condemned as a source of water supply.
Prof. Chandler, of New York, quotes the authority of eminent
scientists, who say the Thames, a short distance above London, is
wholesome, palatable, and agreeable, and safe for domestic use,
notwithstanding the large amount of sewage (the number of grains per
gallon being three times that of the Schuylkill), although controlled
by strict governmental laws.
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.
“Then, in case of many waste liquors, which appear to be
very offensive, the matter which really could be regarded as
injurious is comparatively small in amount. If we consider the
character of the substances discharged by different manufacturing
establishments, we shall find them very different. Some of them are
such as to be universally regarded as unfit to admit to any stream;
those, for instance, containing lead, arsenic, etc.; others, such
as salts of iron, are scarcely regarded as injurious; thus, the
discharge of sulphate of iron (copperas) into a stream already
polluted with sewage matter, might, within certain limits, be of
positive advantage. 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.
“Different in character, however, from much of the refuse of
manufacturing establishments is the sewage coming from dwellings,
or the sewage (in its more restricted sense of excremental matter
from animal sources) which comes from our manufactories. In fact,
this foul material, coming from establishments employing a large
number of operators, is likely, in many cases, to have a more
injurious effect upon the stream into which it is thrown than
refuse from the manufacturing operations. There are, however, some
branches of industry which discharge refuse material offensive and
dangerous to health. Such material is discharged from tanneries,
wool-pulling and hide-dressing establishments, slaughter-houses
and rendering-houses. ‘Too much stress can not be laid upon the
importance of preventing the discharge of such refuse.’”--(Prof.
Nichols, in Fifth Annual Report of Massachusetts State Board of
Health.)
“The discharge of gas works is known to kill fish and destroy lower
forms of animal life, which are important agents in preserving the
purity of fresh water.
“One would not assert that the drainage of a single house would
contaminate the water of a large river like the Merrimack so
as to make it unfit for domestic use, yet we must beware how
we depreciate the effect of sewage matter, even in a large
stream.”--(Prof. Nichols, in Fifth Annual Report of Massachusetts
State Board of Health, 1875.)
“With small amount of sewage the chances are favorable for the
action of atmospheric influences, and particles of undecomposed
material-propagating disease are rendered proportionally small,
owing to the great dilution.
“A minute quantity may do much harm, because it is now generally
believed, that it may hold the specific thing that propagates
specific diseases.
“Rice water evacuations, of a cholera patient, however much
diluted, still remains in liquid, although chemical test fails to
detect it.
“The carcass of a dead animal, thrown into a river or pond, and
confined there, so as not to be borne off bodily, gradually wastes
away, and, in a longer or shorter time, the main part of the
carcass has disappeared. What has become of it? A part has been
converted into gaseous products of decomposition, as the offensive
odors observed during the decay will testify; but another portion
has been carried off by the stream as soluble nitrogenous organic
matter. This nitrogenous matter would be detected a short distance
away, with greater or less ease, according to the volume of water
present; but in a stream of large size, or in a lake at no very
great distance from the source of contamination, it would be
impossible to discover any offensive matter. There is a limit to
the delicacy of our tests: there is a point beyond which, at the
present, we are not able to go. At the present time, a chemical
analysis alone is not sufficient to determine the desirability of
a given water-supply.”--(Rivers Pollution Commission, 1874.)
“The action of a float, upon or near the surface of the water, is
no indication of the movement, back and forth, of the sewage in
suspension. Portions of fresh sewage, it is true, will float, but
after maceration the sewage has a specific gravity of about 1.325,
and will sink, in still water, or very slow currents, at the rate
of one foot per minute; but in a current of 170 feet a minute, it
will not sink, but remain in suspension.”--(J. W. Adams, C. E.,
Water Supply Commission of Philadelphia, 1874.)
“This evidence, taken in connection with our own investigations,
appear to us, conclusively, to prove:
“1st. That there is, at certain times, in human excreta, some
material capable of producing disease, of a very fatal character,
in human subjects.
“2d. That this morbific matter can be detected only by its specific
action upon human subject, and can not be distinguished, either
by chemical or microscopical analysis, even in the concentrated
excreta, much less in water mixed with the excreta.
“3d. That, inasmuch as the organic matters of sewage are oxidized
and destroyed with extreme slowness in running water, there is
great probability that morbific matter will escape destruction and
be conveyed to great distances in rivers and streams.”--(Rivers
Pollution Commission, 1874.)
“Carbonates of calcium and lime produce temporary hardness; while
sulphate of lime and calcium and salts of magnesium produce
permanent hardness.
“Temporary hardness is objectionable for culinary and manufacturing
purposes, and excessive hardness is productive of disease known as
gravel. Magnesium salts are especially objectionable, because they
cause diarrhœa and dyspepsia. Goitre, or swelling of the glands and
cretinism, a kind of insanity, are charged to this impurity.
“Frequently, the water happens to be a little off color, especially
after a heavy storm, and the consumers get an idea that the water
is poisoned, and no amount of re-assuring will prove the reverse.
Such cases occurred in New York City, once or twice, during the
late war with the South. A little investigation will show the
absurdity of such a thing.
“One-sixteenth of a grain of strychnine is necessary to poison
a person. It would, therefore, require three and one-half tons
of strychnine to have poisoned the Croton water effectually--a
quantity not to be had in the world, and to procure it would take
about three years.
“If arsenic was desirable, two grains for each person would be
required, or 114 tons for the whole population of the city at that
time. Living animals, when seen under the microscope, are very
formidable in appearance and frightful in motion, yet they are not
objectionable. They only inhabit very pure water. It sometimes
happens, owing, perhaps, to some peculiarity of the season, that
these little animals multiply to such an extent as to produce
serious annoyance.
“It is stated that one-sixth of the deaths in Iceland are caused
by little animals being taken into the system. Young leeches,
contained in drinking water, sometimes fix themselves on the
pharynx. In Algiers, 400 French soldiers were sick at one time from
this cause.”--(From Prof. Foote’s lecture.)
CONTAMINATION OF WATER SUPPLY.
Boston water has become quite offensive from vegetable fermentation,
some say, although others attribute it to dead fish, eels, and animal
organisms, and, later, to a green moss. The water tastes, at times,
like cucumbers. The present trouble is traced to the new “Sudbury”
supply. The older source, Lake Cochituate, is, however, contaminated
by drainage from the town of Natick, through Pegan Pond.
Croton water (New York supply) has, at times, suffered from dead fish
and decayed leaves.
Hartford, Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, and Albany report the presence of
microscopic plants and animals in their water, and these organisms
indicate stagnation. “Any undue preponderance of animal or vegetable
life lead to the propagation of new forms of life dangerous to
health.”
Springfield (Massachusetts) water tastes, at times, like green corn;
while Cambridge is contaminated by the drainage of meadows.
Mr. G. W. Carpenter, Superintendent of Albany Water-Works, reports:
“There are two distinct causes (each imparting to the water an odor
and taste peculiar to itself) that have affected our reservoirs, at
different periods, during the last few years: the one giving to the
water the odor and taste of fish, the other imparting to it a musty
odor and taste sometimes detected in dead wood. In the former, it
is extremely difficult to satisfy consumers that the impurities
are not due solely to fish in the reservoir, while in the latter
they are equally confident that the reservoirs are little less than
stagnant ponds.”
The latter is sometimes exceedingly offensive and similar to
sulphuretted hydrogen gas. In 1875 he again reports: “That all
impounded waters in this section of the country are liable to become
impure; that while the impurities have been traced to lower forms
of animal organisms, little is known of the condition that favor
their growth; that the germs of the organism probably come from the
atmosphere.”
Chicago will be compelled to move her crib further into the lake, now
two miles from shore, to get beyond the limits of the Chicago River
sewage.
St. Louis, like Cincinnati, has outgrown its water system
(established in 1872 at a cost of five millions,) and is obliged to
drink muddy water.
Cleveland extended its aqueduct in 1872, 1¼ miles into the lake in
order to escape shore water.
Detroit, after considerable discussion, removed their source of
supply three miles above the city, and constructed new works in
preference to expending more money on the old works.
Rochester, N. Y., expended 4½ millions for bringing the water of
Hemlock Lake thirty miles to the city.
Baltimore celebrated only last October the opening of their new
aqueduct, conveying the waters of Gunpowder River 7 miles in
distance, at a cost of over four millions.
Indianapolis has been compelled to erect new works owing to the
contamination of the present source.
CHAPTER III.
PURIFICATION OF WATERS.
The Rivers Pollution Commission of 1874, says, as regards filtration:
“No process has yet been devised for cleaning surface water once
contaminated with sewage, so as to make it fit for drinking.” Others
say it is not safe to trust to dilution, storage, agitation, or
filtration for periods of time, for the complete removal from water
of disease-producing elements whatever they may be.
Dr. Frankland states:
“I believe the noxious parts in sewage is that which is held in
mechanical suspension, not held in solution. I would not say it is
impossible to remove it, but no system of filtration will secure
its removal. There are only two processes by which it can be
effectually removed--one by boiling for a long time, and the other
by distillation.”
The methods adopted for filtration of water are:
“1. Infiltration--by intercepting underground currents through
natural formations of beds or banks of water-courses.
“2. Filtration--mechanically by artificial beds of sand, gravel,
etc., chemically by charcoal, iron, etc.
“3. Subsidence--clarification by deposition; storage reservoirs.
“4. Aeration--spontaneous purification by oxidation.
“5. Covered reservoirs--to prevent atmospheric influences.
“6. Precipitation of carbonates--Clark’s System.”
The infiltration system is resorted to where natural means for
permeation are found; the galleries for intercepting the water being
constructed in the sand or gravel banks or bed.
The clarification, however, is necessarily restricted, owing to the
general high rate of filtration.
Lowell, Mass., has a gallery in the gravel banks of the Merrimack
River, 1,300 feet in length, 8 feet by 8 feet, the bottom 8 feet
below the river bed. The capacity is six million gallons, and rate of
flow 150 gallons per square foot in twenty-four hours.
Lawrence, Mass., has a similar gallery.
Brookline’s (Mass.) gallery is 762 feet in length; 6 feet below the
river bed. Rate of flow is 490 feet per square foot.
Newark, N. J., tried the experiment of driven wells. They drove
sixty-three-inch tubes 28 feet apart, 40 feet deep, into the bank of
the Passaic, three hundred feet from the shore line. The tubes were
attached to three lines of suction pipes, and the latter united in
one twenty-four-inch main for the supply of their five million pump.
As their expectations as to the quality and quantity of water were
not realized, a well was substituted.
Columbus, O., has a gallery under the Scioto River, 600 feet in
length, with a capacity of eight millions daily.
Toronto, Canada, has a basin excavated in an island of Lake Huron,
opposite the city, 13½ feet below low water, and 3,090 feet in
length; the rate of flow is 52 imperial gallons per square foot for
twenty-four hours.
Lyons, France, has two covered galleries along the banks of the
Rhone; the area of bottoms 17,200 square feet; capacity six millions,
and rate of flow at lowest stage 100 gallons per square foot.
Toulouse, France, has three covered galleries along the banks of
the Garonne River. The last gallery constructed is 1,180 feet long;
capacity, two and a half millions; rate of flow, 228 gallons per
square foot of bottom area.
Perth, Scotland, has a gallery in an island of the River Tay, 300
feet long, 4 feet wide by 8 feet high, 2½ feet below the surface of
the river; rate of flow, 182 gallons per square foot per diem.
Genoa, Italy, has a gallery in the valley of the northern slope
of the Mantine Alps, 1,181 feet above the sea level. It is 1,780
feet long, 5 feet wide and 7 to 8 feet high, and extends, in part,
beneath the bed of the river Scrivia, transversely from side to side,
and in part along the bank. It has a delivery of 6,412 gallons for
twenty-four hours per lineal foot.
The city of Glasgow made two failures in attempting to furnish a
supply by this system. The first experiment was the construction of
a reservoir on the northern bank of the Clyde, below the level of
the river. Beneath the bottom of the reservoir was thirty-two-feet
cylindrical tunnels made of wedged-shape bricks without mortar. The
failure was due to the inability to keep the interstices free from
the deposit of impurities. In the second plan, they excavated shallow
wells, 10 feet in diameter, 6 feet deep, and 20 feet apart, in the
stratum of sand adjacent to the river. The wells were connected by
pipes. The scheme was a worse failure than the first one.
It often happens, as in the case of Waltham, Massachusetts, in
locating these galleries, that spring water is intercepted in place
of the desired water of the flowing stream. The difference in
temperature and increased hardness of the spring water, determine the
class of water.
FILTRATION
is the artificial method of clarification by mechanical and chemical
means. By the mechanical system heavier impurities are held in
suspense by percolation of water through carefully prepared beds of
sand, gravel, coke, shells, and like substances.
The total area of the London filter beds in 1874 was 68 acres, and
rate of filtration per hour in inches and depth of water, or head on
beds, were:
RATE. DEPTH.
Lambeth Works 10 inches. 7 feet.
Southwark & Vauxhall 4 “ 4 “
Grand Junction 3 “ 4 “
West Middlesex 4 “ 3 “
Chelsea 6 “ 5 “
New River 4½ “ 5 “
East London 3 “ 5 “
The efficiency of filtration is inversely to rate of flow. Humber
says:
“It is now generally admitted that filtration through sand, to be
effective, should not proceed at a higher rate than 6 inches of
descent per hour; or, in other words, there should be at least 1½
square yards of filtering area for each 1,000 gallons per day. This
is, of course, exclusive of reserve area, which will be necessary
to permit of at least one bed being cleansed while sufficient area
remains in operation in the other beds.”
The maintenance of these beds enhance the cost of supplying water,
because they must be cleansed frequently--in some cases once a week.
The regulation and control of the water consumption is an important
consideration, that the rate of increase will be proportioned to the
growth of the city; and not, as in this country, an unaccountable
rapid increase due to the profligate use of water that makes
filtration impossible. Over eleven-twelfths of the water supplied to
London is filtered with the following efficiency:
=======================+=======================+=======================
| BEFORE FILTRATION. | AFTER FILTRATION.
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
| ORGANIC | ORGANIC | ORGANIC | ORGANIC
| CARBON. | NITROGEN. | CARBON. | NITROGEN.
+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
|In parts of|In parts of|In parts of|In parts of
| 100,000. | 100,000. | 100,000. | 100,000.
-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
West Middlesex Works | .209 | .071 | .198 | .043
Grand Junction Works | .262 | .042 | .231 | .032
Southwark & Vauxhall, | | | |
Hampton Works | .321 | .063 | .273 | .042
Battersea “ | .239 | .047 | .226 | .035
Lambeth Works | .273 | .067 | .258 | .038
Chelsea Works | .325 | .076 | .258 | .032
New River, Lea River | .287 | .067 | -- | --
“ New River | .375 | .059 | .227 | .043
“ “ | .350 | .084 | .246 | .042
East London Co., | | | |
Lea Water | .363 | .082 | -- | --
Waltham St. Res | .481 | .092 | .305 | .041
Thames Water | -- | -- | .159 | .030
-----------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------
Dimensions of filter beds for given volumes (from Fanning):
For 1 million gallons per diem 3 beds 60 feet × 100 feet.
For 2 “ “ “ 3 “ 80 “ × 150 “
For 3 “ “ “ 3 “ 100 “ × 180 “
For 4½ “ “ “ 4 “ 100 “ × 180 “
For 6 “ “ “ 4 “ 100 “ × 240 “
For 8 “ “ “ 4 “ 120 “ × 270 “
For 10 “ “ “ 5 “ 120 “ × 270 “
Analysis of sand from filter beds (in 100,000 parts)
ORGANIC ORGANIC ORGANIC
MATTER. CARBON. NITROGEN.
As removed from filter bed, unwashed 1523.40 314.160 38.674
After washing 804.41 94.921 16.973
It can not be doubted that a small amount of organic matter undergoes
oxidation and destruction during the passage of the water through the
sand; but, independent of this, it appears, from the above analytical
numbers, that one ton of dry sand, washed after previous use, is
capable of removing from water and retaining 16.1 lbs. of peaty
matter.
_Chemical_ filtration may be arranged under the following heads:
1. By use of alum and borax to reduce turbidity.
2. Dr. Gunning’s experiment of the waters of the River Maas, by
reducing the turbidity with .032 gramme of perchloride of iron into
one litre of water.
3. Dr. Bischoff’s (Jr.) process of removing organic matter by
spongy iron, prepared by heating hydrated oxide of iron with carbon.
4. Spencer’s process of sand filtration with crushed grains of
a carbide of iron. The carbide, it is claimed, does not require
frequent removal.
5. Sheet-iron strips placed in water decomposes organic matter
rapidly. It is recommended by eminent authority.
6. Charcoal is, possibly, the best substance for removing organisms
chemically; but its efficiency is destroyed by an insoluble
precipitate of either lime or iron. Messrs. Adkins & Co., of
London, have patented a method to overcome this objection, by use
of charcoal plates that may be easily scraped.
_Filtration through spongy iron_ (by Rivers Pollution
Commission--Parts in 100,000 parts):
ORGANIC ORGANIC PREVIOUS
CARBON. NITROGEN. SEWAGE.
Thames water, before .120 .013 1340
Thames water, after .025 .004 10
_Filtration through animal charcoal_:
ORGANIC ORGANIC PREVIOUS
CARBON. NITROGEN. SEWAGE.
Grand Junction Co.’s water, before .164 .030 320
Grand Junction Co.’s water, after .010 .002 950
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; and, if the water is admitted at one end and taken
out at the other end of the reservoir, very little, if any, of
the heavier particles can pass into the circulation; and we can
see no reason why any of the superficial impurities, such as
remain on or near the surface, should ever be allowed to enter
the circulation.”--(From Water Supply Commission of Engineers,
Philadelphia, 1875.)
Fanning says:
“Subsidence does not completely clarify the water even in a
fortnight or three weeks’ time.”
London has 262 acres of subsiding reservoirs for removing the
turbidity of the Thames and Lea Rivers, and used as storage at times
of sudden freshets.
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.
In passing through still pools, the turbid streams let fall its
load of grosser mechanically suspended particles, and thus the water
becomes clearer, although the dissolved impurity remains nearly as
great as ever. It is, doubtless, this clarification by subsidence
which has led to the very general but erroneous belief in the rapid
self-purifying power of running water.
RESULTS OF SUBSIDENCE.
===============================+===============================
| SUBSIDENCE FROM 100,000 PARTS.
RIVERS +----------+----------+---------
| MINERAL | ORGANIC | TOTAL
| MATTER. | MATTER. | SOLIDS.
-------------------------------+----------+----------+---------
Irwell, after flow of 11 miles | .88 | .48 | 1.36
Irwell, after flow of 11 miles | .38 | .84 | 1.22
Mersey, after flow of 13 miles | .10 | .04 | .14
Darwin, after flow of 13 miles | .54 | 1.42 | 1.96
-------------------------------+----------+----------+---------
RESULTS OF SUBSIDENCE.
===============================+===============================
| PER CENT OF REDUCTION
| OF MATTER IN SUSPENSION.
RIVERS +----------+----------+---------
| MINERAL | ORGANIC | TOTAL
| MATTER. | MATTER. | SOLIDS.
-------------------------------+----------+----------+---------
Irwell, after flow of 11 miles | 47.8 | 50. | 48.6
Irwell, after flow of 11 miles | 14.3 | 30.9 | 22.7
Mersey, after flow of 13 miles | 10.6 | 13.3 | 11.3
Darwin, after flow of 13 miles | 30.3 | 79.8 | 55.1
-------------------------------+----------+----------+---------
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. It is, therefore, desirable
that nothing should be done to obstruct this beneficial action.
We have been informed that the cutting of ice, which was formerly
allowed on the Fairmount pool, has been prohibited or discontinued.
We would especially recommend that the cutting of ice on the pool
be resumed, as an important sanitary measure, on account of the
aeration it will afford. If this were done systematically, it
might remedy, at least to some extent, the disagreeable odor which
we learn is sometimes noticed during the winter.”
The aeration adopted by Mr. Moore, Supt. of Cincinnati Water Works,
at Eden reservoir, improved the purity of the water twenty per cent.,
as shown by the analysis of Prof. Stuntz, who recommends the adoption
of the process on a larger scale.
_Covered Reservoirs_, although used by the ancients, are now being
recommended as highly beneficial to the purity of the water, by
depriving the organic germs of their propagation elements of light
and heat of the sun, preventing freezing of water, and reducing
evaporation to a minimum. Paris has two such structures. Chelsea
(London) Water-Works has one of ten million capacity that cost
$110,000.00.
The temporary hardness of water is produced by absorption of
carbonates, and may be reduced to softness by:
Distillation,
Carbonate of soda,
Boiling,
Caustic lime.
Permanent hardness is produced by sulphates, chlorides and nitrates
of lime, and magnesia, and can not be dissipated by boiling.
An imperial gallon of pure water can take up but about two grains of
carbonate of lime, but the presence of carbonic acid in the water
will enable the same 70,000 grains (an imperial gallon) to take up
twelve, sixteen, twenty, or more grains of the carbonate, and for
each grain so taken up is one degree of hardness by the Clarke scale.
The system patented by Dr. Clarke, of England, in 1856, is the most
practical method for the precipitation of lime, effected by means
of a dilution of water with slaked lime, in the proportion of one
of lime-water to ten of hard water. The system is in use in several
small places in England, notably Canterbury, where 100,000 gallons
are reduced, daily, at a cost of twenty-seven shillings per million
gallons, with the following results:
TOTAL SOLID IMPURITIES. ORGANIC CARBON. ORGANIC NITROGEN. HARDNESS.
Before, 33.60 .012 .012 26.3
After, 11.94 .0 .0 4.9
Plumstead water-works, previous to its purchase by the Kent Water
Company, of London, reduced, daily, 1,000,000 gallons by the Clarke
method. The new owners, however, abandoned it.
From the testimony of a number of reputable physicians, before the
Rivers Pollution Commission, of 1874, hard water, to a limited
extent, ten degrees, was not considered injurious, and, by some,
absolutely beneficial to health, although soft water, for a general
water supply, was preferable.
Mr. Homersham, C. E., the designer of several of these works,
testified, before this commission, that it cost £1, 7s. for
precipitating 1,000,000 gallons. To introduce this system into
London, with a consumption of 100,000,000 daily, the cost, he says,
would be $3,000,000 for plant, and requiring over thirty-three acres
of ground for basins, etc.
The relative sanitary condition of cities, in the United Kingdom,
using hard and soft water, is shown in the following table:
AVERAGE CHARACTER AVERAGE RATE
NO. OF TOWNS. POPULATION. OF WATER. OF MORTALITY
PER 10,000.
26 73,366 Not exceeding 5° 29.1
25 81,655 Above 5°, but not 28.3
exceeding 10°
60 44,797 Above 10° 24.3
London 3,254,260 From 16° to 32° 24.6
The celebrated engineer, Mr. Bateman, of England, estimates the
saving to Glasgow, by soft water, at $180,000 per annum; and if
London used the same character of water, the equivalent would be
$2,000,000 annually.
The use of lime, by private consumers, is recommended by the trustees
of the water department of Columbus, O. They say that one ounce of
lime, when added to thirty-six gallons of water, make it superior,
for washing purposes, to the rain-water usually obtained from the
cistern.
CHAPTER IV.
SYSTEM OF SUPPLY.
The systems of supply may be arranged under three general heads, viz:
1st. By springs and wells.
2d. By gravitation.
3d. By pumping.
SPRINGS AND WELLS.
We have, under this name, nature’s resources for supplying our wants,
whose facilities for furnishing the requisite supply depend upon
the local rain-fall, configuration of the land, and the nature, or
geological formation, of surface and subsoils.
Land springs are fed by rain-water, gravitating through loose
permeable soils. The waters are very readily affected by infiltration
of surrounding soils, and their course so easily changed in any
direction that the permanence of such a source can not be relied upon.
Deep springs are fed by the waters falling upon and soaking down to
great depths, and find their way to the surface through some fault,
upheaval or other great geological disturbance, or between some
impermeable strata. The most copious springs are in the tertiary
strata, and the law, as regards their abundance, is “the rarer the
visible springs may be, the more copious they would be found.” The
permanence of the springs can only be relied upon after careful
gauging, extending over several years.
Wells may be separated under the following divisions:
Shallow, or dug wells.
Ordinary deep, or pump wells.
Artesian wells.
“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 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; whilst, in the latter case, the
quantity obtainable will depend simply upon the power of the
water-bearing stratum to transmit water.
“In the case of deep-seated wells, the probable yield of water
must depend, primarily, upon the area of permeable strata likely
to affect the supply, and upon the facilities those strata may
offer for the passage of water; and, secondly, upon the rate of
consumption which takes place in the neighborhood, for the quantity
of water which any particular stratum can supply is only a limited
quantity; so that, evidently, if the water be taken at one point,
no more will remain for the other.”--(Hydraulic Engineering,
Weale’s Series.)
The above fact is illustrated, practically, in London, where the
water line of the chalk formation has been permanently lowered to
the extent of fifty or sixty feet below Trinity high-water mark;
and it is even stated that the level of the water in the wells,
near the summit of this formation, rises, on the Monday morning, in
consequence of the cessation of pumping in London during the Sundays.
The experience of Liverpool corroborates this fact: that the Windsor
well, having a depth of 210 feet, affected the surrounding wells
to a maximum distance of a mile and three quarters. The celebrated
engineer and originator of the well system of Liverpool, Robert
Stephenson, from long experience and careful observation, offered the
following conclusions (from Hughes water-works):
“That an abundance of water is stored up in the new red sandstone,
and may be obtained, by sinking shafts and driving tunnels, about
the level of low water.
“That the sandstone is generally very pervious, admitting of deep
wells drawing their supply from distances exceeding one mile.
“That the permeability of the sandstone is occasionally interfered
with by faults or fissures filled with argillaceous matter,
sometimes rendering them partially, or wholly, water-tight.
“That neither by sinking, tunneling, nor boring, can the yield of
any well be very materially and permanently increased, except so
far as the contributing area may be thereby enlarged.
“That the contributing area to any given well is limited by the
amount of friction experienced by the movement of the water through
the fissures and pores of the sandstone; and
“That there is little or no probability of obtaining, permanently,
more than about 1,000,000 or 1,200,000 gallons a day from each
well, and this only when not interfered with by other deep wells.”
Statistics of the flow of the Windsor well show that the yield, in
1843, was 1,152,000 gallons per day; in May, 1848, 807,061 gallons;
in January, 1850, from 705,667 to 634,752 gallons. The observations
of the Green Lane well, in the same city, give the decrease in flow,
per annum, at 4.7 to 6 per cent.
A plan has been proposed, by Mr. Bailey Denton, that, in order to
increase the water-bearing stratum under London, sufficiently for
a water supply, and also secure the well-known benefits of the
filtration powers of the chalk, to let the Thames water pass down to
the chalk, through the London clay, by means of wells sunk or bored.
The objections raised against this plan is the possibility of the
wells becoming choked by accumulation of impurities.
Mr. J. T. Fanning in his valuable “Treatise on Water Supply
Engineering,” says:
“The success of wells, penetrating deep into large subterranean
basins, upon the first completion, has usually led to their
duplication at other points within the same basin, and the flow of
the first has often been materially checked upon the commencement
of flow in the second, and both again upon the commencement of
flow in a third, though neither was within one mile of either of
the others. The flow of the famous well at Grenelle was seriously
checked by the opening of another well at more than three thousand
yards, or nearly two miles distant.”
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, 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.
As the contents of the water-hole or well are pumped out, they are
immediately replenished from the surrounding disgusting mixture, and
it is not therefore very surprising to be assured that such wells
do not become dry even in summer. Unfortunately, excrementitious
liquids, especially after they have soaked through a few feet of
porous soil, do not impair the palatability of water; and this
polluted liquid is consumed from year to year without a suspicion of
its character.
Our acquaintance with a very large portion of this class of potable
waters, has been in consequence of the occurrence of severe outbreaks
of typhoid fever amongst consumers of this character of water.
“The samples of water from deep unpolluted wells were obtained
from wells or bore-holes of a depth rarely less than 100 feet,
and reaching in one case 1,285 feet. In many cases these wells
were partly or wholly supplied by surface-polluted water. Such
water, when it penetrates only to shallow wells still retains a
considerable proportion of its polluting organic matter in an
unoxidized condition: but when it descends through one hundred
feet or upwards of porous soil or rock, the exhausted filtration
to which it has been subjected in passing downwards through so
great a thickness of material, and the rapid oxidation of the
dissolved organic matters in a porous and aerated medium, afford
a considerable guarantee that all noxious constituents have been
removed.”--(Rivers Pollution Commission, 1874.)
“Deep wells may become polluted, either by admission of soakage
from the superficial strata into the shaft of the well, or by
access of polluted water through open fissures in the rock in which
the well is sunk.”--(Rivers Pollution Commission, 1874.)
“Even where wells are sunk to great distance (one was sunk at
Bondy, near Paris, to a depth of 247 feet), the surrounding soil is
not free from danger of pollution by the soaking of the foul liquid
into the side of the well.”--(Fifth report Massachusetts State
Board of Health.)
The following table shows the average analysis of ten worst examples
of well water (parts in 100,000 parts):
AV. CARBON NITROGEN
DEPTH. ORGANIC. ORGANIC. CHLORINE. HARDNESS.
Shallow wells, -- 1.560 .241 16.56 63.24
Deep wells polluted, -- .363 .092 9.45 36.27
Deep wells unpolluted, 380 .151 .032 14.14 27.4
ARTESIAN WELLS.
Artesian is the name applied to water-springs rising above the
surface of the ground by natural hydrostatic pressure, or boring a
small hole down through a series of strata to a water-bearing bed
inclosed between two layers. It was first practiced in 1100, in
province of Artois, France, whence it derives its name.
“The second and tertiary geological formations, such as those
underneath London and Paris, often present the appearance of
immense basins; the boundary or rim of the basin having been formed
by an upheaval of the subjacent strata. In these formations it
often happens that a porous stratum, consisting of sand, sandstone,
chalk, and other calcareous matter, is included between two
impermeable layers of clay, so as to form a flat, porous ‘U’ tube,
continuous from side to side of the valley, the outcrop on the
surrounding hills forming the mouth of the tube. The rain filtering
down the porous layer to the bottom of the basin, forms there a
subterranean pore, which, with the liquid or semi-liquid column
pressing upon it, constitutes a sort of huge natural hydrostatic
bellows; sometimes the pressure on the superincumbent crust is so
great as to cause an upheaval or disturbance of the valley, and
there can be little doubt that many earthquakes that are manifestly
not of volcanic origin, are due to this simple cause.”--(Ninth
edition Encyclopedia Britannica.)
“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. In such cases the
hydrostatic pressure from the higher source forces the water up to
the mouth of the bore.”--(Fanning Water Supply.)
“In the tertiary formations the porous layers are not so thick as
in the secondary, and, consequently, the occurrence of underground
lakes is not on so grand a scale; but there being more frequent
attenuation of these sandy beds, we find a greater number of them,
and often a series of natural fountains may be obtained in the same
valley preceding from water-bearing strata at different depths, and
rising to different heights.
“It does not follow that all the essentials for an Artesian well
are present, though two impermeable strata, with a porous one
between, may crop out around a basin. There must be, in the first
place, continuity of the permeable bed for the uninterrupted
passage of the water, and there must be, on the other hand, no flaw
or breach in either of the confining layers by which the water
might escape. To one or the other of the causes is due the failure
of many attempts to find Artesian wells, where, from appearances,
they might be expected. It has occasionally happened that on
deepening the bore, with the hope of increasing the flow of water,
it has ceased altogether, doubtless from the lower confining layer
being pierced, and the water allowed to escape by another outlet.
“The subterranean bore is frequently of small extent, and of the
nature of a channel rather than of a broad sheet of water; and the
existence of one spring is no guarantee that another will be found
by merely boring to the same depth in the neighborhood.
“The preliminary theoretical determination of the existence of
these Artesian conditions is in itself a difficult matter, and can
be arrived at only by a thorough acquaintance with the geological
disposition of the district.”--(Ninth edition Encyclopedia
Britannica.)
“The question of a supply of water from deep wells, made by
boring, and commonly called artesian, has been somewhat discussed
in Philadelphia, but there is no probability that an adequate
supply, for the general use of the city could be obtained in that
manner; and the quality of the water obtained from such wells
varies very much in different localities, depending upon the
nature of the strata from which the water is procured, and this
Commission can not recommend any dependence upon such plans for
the general city supply, attended, as they are, with great expense
and extreme uncertainty, and being, in every case, more or less
experimental.”--(Philadelphia Water Supply Commission of Engineers,
1875.)
The flowing water of the Kissingen spring, Bavaria, is produced by
carbonic acid gas.
TEMPERATURE OF WELLS.
Invariably the temperature of water from great depths is higher than
at the surface, this being due to some unknown source of heat in the
interior of the globe.
In Scotland, the rate of increase of temperature, after permanent
degree has been attained, is about one degree Fahrenheit for every
forty-eight feet of descent.
At Grenelle, the temperature was found to be 1.8 degrees for every
106 feet of descent below the point of constant temperature.
The average rate of increase of temperature is one degree for a
descent of from forty to fifty feet.
The temperature of the boring at Columbus increased, below the
permanent line, one degree in every seventy-one feet.
EXAMPLES OF ARTESIAN WELLS.
The famous well at Grenelle, France, was commenced, by the
government, in 1834, and after repeated failures and discouragements
almost to abandonment, notwithstanding the urgent representations
of the scientist Arago, that water would be found, the end was
accomplished at the depth of 1,798 feet, in the year 1843. The
diameter of the bore is 3½ inches; capacity, 600 gallons per minute;
temperature of water, 82 degrees; height of flow, 128 feet. The
expense attending this boring was 300,000 francs. The Passy well,
near Paris, supplied from the same water-bearing stratum of the
Grenelle, is 1,923 feet deep; 2′ 4″ inches bore at bottom; capacity,
5,582,000 gallons per day; height of flow, 54 feet. The La Chapelle
well was started in 1866, with a gigantic bore of five feet seven
inches, and by November, 1869, had reached a depth of 1,811 feet,
the intention of the engineer being to extend it to a depth of 2,950
feet.
At the part of Paris named Butte-aux-Caelles, a well was started, in
1866, of six and a half feet diameter, to be carried down to a depth
of 2,600 to 2,900 feet.
The Kent Water-Works, of London, is supplied by wells in the chalk
formation, yielding 9,000,000 gallons daily. This great flow is due
to what is known as a fault in the London basin strata.
St. Louis has a well 3,147 feet deep.
Louisville has a three-inch well, 2,086 feet deep, with a capacity
same as the Grenelle well.
There have been nine artesian wells successfully bored in Cincinnati,
a description of which will be found on page 107.
Charleston, South Carolina, has an artesian well 1,970 feet deep,
from which pure soft water, of 90° temperature, flows ninety feet
above the surface. It has five inch tubing on top and two and
three-fourths inch diameter at bottom. The cost was $2,500.00, and
the time required in sinking was a little more than a year. There
is also an artesian well, in the same city, 1,250 feet deep, which
discharges 25,000 gallons a day, of water, at a temperature of
eighty-eight degrees, strongly impregnated with sodium and magnesium.
The desert of Sahara has a number of well borings, some yielding as
high as 1,500,000 gallons daily. The depth varies from 130 to 400
feet, and temperature 70 to 77 degrees.
The Ohio State authorities undertook to supply the capital by an
artesian well. After two failures, in attempting to tube out the
quicksand, they succeeded (in November, 1857) in piercing through
the rock, and at a depth of 149 feet a vein of water was struck that
continued to wash away the borings for nearly 100 feet below. On
the 1st of October, 1870, a depth of 2,775 feet was reached, but no
flowing water obtained, when the undertaking was abandoned for want
of an appropriation.
The record of the boring is tabulated as follows:
---+-------------+------------+------------------------------+----------
| SYSTEM. | GROUP. | STRATA. |THICKNESS.
---+-------------+------------+------------------------------+----------
| | | | FEET.
1 | Drift. | Alluvial | Clay, sand, and gravel. | 123
| | drift. | |
| | | |
| { | Base of | |
2 | Devonian. { | Hamilton. | Dark bituminous shale. | 15
| { | Helderberg.| Dark and gray limestone with |
| | | bands of chert. |
| | | |
| { | Niagara. | Sandy above, darker and | 626
3 | Upper { | | argillaceous below. |
4 | Silurian. { | Clinton. | Red, brown, and gray shales | 162
| { | | and marls. |
| | | |
| { | Hudson | |
5 |Lower { | Trenton. | Greenish calcareous shale. | 1058
6 |Silurian. { |Calciferous.| Light drab sandy magnesian | 475
7 | { | | limestones. |
| { | Potsdam. | White sand-rock, calcareous. | 316
---+-------------+------------+------------------------------+----------
Temperature of well at bottom, 88 degrees, being uniform for 90
feet, at 53 degrees, will make an increase of one degree for every
additional 71 feet. It was the opinion of Prof. Newberry, that, if
water was successfully struck, it would be of a saline character.
Dubuque, Iowa, is supplied by a spring accidentally struck while
tunneling in a neighboring drift.
At the upper basin of the Thames River there are seven springs, whose
capacity is estimated at 32,000,000 gallons daily.
Liverpool, England, has four wells, with a combined capacity of
6,000,000 gallons daily.
Birmingham, England, has four wells, from which the water company
derives 8,000,000 gallons daily.
Washington has over 400 wells, and Cincinnati about 300, nine of
which are artesian, that were bored by private enterprise.
The deepest well in the world is near Berlin--4194 feet deep without
piercing the salt formation.
WELL BORING.
The art of boring into the earth was practiced by the Chinese 2,000
years ago, the feature of their system being the percussive action of
a tool suspended by a flexible rope.
The system now practiced in Great Britain, and on the Continent,
is that in which the tools are attached to rods, consisting of a
number of lengths, from ten to thirty feet long, joined by a separate
collar, with a combined vertical and definite rotary motion, produced
by a swivel joint in the upper length, or by suspending the rod to a
“dog.” 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, 1¼ inch square; but for an eight
foot boring, a 4½ inch square rod was used. To reduce the jarring
and vibration, where borings are of considerable depth, the rods are
hollow, in order to give same rigidity and resistance to torsion with
less weight, and made buoyant, when working in water, by filling
the rod with cork or light wood. A sliding joint, known as the
“Oëuyenhausen joint,” is frequently used to bring the jarring only
on that portion of the boring rod below. A shell pump is employed,
in combination with the boring tool, for gathering the detritus,
which obviates frequent raising of rod. Free-falling tools, guided by
sliding joint, with catch or pall to raise same, are largely used.
The weight of tool depends upon the depth and character of boring,
that of the La Chapelle well being four tons.
In the oil-well boring of Pennsylvania, the rope (with about 50 feet
of iron bar, sliding jaws, sinking bar, flat drill and sand pump
attached) are exclusively preferred.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES OF WELLS AS SOURCES OF SUPPLY ONLY.
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.
Fanning has computed the following available quantities, under
favorable circumstances, for percolation, from one square mile of
porous gathering area (the mean annual rain being assumed at forty
inches depth).
RATIO OF 1-12 OF VOLUME OF PERCOLATION NO. OF PERSONS IT
MONTH. MEAN ANNUAL RAIN. IN DRY YEARS. WOULD SUPPLY AT FIVE
INCHES. CUBIC FEET. CUBIC FEET DAILY.
January, .737 1,712,198 11,264
February, .796 1,479,878 9,736
March, 1.070 2,237,242 14,719
April, .814 566,861 3,729
May, 1.462 387,974 2,552
June, .964 88,282 581
July, 1.077 51,110 336
August, 1.251 30,202 199
September, 1.015 46,464 305
October, 1.076 989,976 6,572
November, .937 2,176,838 14,321
December, .801 2,604,307 17,133
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.
The city of Lynn uses a driven well partly, of which they say, in
their annual report for 1880:
“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. We invite attention, however,
to the fact that the chemical examination of the well water has
shown an increasing quantity of foreign matter mingling with it as
pumping proceeded, and that this increase suggests an inflow of
water to the wells from some other source than that from which it
was at first drawn.”
This method of securing water, however, is largely resorted to in the
origin of water-works for small cities.
The Sanitary Engineer (Vol. v, No. 5) refers to a proposed well for
Lincoln, Nebraska, a town of 15,000 inhabitants, that the contractor
proposed to dig for the sum of $10,000. The estimated capacity will
be ten million gallons a day, and the editor of the paper observes:
“If a large well is sunk in a very saturated and porous soil, it
will probably furnish the amount required for the city (one million
gallons) at first, possibly a great deal more. But in five years’
time it is not hazardous to predict that such a well will not yield
enough water for Lincoln. 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
important points entering into the consideration of this method are:
1. Character of water; present and future contamination.
2. Water-shed; present and future requirements for quantity
and availability, with proper knowledge of the geology of the
surrounding country.
3. Rain-fall, absorption and evaporation.
4. Elevation and distance of source.
5. Route of conduit.
6. Cost of construction.
The practical objections to the system are:
1. Contamination of source by surface drainage of cultivated lands;
pollution of feeding streams, or growth of vegetation.
2. Necessity for large impounding reservoirs for storage of water
during rainy seasons, requiring immense puddled walls, whose
stability is questioned.
3. The uncertainty of dependence on the requisite rain-fall, and
liability of short supply, or a possibility of water-famine.
4. The large expenditure at the outstart for construction of supply
that must be ample for future demands.
Surface waters from calcareous cultivated lands are polluted with but
a moderate amount of organic matter; but, as some of this matter is
almost always of animal origin, they are always undesirable, and may
at any time become dangerous for domestic use.
If necessity compels their use, great care ought to be taken to
secure their efficient filtration before they are delivered to
consumers. This affords some, though by no means complete, protection
from the propagation of zymotic disease through the agency of such
waters.
They are generally very hard, and, unless artificially softened,
occasion a great waste of soap when used for washing. Of all the
waters of this description, those which flow from the surface, or
from the drains of sewage farms, are generally most impure, because
the time during which the foul sewage is exposed to the purifying
action of plant and soil is reduced to a minimum.
Surface water from non-calcareous soil is generally soft but usually
turbid and subject to animal contamination. Such water should always
be carefully filtered.
ANALYSIS OF LAND DRAINAGE WATER FROM SEWAGE FARMS (PARTS BY WEIGHT OF
100,000 PARTS).
================+=======+=======+=======+=========+=========+=========
| | | | |PREVIOUS |
| TOTAL |ORGANIC|ORGANIC|CHLORINE.| SEWAGE |HARDNESS.
|IMPURI-|CARBON.| NITRO-| |OR ANIMAL|
| TIES. | | GEN. | |CONTAMIN-|
| | | | | ATION. |
----------------+-------+-------+-------+---------+---------+---------
Worst Condition.| 94. | 2.160 | .274 | 13.10 | 10.090 | 35.58
Best “ | 24.60 | .108 | .055 | 4.05 | 17.920 | 9.20
Average “ | 64.02 | .982 | .191 | 6.36 | 10.443 | 33.09
================+=======+=======+=======+=========+=========+=========
Much depends upon the knowledge of the climatic influences and
rain-fall, extended, as it should be, through years of observation
in determining the available quantity of water. Engineers, however,
are liable to be too sanguine of the resources from water-sheds, by
assuming, as a general rule, the average, rather than the minimum,
rain-fall.
In 1868 nearly all the cities and towns of England, supplied by
gravitation, suffered a water-famine, because of the overestimate of
the available rain-fall, and in an insufficient provision of storage
for an unusually long drought. Although the rain-fall for the year
was above the average, yet it was unequally distributed.
The authorities of Manchester were obliged to publish official
notices cautioning the inhabitants against waste, and, on the 3d
of August, limited the supply to the city to twelve hours of the
day, stopped the street watering, and diminished the trade supplies
by one-half. In the middle of September the general supply of the
town was further limited to eight hours per day. Many persons were
prosecuted for waste or undue use of water.
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.
The rule observed among engineers, in Great Britain, in determining
the calculated rain-fall, is the deduction of one-sixth from the
average rain-fall of twenty years for an average annual rain-fall
of the three driest consecutive years in that period. But, as Mr.
Homersham, C. E., observes, the axiom in mechanics, that the strength
of a beam is the strength only of its weakest parts, applies also to
gravitation water-works, their real strength or power of supply being
only the minimum quantity they may be reduced to.
Allowance for absorption depends upon the geological formation and
stratification, and for evaporation, upon local influences.
The following is taken from Hughes’ Water-Works:
“A flat, low-lying country is seldom well adapted for the
impounding of water by embanking across the valleys. In such a
district, long and shallow embankments would be required, and
these would cause the water to spread out over a great area with a
very shallow depth. Under these circumstances, the water is apt to
vegetate and become highly impure. Again, in low-lying districts of
flat countries the rain-fall is seldom nearly so great as in upland
districts, so that much larger drainage areas must be sought.”
In addition to the general configuration of the valleys, which ought
to be deep and with precipitous sides, flanked by lofty hills, there
are several other points which require attentive examination in
projects for collecting water from drainage areas:
1. The area of water-shed.
2. The geological character of the soil as affecting its capacity
to absorb rain, and to allow the infiltration of water through it.
3. The character of the surface soil as affording soluble
ingredients which may be taken up by the water and serve to
contaminate its quality. In this point of view, districts of
decomposing peat, districts of arable agricultural land richly
manured, and places thickly covered with population, are often
highly objectionable.
4. The rain-fall of the district, and especially the minimum fall
in any one year.
5. The nature of the surface-soil as affording facilities for
procuring puddle and constructing retentive reservoirs.
6. The consideration of compensation to mill-owners and possibly to
land-owners where the water is used for irrigation.
The geological structure is extremely important in estimating the
capacity of a drainage area. It is not alone the rain which falls on
the sloping surface of the hills, and finds its way by gravitation
to the lower levels; but the effect of springs is also very great
in augmenting the quantity of water. Many drainage areas are also
valleys of elevation, in which the strata dip in opposite or
anticlinal directions on opposite sides of the valley. In this case
it is evident that much of the rain falling on a porous surface will
insinuate itself between the partings of the strata, and flow off in
a direction contrary to that of the surface drainage.
From Mr. Beardmore’s work we take the following, as the proportion or
percentage of rain-fall which flows off the surface:
“From twenty examples we have 89 as the largest per centage, the
lowest 29 per cent., and the average 64 per cent.
“The Eaton Brook water-shed, in Madison County, New York, of
6,800 acres, with steep slope and compact soil, underlaid by hard
greywacke rock, elevated 1,350 feet above the sea, availed 66 per
cent. of the rain-fall as surface flow.
“A similar water-shed, Madison Brook, gave 50 per cent. Experiments
by Wm. McAlpine, for Albany water-works, shows that from a
water-shed of 2,600 acres, 41½ per cent. of the rain-fall was
carried off by the streams from May till October, inclusive, while
from November till April, 77.6 per cent. was so carried off.”
In England the allowance for absorption and evaporation ranges from
nine to nineteen inches per annum. In this country it is from 75 to
100 per cent. greater.
We produce from “Fanning’s Water Supply” the following table of
experiments on evaporation from surfaces of shallow tanks:
Cambridge--Length of trial, one year; evaporation in inches, 56.00
Salem “ “ “ “ 56.00
Syracuse “ “ “ “ 50.20
Ogdensburgh “ “ “ “ 49.37
Dorset, England “ three years “ “ 25.92
Oxford “ “ five “ “ “ 31.04
Bombay “ five “ “ “ 82.28
Croton average, six, “ mean evap. equal 81 } 39.21
per cent. of rain-fall. }
Lea Bridge, London “ seven “ average rain-fall 27.7
annual evap. min. 12.067
“ “ max. 25.141
The following from the same author of the minimum flow of streams in
cubic feet per second, per each square mile of water-shed:
From 1 square mile .083
From 10 square miles .1
From 25 square miles .11
From 50 square miles .14
From 100 square miles .18
From 250 square miles .25
From 500 square miles .40
From 1,000 square miles .35
From 1,500 square miles .38
From 2,000 square miles .41
From the different surfaces, its ratio of the annual rain, including
floods and flow of springs, is approximately as follows:
PER CENT.
From mountain slopes or steep rocky hills, 80 to 90
From wooded swamp lands, 60 to 80
From undulating pasture and woodland, 50 to 70
From flat cultivated land and prairie, 45 to 60
MONTHLY EVAPORATION FROM RESERVOIR.
(_From Fanning._)
------------------+----+----+----+----+----+-----+
|JAN.|FEB.|MAR.|APR.|MAY.|JUNE.|
------------------+----+----+----+----+----+-----+
Mean ratio--inches|.30 |.35 |.50 |.80 |1.45|1.70 |
==================+====+====+====+====+====+=====+
------------------+-----+----+-----+----+----+----
|JULY.|AUG.|SEPT.|OCT.|NOV.|DEC.
------------------+-----+----+-----+----+----+----
Mean ratio--inches|1.85 |2.00|1.45 |.75 |.50 |.35
==================+=====+====+=====+====+====+====
AVERAGE AVAILABLE RAIN-FALL FOR STORAGE PURPOSES.
(_From Fanning._)
------------------------+----+----+----+------+----+-----+
|JAN.|FEB.|MAR.|APRIL.|MAY.|JUNE.|
+----+----+----+------+----+-----+
Gain by rain--inches |2.00|2.21|2.40| 2.93 |3.47|2.88 |
Loss by evaporation--in.| .60| .70|1.00| 1.60 |2.90|3.40 |
+----+----+----+------+----+-----+
Difference--Gain inches |1.40|1.51|1.40| 1.33 | .57| -- |
Difference--Loss inches | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | .52 |
========================+====+====+====+======+====+=====+
------------------------+-----+----+-----+----+----+----+------
|JULY.|AUG.|SEPT.|OCT.|NOV.|DEC.|TOTAL.
+-----+----+-----+----+----+----+------
Gain by rain--inches |2.99 |3.00|2.67 |2.53|2.48|2.24| 32.
Loss by evaporation--in.|3.70 |4.00|2.90 |1.50|1.00| .70| 24.
+-----+----+-----+----+----+----+------
Difference--Gain inches | -- | -- | -- |1.03|1.48|1.54| 8.
Difference--Loss inches | .71 | .80| .23 | -- | -- | -- | --
========================+=====+====+=====+====+====+====+======
SUMMARY OF FLOW OF RAIN-FALL IN CU. FT. PER MINUTE PER SQUARE
MILE.--(_From Fanning._)
AT LAKE AT CROTON
COCHITUATE BASIN
CU. FEET. CU FEET.
January, 99.17 92.48
February, 150.42 147.69
March, 174.76 177.02
April, 169.80 132.63
May, 131.80 164.49
June, 44.27 115.12
July, 45.27 48.37
August, 49.15 70.22
September, 42.84 85.99
October, 62.45 81.08
November, 75.90 124.92
December, 78.94 106.23
AQUEDUCTS.
The plan, as adopted by Mr. Hawskley at Liverpool, and Mr. Bateman
at Glasgow, of subterranean pipes, is now universally followed by
engineers. And there is no longer any excuse for incurring the outlay
which must attend the erection of monumental structures, such as were
necessary in the times of the ancient Romans.
The engineer of Marseilles Conduit adopted the “Pont du Gard” plan
for conducting the waters of the Durance, in preference to iron
pipes, and constructed the splendid folly, “as Humber terms it,” of
the aqueduct “Roquefavour.” The dimensions are:
Length, 1,289 feet.
Height, 266 feet.
1st tier of 12 arches each 49½ feet span.
2d tier of 15 arches each 52½ feet span.
Upper tier of 54 arches each 16½ feet span.
The cost was $750,000, while inverted syphon pipes could have been
laid for one-third of this sum.
_The aqueduct for Glasgow_ is thirteen miles in tunnels, 3¾ miles of
iron-piping across valleys, and nine miles of opening cutting and
bridges. There are eighty distinct tunnels, and twenty-five important
iron and masonry aqueducts. On the line is the Drymen bridge on
masonry piers, eighteen feet apart, with two pipes surrounded by wood
lagging, a forty-eight-inch syphon at Aberfoyle Road, and a lofty
bridge at Ballewan, seventy feet in height.
_The Aberdeen water-works_ has a thirty-six-inch syphon, 1,200 feet
in length, across Cullen Burn, supported by granite piers.
The Croton aqueduct is a masonry channel lined with brick. The bottom
is an inverted arch with cord 6.75 feet, and versed sine 0.75 feet;
side walls are 4 feet high, and battered so that at the top they are
7′ 4″ apart, and surmounted with a semi-circular arch. The interior
is 8.64 feet high, and area 53.34 square feet.
The grade is 0.021 feet per 100 feet, total length 38 miles. It
crosses the Manhattan Valley 2 miles in extent, with two 36-inch,
one 48, and one 60-inch cast-iron pipes, and over the Harlem River
by granite bridge, known as High bridge, 100 feet above high water,
composed of seven 50-feet and eight 80-feet spans. The conduit over
the bridge consists of two 36-inch cast-iron pipes, and a wrought
pipe 7 feet 6½ inches in diameter, resting upon saddles, supported by
cast-iron standards placed 12 feet apart between the 36-inch pipes.
_The aqueduct over Cabin John Creek_, of Washington, D. C., water
supply, consists of a single arch of masonry 220 feet span, is the
largest masonry arch in the world. The rise is 57 feet 7 inches,
thickness of crown 4 feet 2 inches, and at spring 6 feet 2 inches.
Water is conveyed in an iron pipe 9 feet in diameter, built in solid
masonry.
The bridge over Georgetown Creek, on line of Washington Conduit,
is 200 feet span with two cords of iron pipe 4 feet in diameter,
1½ inches thickness, used as water conductors. The pipes were
first lined with staves of resinous pine 3 inches thick to prevent
freezing, but have been taken out. No allowance is made for expansion
or contraction. A similar plan is in use at Philadelphia, over the
valley of Wissahikon, consisting of two 20 inch cast-iron flange
pipes serving as top members of a series of inverted bow-string
trusses. There are four spans, each 169 feet 9 inches. Center span
100 feet above ordinary level of the water.
The Boston aqueduct crosses the Charles River by syphon pipes--two,
30 inches, and the other 36 inches in diameter. Starting from a pipe
chamber on the western side of the valley, the pipe descends 52.11
feet below the level of conduit, and rests on a masonry bridge of
three arches.
One of the syphons for supplying Madrid, Spain, crosses a valley
4,560 feet in length, consisting of four lines of cast-iron pipes
three feet in diameter.
Dublin is supplied through 30,336 yards of 33-inch and 8,272 yards
of two lines of 27-inch cast-iron pipes--20,000 yards laid through
private property. The average fall is 20 feet per mile. There are
three relief-tanks on line of 33-inch pipe. The capacity of this pipe
was calculated at sixteen millions per day, while the actual delivery
exceeded twenty millions.
Toronto is supplied by a 4-foot wooden pipe, 7,000 feet in length,
under pressure.
Manchester, N. H., has a wooden penstock, six feet in diameter, 600
feet in length, that conveys supply to water wheels, under a head of
twelve feet at entrance and thirty-eight feet at outlet.
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; the remaining distance was through very hard rock that did not
require arching. The cost of this structure was about two millions of
dollars.
Chicago has two tunnels under Lake Michigan, parallel with each
other, 46 feet apart, extending to a crib, located in the lake, two
miles from the shore. The first one was started, in 1864, under
adverse criticism, and successfully completed in 1867. The cost, with
the crib, was $457,800. It is five feet horizontal diameter, and 5′
2″ vertical diameter, and made of brick. The second one was built in
1872-’74; is five feet in diameter, lined with brick. It extends from
the North Side Works, a further distance of 20,000 feet, under the
city and Chicago River to West Side Works. The cost of this tunnel,
under the river, was $414,000, and under the city $543,000. The
nature of the excavation was generally through stiff blue clay with
occasionally pockets of quicksand.
The Sudbury conduit, of Boston Water-Works, is sixteen miles long,
with a grade of 1.056 feet per mile. The top is a semicircle of nine
feet diameter, and the bottom is an arc of 13.22 feet radius, struck
from a center 5.53 feet above the crown of the arch. The sectional
area is 56.75 square feet. The foundation is of concrete; the side
walls and spandrel backing of rubble stone masonry; the lining of
brick, four inches thick, and the arch of brick, twelve inches thick.
The Charles River is crossed by a granite bridge, 475 feet long and
75 feet high, with two segmental and five semicircle arches.
On the line of the Vanne conduit there is an aqueduct made entirely
of “beton,” which spans the valleys and quicksands in the great
forest of Fontainebleau, between La Vanne River and Paris.
CONDUIT DATA.--(_From Fanning._)
======================+========+========+========+=========+===========+
| | |DEPTH OF|HYDRAULIC| SINE OF |
Locality. | WIDTH | HEIGHT | WATER | MEAN |INCLINATION|
|IN FEET.|IN FEET.|IN FEET.| RADIUS. | OF WATER |
| | | | | SURFACE. |
----------------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+-----------+
Cochituate, Boston | 5. | 6.333 | 6.333 | 1.417 | .0000496 |
Croton, New York | 7.47 | 8.458 | 6.083 | 2.341 | .00021 |
Washington | 9. | 9. | 3.465 | 1.873 | .00015 |
Brooklyn | 10. | 8.667 | 5. | 2.524 | .0001 |
Sudbury, Boston | 9. | 7.667 | 5.3 | -- | .0002 |
Baltimore | 9. | 9. | -- | -- | -- |
Loch Katrine, Glasgow | 8. | 8. | 6.85 | 2.525 | .0001587 |
Canal of | | | | | |
Isabel III, Mad. | 7.052 | 9.184 | -- | -- | -- |
Vanne, Paris | 6.6 | 6.6 | 5. | -- | .0001 |
Dhues, “ | 2.3 | 3.5 | -- | -- | .0001 |
Pont du Gard, Nismes | 4. | -- | 3.333 | -- | .0004 |
Pont Pyla, Lyons | 1.833 | -- | 1.833 | -- | .00166 |
Metz | 3.167 | -- | 2.167 | -- | .001 |
======================+========+========+========+=========+===========+
======================+==========+========+===============+=============
| VELOCITY | |
Locality. |PER SECOND|COEFFIC-|DAILY DELIVERY | TOTAL DAILY
| IN FEET. | IENT M.|AT GIVEN DEPTH,| CAPACITY,
| | | U.S. GALLONS. |U.S. GALLONS.
----------------------+----------+--------+---------------+-------------
Cochituate, Boston | 1. | .00452 | 16,398,000 | 16,500,000
Croton, New York | 2.218 | .00643 | 59,340,000 | 100,000,000
Washington | 1.893 | .00505 | 27,560,000 | 100,000,000
Brooklyn | -- | -- | -- | 70,000,000
Sudbury, Boston | -- | -- | -- | 70,000,000
Baltimore | -- | -- | -- | 170,000,000
Loch Katrine, Glasgow | 1.7126 | .00876 | 60,000,000 | 60,000,000
Canal of | | | |
Isabel III, Mad. | -- | -- | -- | 52,000,000
Vanne, Paris | -- | -- | -- | 23,500,000
Dhues, “ | -- | -- | -- | 5,500,000
Pont du Gard, Nismes | 2. | -- | -- | 14,000,000
Pont Pyla, Lyons | 2.95 | -- | -- | --
Metz | 2.738 | -- | -- | --
======================+==========+========+===============+=============
DAMS.
The disastrous failures of earth dams has excited suspicion as to
the stability of such structures; but when we consider the immensity
of the dams in India, our concern should be only for the care and
attention given to their construction. There the material used is
well puddled; then a drove of cattle is turned loose on the fill, to
stamp the earth thoroughly. This method is repeated in layers until
the required height is reached. Often the Sepoys do the stamping.
The Veranun reservoir dam is twelve miles in length; and the amount
of earth, of which it is composed, will encircle the globe with a
belt six feet in thickness.
There is a dam on the island of Ceylon made of huge stone blocks
strongly cemented together and covered over with turf, making a solid
barrier of fifteen miles in length, one hundred feet wide at the
base, sloping at top to forty feet, and extending across the lower
end of a spacious valley.
DIMENSIONS OR RESERVOIR DAMS.--(_From C. H. Beloe._)
==================+=============+=============++===================++
NAME OF WORKS. | NAME OF |MAXIMUM DEPTH|| RATIO OF ||
| RESERVOIR. |OF RESERVOIR.|| SLOPES. ++
| | ++---------+---------++
| | || INNER. | OUTER. ||
------------------+-------------+-------------++---------+---------++
| | || | ||
Bolton Water-Works|Heaton. | 35 || 3 to 1 | 2 to 1 ||
“ “ “ |Wayoh. | 76 || “ | 2½ to 1 ||
Liverpool |Roddlesworth.| 64 || “ | 2 to 1 ||
“ | “ | 78 || “ | “ ||
“ |Anglezark. | 35 || “ | “ ||
Bradford |Stuben. | 55 || “ | “ ||
“ |Chelker. | 36 || “ | “ ||
“ |Barden. | 68 || “ | “ ||
“ |Doe Park. | 52 || “ | “ ||
“ |Silsden. | 78 || “ | “ ||
“ |Gwmwith. | 66 || “ | “ ||
Rhyl District |Llanefwydd. | 52 || “ | “ ||
Warrington W. W. | -- | 13 || 1½ to 1 | “ ||
==================+=============+=============++===================++
==================+================================++======+======
NAME OF WORKS. | PUDDLE WALLS. || |
|------+--------+-------+--------++ WIDTH| WIDTH
| MAX. | THICK- | THICK-| ||OF TOP|OF DYE
|DEPTH.|NESS AT |NESS AT| BATTER.|| BANK.| WASH.
| |SURFACE.| TOP. | || |
------------------+------+--------+-------+--------++------+------
| ′ | ′ ″ | ′ | || ′ ″ | ′
Bolton Water-Works| 6 | 8 3 | 4 | 1 in 15|| 13 6 | 12
“ “ “ | 70 | 20 6 | 8 | 1 in 12|| 22 | 105
Liverpool | 120 | -- | 6 | 1 in 12|| 16 | 60
“ | -- | -- | 6 | 1 in 12|| 18 | --
“ | 50 | -- | -- | -- || 30 | --
Bradford | 40 | 12 | 6 | 1 in 18|| 12 | 15
“ | 30 | 12 | 6 | 1 in 12|| 12 | --
“ | 64 | 15 | 6 | 1 in 15|| 12 | 24
“ | 78 | 12 | 6 | 1 in 18|| 12 | 15
“ | 40 | 12 | 6 | 1 in 24|| 12 | 15
“ | 50 | 14 | 6 | 1 in 18|| 12 | 40
Rhyl District | 119 | 9 | 3 | 1 in 18|| 10 | 12
Warrington W. W. | -- | -- | -- | -- || 3 | --
==================+======+========+=======+========++======+======
One of the recent dams of the Croton supply, made of concrete, is
thirty-one feet at the base, eight and one-half feet at top, six
hundred and seventy feet long, and seventy-eight feet high. The main
embankment, which forms Lough Vartry of the Dublin Water-Works, is
sixty-six feet high at its deepest part, and the greatest depth of
water, sixty feet. It is 1,640 feet long on the top, and twenty-eight
feet wide, which forms a public road. The base, at the deepest part,
is 380 feet wide; the inner slope being 3 to 1, and the outer slope
2½ to 1, and the total quantity of earthwork in it is 320,000 cubic
yards. The puddle wall in the embankment is six feet wide at the top
(one foot below the top bank), and eighteen feet wide at the level of
the old river bed. It was carried, for its entire length, down into
solid rock.
The dam of Bradlee basin, Boston, is 2,000 feet in length, twenty
feet wide on top, one hundred and fifty feet at the base, and
greatest height thirty-five feet. In the center of the bank is a
puddle wall ten feet thick at the base, and four feet at the top,
founded on the rock. The earth embankment was laid in layers, well
watered and rolled.
COMPARISON OF LARGE GRAVITATION WORKS.
==========+========+=========+============+==========+===========+=========
|DISTANCE|NO. ACRES| CAPACITY |HEIGHT OF |CAPACITY OF|
| OF SRCE| OF WATER| OF STORAGE.|SRCE ABOVE| AQUEDUCT | POPULA-
| IN | SHED. | IN GALLONS.|CITY DATUM|IN GALLONS.| TION.
| MILES. | | | IN FEET. | |
----------+--------+---------+------------+----------+-----------+---------
New York | 40 | 216,844 | 9 billions| 160 |92 millions|1,216,500
Boston | 16 | 100,000 | -- | 134 | 86 “ | 412,000
Baltimore | 7 | -- |765 millions| 165 |170 “ | 332,190
Liverpool | -- | 10,000 | 4 billions| -- | 17 “ | 600,000
Manchester| 18 | 19,390 | 6 “ | 790 | 39 “ | 750,000
Glasgow[1]| 25¾ | 47,800 | 12 “ | -- | 50 “ | 550,000
Dublin | 21.6 | 14,080 | 2½ “ | 692 | 20 “ | 330,000
==========+========+=========+============+==========+===========+=========
[1] Gorbals not included.
The dam for diverting the waters of Gunpowder Falls, for supply of
Baltimore, is built of rubble and white marble upon solid rock.
Thickness at base is sixty-two feet; depth of foundation below
original surface is thirteen feet; width of the overflow is three
hundred feet. The wings extend into the hill on each side two hundred
and fifty-six feet. The height from the extreme foundation to the
overflow is twenty-nine feet. The filling of the clay and earth on
the inside is forty-five feet at the base.
Liverpool, Eng., designs constructing a masonry dam, at the source of
the new supply in Wales, eighty-four feet in height.
PUMPING SYSTEM.
The divisions of power are:
Wind Power.
Water Power.
Steam Power.
And the methods of supply by:
Reservoir.
Stand Pipe.
Direct or Holly Plan.
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:
========================================+=============+=============+
| BALTIMORE | CHICAGO |
|GRAVITATION. | PUMPING. |
----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------+
Available capacity for daily supply |200 millions |120 millions |
Largest daily consumption in 1880 | -- | 73 “ |
Total valuation of works | 10 “ | 8.8 “ |
Bonded indebtedness | 9 “ | 3.9 “ |
Annual interest |440 thousands|283 thousands|
Annual current expenses | 87.5 “ |206 “ |
Annual maintenance, including interest }| | |
at 5 per cent on total valuation }|587.5 “ |646 “ |
of works. }| | |
========================================+=============+=============+
========================================+=============+=============
| BOSTON | CINCINNATI
|GRAVITATION. | PUMPING.
----------------------------------------+-------------+-------------
Available capacity for daily supply | 86 millions | 36 millions
Largest daily consumption in 1880 | 28 “ | 38 “
Total valuation of works | 18 “ | 7 “
Bonded indebtedness | 12 “ | 1.6 “
Annual interest |619 thousands|108 thousands
Annual current expenses |211 “ |200 “
Annual maintenance, including interest }| |
at 5 per cent on total valuation }|1,111 “ | 50 “
of 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; and, where reservoirs of large
capacities are obtainable, a closer margin for reserve pumping
power can be adopted, besides a storage reservoir provides for
contingencies that may arise, and allow cessation of pumping during
the turbidity of water source, caused by sudden freshets.
The stand-pipe is adopted where the elevated grounds are not
sufficient for reservoir purposes, to give a desirable water
pressure; or where reservoirs may not be desired, but to secure the
head and provide for a constant and reliable action of the pump that
is not obtained by a direct system.
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.
From a compilation of general information concerning water-works of
the United States and Canada, published by the Holly Manufacturing
Company in 1878, we arrange the following:
188 cities and towns use steam-power for water supply.
104 “ have gravity works “
32 “ use water-power “
10 “ have gravity and steam works “
27 “ use steam and water-works “
2 “ have gravity, steam, and water-powers “
Of the above number of pumping works--
139 have reservoir system.
98 have direct system.
16 have stand-pipe system.
4 have direct and reservoir combined.
1 has the three systems combined.
1 has stand-pipe and direct combined.
The expense of pumping water by steam and water-powers, also the
practical yearly duties of various pumping engines, are given in the
tables on pages 61 and 64, compiled from annual reports for 1880:
PRACTICAL DUTIES (WITHOUT DEDUCTIONS) OF PUMPING ENGINES (YEARLY
AVERAGE).
(_From Annual Reports of 1880._)
---------------------+-----------------+----------------------------+
| NON ROTATIVE. | ROTATIVE. |
+--------+--------+--------+---------+---------+
| WORTH- |CORNISH.| HOLLY. | LOW | HIGH |
| INGTON.| | |PRESSURE.|PRESSURE.|
---------------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+---------+
Louisville, Ky. { | -- |44189515| -- | -- | -- |
{ | -- |45544384| -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
{ | -- | -- | -- |59550000 | -- |
Brooklyn, N. Y. { | -- | -- | -- |56004900 | -- |
{ | -- | -- | -- |68378000 | -- |
| | | | | |
Albany, N. Y. { | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
{ | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
Toronto, Canada { |38477030| -- | -- | -- | -- |
{ |38726890| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
Toledo, O. |36399973| -- | -- | -- | -- |
Boston; high service |51063000| -- | -- | -- | -- |
Charleston, Mass. |52845400| -- | -- | -- | -- |
Columbus, O. | -- | -- |28758135| -- | -- |
Chicago, north side | -- | -- | -- |52956684 | -- |
Chicago, west side | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
Phila., Schuylkill { | -- |24342000| -- | -- | -- |
{ | -- |35360000| -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
{ |39000000| -- | -- | -- | -- |
Phila., Belmont { |37900000| -- | -- | -- | -- |
{ |44870000| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
Phila., Delaware | -- | -- | -- | -- |39000000 |
Phila., Roxborough |38280000|36280000| -- | -- | -- |
Phila., Frankfort |27000000| -- | -- | -- | -- |
Lawrence, Mass. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Dayton, O. | -- | -- |15000000| -- | -- |
| | | | -- | -- |
Cleveland, O. { |42397185|30361497| -- | -- | -- |
{ | |31925636| -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
Lynn, Mass. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Pawtucket, R. I. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Lowell, Mass. |59112831| -- | -- | -- | -- |
| | | | | |
{ | -- | -- | -- | -- |44304907 |
Cincinnati, O. { | -- | -- | -- |38014283 |38953517 |
{ | -- | -- | -- | -- |45886944 |
---------------------+--------+--------+--------+---------+---------+
---------------------+-----------------------+--------------
| COMPOUND. |
+--------+--------------+
|LEAVITT.|MISCELLANEOUS.|MISCELLANEOUS.
| | |
---------------------+--------+--------------+--------------
Louisville, Ky. { | -- | -- | 20280502[2]
{ | -- | -- | 19572536
| | |
{ | -- | -- | --
Brooklyn, N. Y. { | -- | -- | --
{ | -- | -- | --
| | |
Albany, N. Y. { | -- | 70991413 | --
{ | -- | 70327595 | --
| | |
Toronto, Canada { | -- | -- | --
{ | -- | -- | --
| | |
Toledo, O. | -- | -- | --
Boston; high service | -- | -- | --
Charleston, Mass. | -- | -- | --
Columbus, O. | -- | -- | --
Chicago, north side | -- | -- | --
Chicago, west side | -- | 58808495 | --
| | |
Phila., Schuylkill { | -- | 49726000 | --
{ | -- | 55633000 | --
| | |
{ | -- | -- | --
Phila., Belmont { | -- | -- | --
{ | -- | -- | --
| | |
Phila., Delaware | -- | -- | --
Phila., Roxborough | -- | -- | 28380000[3]
Phila., Frankfort | -- | 57160000 | --
Lawrence, Mass. |98583176| -- | --
Dayton, O. | -- | -- | --
| | |
Cleveland, O. { | -- | 29558769 | --
{ | -- | -- | --
| | |
Lynn, Mass. |92843506| -- | --
Pawtucket, R. I. | -- | -- | 96046816[4]
Lowell, Mass. | -- | 76108012 | --
| | |
{ | -- | -- | --
Cincinnati, O. { | -- | -- | 21665474[5]
{ | -- | -- | --
---------------------+--------+--------------+--------------
REMARKS.--
[2] Blake pump;
[3] Knowles;
[4] Corliss;
[5] Low pressure, direct acting.
The term, duty of a pumping engine, is a conventional one, used by
engineers to measure the relative merits of performance, or effective
work, expressed by the ratio of product in foot pounds of the weight
water into the height it is lifted, to one hundred pounds of the coal
consumed to lift the water. The following tables of expert trials are
taken from “Manual for Engineers and Steam Users,” by John W. Hill,
M. E. (1878), with a few additions:
PERFORMANCE OF PUMPING ENGINES.
---------------+-----+-------------------------------+--------------+
| | | |
LOCATION. |DATE.| ENGINE. | DESIGNER. |
| | | |
---------------+-----+-------------------------------+--------------+
| | | |
United Mines, |Sept.|Cornish single cylinder, |Taylor |
Cornwall |1842 | jacketed | |
| | | |
Carn Brea, |1841 |Cornish compound, jacketed |James Sims |
Cornwall | | | |
| | | |
Lynn, Mass. |Dec. |Compound beam and fly-wheel, |E. D. Leavitt |
|1873 | jacketed | |
| | | |
Lowell, Mass. |June |Compound beam and fly-wheel, |Simpson |
|1875 | jacketed | |
| | | |
Lawrence, Mass.|May |Compound beam and fly-wheel, |E. D. Leavitt |
|1876 | jacketed | |
| | | |
Trenton, N. J. |Mar. |Compound beam and fly-wheel, |Wm. Wright |
|1876 | jacketed | |
| | | |
Milwaukee, Wis.|May |Compound beam and fly-wheel, |R. W. Hamilton|
|1875 | jacketed | |
| | | |
Marion, Ind. |Feb. |Single cylinder yoke and |Dean |
|1877 | fly-wheel, condensing | |
| | | |
Haarlem Meer, |June |Compound beam annual cylinder |Gibbs & Dean |
Holland |1848 | | |
| | | |
Chicago |Dec. |Single cylinder beam and |D. C. Creiger |
|1874 | fly-wheel, unjacketed | |
| | | |
Chicago |April|Compound beam and fly-wheel, |Quintard Works|
|1877 | unjacketed | |
| | | |
Chicago |April|Compound beam and fly-wheel, |Quintard Works|
|1877 | unjacketed | |
| | | |
Chicago |April|Compound beam and fly-wheel, |Quintard Works|
|1877 | unjacketed | |
| | | |
Cincinnati |Nov. |Horizontal crank and fly-wheel,| |
|1872 | two engines coupled, |Shield |
| | non-condensing | |
---------------+-----+-------------------------------+--------------+
---------------+--------------+-----------+------------------------
| DUTY FOR ONE | |
LOCATION. | HUNDRED | CAPACITY. | AUTHORITY.
| POUNDS COAL. | |
---------------+--------------+-----------+------------------------
| | |
United Mines, |114,361,700[6]| -- | Pole.
Cornwall | | |
| | |
Carn Brea, |101,702,000[6]| -- | Pole.
Cornwall | | |
| | |
Lynn, Mass. |103,923,215 | 4,938,528 | Experts’ Contract Trial.
| | |
Lowell, Mass. |117,350,100[6]| -- | Evans’ Annual Report.
| | |
Lawrence, Mass.| 96,201,900 |Each eng’e | Experts’ Contract Trial.
| | 4,979,234 |
| | |
Trenton, N. J. | 84,500,000 | 2,086,523 | Slade.
| | |
Milwaukee, Wis.| 76,955,520 |Each eng’e | Expert’s Contract Trial.
| | 8,683,720 |
| | | Two eng’es
Marion, Ind. | 49,231,207 | Two eng’e | Cook.
| | cupled |
| | 1,500,000 |
| | |
Haarlem Meer, | 80,000,000[6]|200,000,000| Appleton’s Dictionary.
Holland | | |
| | | Two eng’es
Chicago | 65,824,581 |Two eng’es | Experts’ Contract Trial.
| | cupled |
| | 36,000,000|
| | |
Chicago |West engine | 16,160,470| Experts’ Contract Trial.
| 99,082,300 | |
| | |
Chicago |East engine | 15,571,970| Experts’ Contract Trial.
| 96,066,800 | |
| | |
Chicago | 75,000,000 | -- | Theron Skeel.
| | |
Cincinnati | 43,566,178 | 4,702,805 | Hermany.
---------------+--------------+-----------+------------------------
[6] Said to be average duty; all others obtained by special tests.
The capacity is stated in delivery of gallons per day of twenty-four
hours.
PERFORMANCE OF PUMPING ENGINES.
-----------------+-----+-------------------------------+-----------------+
| | | |
LOCATION. |DATE.| ENGINE. | DESIGNER. |
| | | |
-----------------+-----+-------------------------------+-----------------+
Cincinnati |Nov. |Vertical single cylinder crank | Scowden |
|1872 | and fly-wheel, condensing | |
| | | |
Cincinnati |Nov. |Vertical single cylinder crank | Scowden |
|1872 | and fly-wheel, condensing | |
| | | |
Cincinnati |Nov. |Vertical direct acting single | Shield |
|1872 | cylinder, condensing | |
| | | |
Louisville |1873 |Cornish | Scowden |
| | | |
Newark, N. J. |1870 |Compound duplex | Worthington |
| | | |
Cleveland, O. |1873 |Cornish | Allaire Works |
| | | |
Jersey City |1856 |Cornish | W. Point Foundry|
| | | |
Charleston, Mass.|1872 |Duplex | Worthington |
| | | |
Providence |1874 |Radial cut off | Geo. H. Corliss |
| | | |
Providence |1874 |Compound duplex | Worthington |
| | | |
New Bedford, Mass|1869 |Beam and fly-wheel | McAlpine |
| | | |
Brooklyn, No. 1 |1860 |Single cylinder beam | Wright |
| | | |
Cleveland, O. |1875 |Compound duplex | Henderson |
| | | |
Cincinnati, O. |Mar. |Compound direct acting | Warden |
|1879 | | |
| | | |
Columbus, O. |Feb. |Crank and fly-wheel, | B. Holly |
|1876 | four engines coupled | |
| | | |
Pawtucket, R. I. | -- |Compound beam and | H. Corliss |
| | fly-wheel, steam jacket Geo. | |
| | | |
Buffalo, N. Y. |1879 |Holly, four cylinders, | Holly Co. |
| | with fly-wheel | |
-----------------+-----+-------------------------------+-----------------+
-----------------+--------------+----------+-------------------------
| DUTY FOR ONE | |
LOCATION. | HUNDRED |CAPACITY. | AUTHORITY.
| POUNDS COAL. | |
-----------------+--------------+----------+-------------------------
Cincinnati | 37,789,990 | 4,651,987| Hermany.
| | |
Cincinnati | 34,064,977 | 4,263,297| Hermany.
| | |
Cincinnati | 23,580,687 |11,847,481| Hermany.
| | |
Louisville | 37,536,730[7]| 3,816,575| Journal A. S. C. E.
| | |
Newark, N. J. | 77,157,840 | -- | Bailey.
| | |
Cleveland, O. | 41,774,955[7]| 5,711,988| Journal A. S. C. E.
| | |
Jersey City | 72,115,396 | -- | Copeland & Worthen.
| | |
Charleston, Mass.| 56,937,643[7]| -- | Journal A. S. C. E.
| | |
Providence | 25,865,000 | -- | Smith, Graff & Reynolds.
| | |
Providence | 53,528,210 | -- | Smith, Graff & Reynolds.
| | |
New Bedford, Mass| 59,336,497 | -- | Hoadley & Francis.
| | |
Brooklyn, No. 1 | 60,798,200 |15,439,653| Smith, Graff & Worthen.
| | |
Cleveland, O. | 31,968,006[7]| 8,400,000| Annual Report.
| | |
Cincinnati, O. | 53,957,957 | 2,000,000| Hill.
| | |
Columbus, O. | 24,045,951 | -- | --
| | |
Pawtucket, R. I. |133,522,090 | -- | Contract Trial.
| | |
Buffalo, N. Y. | 86,176,315 | 6,502,000| Park Benjamin.
-----------------+--------------+----------+-------------------------
(A. S. C. E. is the American Society of Civil Engineers.)
[7] Said to be average duty; all others obtained by special tests.
The capacity is stated in delivery of gallons per day of twenty-four
hours.
COST OF PUMPING ONE MILLION GALLONS OF WATER,
(_From Annual Reports, 1880._)
-------------------+----------+--------+--------+-----------------------+
| | | | COST OF PUMPING ONE |
| | | | MILLION GALLONS. |
| MILLIONS |AVERAGE |COST OF +-------+-------+-------+
CITY. |OF GALLONS| LIFT | COAL | FOR | FOR | FOR |
| PUMPED. |IN FEET.|PER TON.| WAGES.| COAL. |REPAIRS|
-------------------+----------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+
St. Louis, Mo. | 9944 | 50. | $2.66 | $1.57 | $2.85 | $ .15 |
St. Louis, Mo. | 9857 | 225. | 2.66 | 3.17 | 8.19 | .31 |
Charleston, Mass. | 3434 | 150.8 | 4.81 | 2.03 | 5.73 | .09 |
Boston, Mass. | 856 | 116.4 | 5.07 | 4.32 | 4.82 | -- |
Philadelphia, Penn.| 13232 | 124. | 3.34 | 2.64 | 3.72 | .41 |
Philadelphia, Penn.| 7887 | 100. | 3.34 | 1.33 | .10 | .35 |
Columbus, O. | 912 | 175. | 1.37 | 8.10 | 3.48 | .16 |
Chicago, Ill. | 12354 | 104. | 4.00 | 1.73 | 3.36 | .10 |
Chicago, Ill. | 8648 | 98. | 3.60 | 2.32 | 2.67 | -- |
Dayton, O. | 387 | 127. | 2.70 | 16.68 | 8.88 | -- |
Brooklyn, N. Y. | 11196 | 163. | 4.40 | 3.03 | 5.27 | -- |
Pawtucket, R. I. | 325 | 262. | 4.86 | 7.57 | 5.51 | -- |
Toledo, O. | 1193 | 160. | 2.28 | 4.32 | 4.63 | -- |
Montreal, Can. | 3095 | 165. | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Montreal, Can. | 452 | 165. | -- | 7.28 | 8.85 | 3.02 |
Lowell, Mass. | { 771 | 165. | 4.40 | 3.07 | 4.25 | .20 |
| { 52 | 166. | 4.40 | 3.74 | 5.54 | -- |
Cincinnati, O. | 2325 | 171. | 2.79 | 6.53 | 5.38 | 2.06 |
Cincinnati, O. | 4959 | 245. | 2.86 | 4.00 | 7.66 | 1.59 |
Cincinnati, O. | 563 | 293. | 3.15 | 12.50 | 8.49 | 2.69 |
-------------------+----------+--------+--------+-------+-------+-------+
-------------------+---------------+----------+--------------------+
|COST OF PUMPING| | |
| ONE MILLION | COST PER | |
| GALLONS. | MILLION | |
|-------+-------+ ONE | |
CITY. | FOR | | HUNDRED | REMARKS. |
|STORES.| TOTAL.| FT. HIGH.| |
-------------------+-------+-------+----------+--------------------+
St. Louis, Mo. | $ .18 | $4.75 | $9.50 | Low service. |
St. Louis, Mo. | .36 | 12.03 | 5.34 | High service. |
Charleston, Mass. | .30 | 8.15 | 5.40 | |
Boston, Mass. | .47 | 9.69 | 8.30 | High service. |
Philadelphia, Penn.| 1.49 | 8.27 | 6.68 | Steam. |
Philadelphia, Penn.| .20 | 1.98 | 1.98 | Water. |
Columbus, O. | .41 | 12.15 | 6.90 | Holly. |
Chicago, Ill. | .49 | 5.68 | 5.42 | North works. |
Chicago, Ill. | .36 | 5.15 | 5.24 | West works. |
Dayton, O. | -- | 28.36 | 22.33 | Holly. |
Brooklyn, N. Y. | -- | 10.84 | 6.65 | -- |
Pawtucket, R. I. | .50 | 13.58 | 5.17 | -- |
Toledo, O. | -- | 9.25 | 5.77 | -- |
Montreal, Can. | -- | 1.98 | 1.20 | Water. |
Montreal, Can. | 1.05 | 20.20 | 12.53 | Steam. |
Lowell, Mass. | { .32 | 7.84 | 4.73 | Morris engine. |
| { .20 | 9.48 | 5.69 | Worthington engine.|
Cincinnati, O. | .40 | 14.37 | 8.40 | Low service. |
Cincinnati, O. | .42 | 13.67 | 5.58 | Middle service. |
Cincinnati, O. | .65 | 24.33 | 8.30 | High service. |
-------------------+-------+-------+----------+--------------------+
STAND PIPE.
New York has a stand-pipe, for high service use, 170 feet high.
Cleveland has a stand-pipe 148 feet high, 36 inches in diameter.
The stand-pipe at Louisville is 48 inches in diameter, 132 feet high,
made of ¼ to ½-inch wrought-iron plates, the whole incased in wood.
The Mt. Auburn High Service at Cincinnati is supplied by two
wrought-iron tanks (which answer the same purpose of stand pipes),
each 60 feet in diameter and 38 feet high, and made of wrought-iron
sheets 50″ by 140″, ¼″ to 7-16″ in thickness. The water surface is
483 feet above low water. The cost of each tank was $15,000.
The water-tower at Toledo consists of a wrought-iron stand pipe,
around which is built a masonry structure of solid stonework 36
feet square, commencing 16 feet below the natural surface, with a
vertical thickness, under base of stand-pipe, of 7 feet; thence, with
octagonal opening around the pipe, to a point near 3 feet above the
surface of the ground, at which point its inner diameter is 16 feet,
and outer dimensions 30 feet square. From this point, to a further
height of four feet, the wall is composed of ashlar-face and brick
backing; thence to a point 70 feet above the foundation of solid
brick-work with octagon interior and exterior squares, the corners
terminating in buttress walls; the top to be octagonal battering to
an external diameter at the top of 14 feet. The total height is 224
feet, and the cost about $25,000.
A steel plate stand-pipe designed by J. D. Cook, civil engineer
for Springfield, Ohio, is in course of erection by the Stacey
Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati, which will be 112 feet high, 30
feet in diameter, thickness of lower ring being 25-32″, and upper
ring 3-16″. The estimated cost is $35,000.
The stand-pipe of Southwark and Vauxhall Water-Works, London, is 178
feet high, made of three columns of cast-iron pipe, the center one
extending 50 feet higher than the other columns. The side pipes are
30 inch, and center 48 inch in diameter. The Grand Junction works,
London, has a similar structure of two columns 153 feet high, incased
in a brick structure.
The stand-pipe of East London Co. is 240 feet high and 3 feet in
diameter.
HUSBAND’S PATENT BALANCE VALVE.
This patent is designed to supersede the costly stand-pipe. Fixed
vertically, as near to the engine as practicable, is a strong casting
provided with two short-flanged branches, the lower one being
connected with the discharge outlet from the pumps, and the upper
one with the delivery main. Between these branches a gun-metal valve
of the double-seat description is placed, and is connected to an
additional water-tight hat working on the top of the valve-seating.
The seating is firmly held down by bolts passing through it and
fastened to the casing. A ram lined with gun-metal, and of the
same diameter as the upper valve, is secured water-tight into it
by a colter, and works vertically up and down, passing through a
stuffing-box packed with cup leather, bolted to the upper portion of
the casing. The head of the ram works in a cross-guide lashed with
gun-metal, and supported by four strong vertical pillars. The ram is
loaded with weights nearly equal to the minimum load of the engine;
the lowest weight is provided with lugs working loosely over the
vertical pillars, which are provided with adjusting nuts and leather
washers, for the purpose of preventing the valve from falling heavily
and injuring its seating. The action of the apparatus is as follows:
The water, on entering the casing from the pumps, acts upon the under
side of the upper valve. The area of the valve is the same as that of
the ram, which, being loaded somewhat under the working load of the
engine, is immediately lifted, raising the valve with it, and thus
giving the water free access to the delivery main.
In the event of the main being fractured at any point beyond the
valve, the pressure within the main is suddenly reduced on account of
the great escape of water, and is, consequently, unable to support
the loaded valve, which immediately closes; thus the working load
of the engine is retained, and the possibility of accident by racing
prevented.
FUEL EXPENSE FOR PUMPING COMPARED ON DUTY BASES.--(_Fanning._)
========+==============================================================
DUTY IN | NUMBER MILLION GALLONS PUMPED DAILY, ONE HUNDRED FEET HIGH.
MILLION | COAL IN FURNACE AT $8 PER TON.
FOOT +---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------
POUNDS.| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 10
--------+---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+-------
100 |$1,277.86| $2,556 | $3,834 | $5,111 | $7,667 |$10,223 |$12,779
90 | 1,419.85| 2,840 | 4,260 | 5,679 | 8,519 | 11,359 | 14,198
80 | 1,597.32| 3,195 | 4,792 | 6,389 | 9,584 | 12,778 | 15,973
70 | 1,825.51| 3,651 | 5,477 | 7,302 | 10,953 | 14,604 | 18,255
60 | 2,129.76| 4,260 | 6,389 | 8,519 | 12,779 | 17,038 | 21,298
50 | 2,555.72| 5,111 | 7,667 | 10,223 | 15,334 | 20,446 | 25,557
40 | 3,194.65| 6,384 | 9,584 | 12,769 | 19,168 | 25,537 | 31,946
30 | 4,259.53| 8,519 | 12,779 | 17,038 | 25,557 | 34,076 | 42,595
20 | 6,389.30| 12,768 | 19,168 | 25,537 | 39,336 | 51,174 | 63,893
========+==============================================================
DIMENSIONS AND COST OF CONSTRUCTING PUMPING ENGINES.
==========+======+=================================+=========+===========+
| WHEN | |MAX. CAP-|DIAMETER OF|
CITY. |BUILT.| KIND OF TOWER. |ACITY IN | SYS. CYL. |
| | |MIL. GAL.| IN INCH. |
----------+------+---------------------------------+---------+-----------+
| | | | |
Chicago | 1876 |Compound condensing beam and { | 30 | 48 H.P. |
| | fly-wheel. { | | 76 L.P. |
| | | | |
“ | 1857 |Low-pressure beam and fly-wheel | 13 | 60 |
| | single eng. | | |
| | | | |
“ | 1857 |Double engine beam and fly-wheel.| 18 | 44 |
| | | | |
“ | 1872 |Double engine beam and fly-wheel.| 36 | 70 |
| | | | |
“ | 1853 |Single engine beam and fly-wheel.| 7½ | 44 |
| | | | |
Cincinnati| 1850 |Single engine fly-wheel. | 4½ | 45 |
| | | | |
“ | 1865 |Single engine direct acting. | 20 | 100 |
| | | | |
“ | 1874 |Double engines fly-wheels | 7½ | 28 |
| | and beams. | | |
| | | | |
“ | 1869 |Double horizontal engines, | 4 | 18 |
| | fly-wheel. | | |
| | | | |
“ | 1874 |Compound dir’t acting. { | 2 | 14 H.P. |
| | { | | 22½ L.P. |
| | | | |
St. Louis | 1875 |Double, with beam and one { | 25 | 50 H.P. |
| | fly-wheel. { | | 80 L.P. |
| | | | |
==========+======+=================================+=========+===========+
==========+=========+==========+=========+======================
| | DIAMETER | |
CITY. | STROKE |AND STROKE| COST. | REMARKS.
| IN FEET.| OF PUMPS.| |
----------+---------+----------+---------+----------------------
| | ″ ′ | |
Chicago {| 6 H.P. | 51 × 10 |$543,500 | with 6 boilers.
{| 10 L.P. | | |
| | | |
“ | 10 | 40 × 6¼ | 59,000 | “ 2 “
| | | |
| | | |
“ | 8 | 28 × 8 | 112,500 | “ 1 boiler.
| | | |
“ | 10 | 57 × 10 | 188,400 | “ 3 boilers.
| | | |
“ | 9 | 34 × 5½ | 24,500 | “ 1 boiler.
| | | |
Cincinnati| 8 | 18 × 8 | 30,000 | with 60 ft. iron col.
| | | |
“ | 12 | 46 × 12 | 200,000 | --
| | | |
“ | 8 | 25½ × 8 | 99,000 | Plunger 16½ “
| | | |
“ | 5 | 13¼ × 5 | 18,000 | with 1 boiler.
| | | |
“ | 2½ | 10 × 2½ | 8,600 | --
| | | |
St. Louis{| 7¼ H.P.| 45¼ × 8½ | 280,000 | Plunger 32″ dia.
{| 11½ L.P.| | |
| | | |
==========+=========+==========+=========+======================
CHAPTER V.
HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL.
_New York_ was supplied by dug wells until 1842, when the Croton
water was brought, by gravitation, into the city, through a brick
aqueduct, thirty-eight miles in length, crossing the Harlem River by
“High Bridge.” The area of the water-shed of the Croton is 338.82
square miles. The storage capacity nine billion gallons. The capacity
of the aqueduct is ninety-two millions of gallons per day.
There are three distributing reservoirs:
One of 150 million.
One of 1200 “ in Central Park.
One of 24 “
One of 10¾ “ for high service.
The population is 1,206,500; miles of water-pipe, 500--the largest
being seventy-two inches in diameter; the average daily consumption
of water ninety-five millions; number of taps, 77,000. All buildings
are assessed by frontage-tax besides usual water rates. The meter
rate is 7½ cents per thousand gallons.
The original cost of the gravitation works was about nine millions;
present water-works valuation is thirty-two millions.
An additional supply from Bronx River is now in course of
construction. The water will be conducted through an aqueduct, of
forty-eight inch cast-iron pipe, twenty miles in length. During last
summer a water-famine was prevented by a Providential rain-fall.
_Philadelphia_ was supplied with water, systematically, in 1801;
previously, wells were the only source.
The system of supply is pumping by steam and water-power,
thirty-seven per cent. being done by the water-wheels in 1880.
The available capacity of water-wheels is 36,000,000 gallons daily.
During summer there is a deficiency of power. Capacity of all the
pumps 71.8 million gallons. There are 16 reservoirs, with a total
capacity of 200 millions. The distribution of water is divided
among the various works in relation to respective elevation. The
population, in 1880, was 846,984. Miles of pipe, 746. Daily average
consumption, in 1880, 57.7 millions. Largest daily consumption 80½
millions. Number of meters 30. Total receipts, in 1880, were nearly
1½ millions of dollars; and expenditures nearly $400,000. Laying of
water-pipes assessed on abutting property. Total profits, since 1855,
over twelve millions of dollars.
The pumping stations and performance for 1880 are:
========================+=================+========+=================+
STATIONS. |PER CENT OF WATER| LIFT | SOURCE OF |
| PUMPED IN 1880. |IN FEET.| SUPPLY. |
------------------------+-----------------+--------+-----------------+
Fairmount, water-power. | 37.35 | 90 |Schuylkill River |
Schuylkill, steam-power.| 25.96 | 120 | “ “ |
Belmont, “ “ | 16.78 | 207 | “ “ |
Delaware, “ “ | 9.45 | 133 |Delaware “ |
Roxborough, “ “ | 5.52 | 346 |Schuylkill “ |
Chestnut Hill, “ “ | .02 | 125 | “ “ |
Frankford, “ “ | 4.50 | 203 |Delaware “ |
========================+=================+========+=================+
========================+=======================================
STATIONS. | POWER.
|
------------------------+---------------------------------------
Fairmount, water-power. | 7 Turbine water-wheels.
Schuylkill, steam-power.| 2 Cornish and 2 Compound Engines.
Belmont, “ “ | 5 Worthingtons.
Delaware, “ “ | 1 Worthington, 1 low, 1 high pressure.
Roxborough, “ “ | 1 Cornish, 1 Worth., and 1 Knowles.
Chestnut Hill, “ “ | 1 horizontal high pressure.
Frankford, “ “ | 1 compound and 1 Worthington.
========================+=======================================
_Brooklyn._--Water-works introduced in 1859. The system is by
pumping, with reservoir distribution. The source is the southern
slope of Long Island Sound, ten to twenty-two miles from East River.
The water is gathered from a drainage area of 60½ square miles by
intercepting ponds, and conducted, through masonry conduit, to the
pump well, seven miles from East River. The natural flow, from these
ponds, into the conduit being insufficient during summer time,
pumping engines were erected, 1874, at Watts’ and Smith’s ponds to
meet the deficiency.
The storage reservoir, built in 1873-’76, has a water surface of
250 acres, and a capacity of one billion gallons. There are three
low-pressure beam-engines, with a combined capacity of 44 millions
daily. The distributing reservoir is 3,400 feet from pumping wells,
at 163 feet elevation and with a capacity of 160 millions.
Population, in 1880, was 566,689. Miles of pipe, 351. Daily average
consumption of water, in 1880, 30¾ millions. Largest daily
consumption 48 millions; number of taps, 60,000; meters, 859;
original cost of works, $5,200,000.
_Chicago._--The first works were constructed by the Chicago City
Hydraulic Company in 1840, Lake Michigan being the source. The
superiority of this water, as compared with well water, so manifested
itself during the cholera of 1849-’50 that the works became a public
institution, under whose control they were enlarged, in 1854, after
plans of Wm. J. McAlpine, C. E. The system is constant pumping
through stand-pipe distribution, 120 feet above city datum. There are
two pumping stations--North Side and West Side--the latter being the
new works, erected in 1874. The source is Lake Michigan. Previous to
1867 the intakes were near the shore; and, in order to secure pure
water, a brick tunnel, five feet wide by five feet two inches in
depth, was built under the lake, a length of two miles, to a crib
located in the lake. A second tunnel, 5 ft. in diameter, parallel to
the first, and forty-six feet apart, was constructed to the North
Side Works, thence continuing under the city, a distance of 20,000
feet, to the West Side Works. The North Side Works has four engines,
with a combined capacity of 64 millions; and the West Side Works two
engines, with a capacity of 46 millions.
In 1856 a twenty-four inch wrought main was laid in the Chicago
River; but, before brought into use, was injured by pile-driving, and
had to be relaid. In 1869 all the submerged mains were abandoned,
because of frequent accidents, and brick tunnels, six feet in
diameter, were built under the river. The statistics for 1880 were:
Population, 503,304; miles of pipe, 450; daily average consumption,
57.4 million gallons; number of meters, 2,000. Cost of West Side
Works, with new tunnel, $1,600,000. Total cost of works, $8,644,000.
_Boston._--In 1835 there were 2,767 wells in use, thirty-three of
which were artesian, besides a water-works under the control of “The
Aqueduct Corporation.” Out of the whole number of wells only seven
furnished water soft enough to use for washing. In 1840 there was
great complaint of the deficiency of wells, and in one case it was
stated that a well from which many drew their water, was kept locked
except at certain hours. During this time there were 56 reservoirs,
each holding 300 to 400 hogsheads. In 1848 water was first introduced
from Lake Cochituate, through a brick conduit (except the cast-iron
syphon over Charles River), oviform in shape, large end down, 6.33
feet high and 5 feet wide. Its length is 14.627 miles, with a total
fall of 4.26 feet. It has a capacity of delivering 16 million gallons
daily, with a velocity of one foot per second. The area of water
surface, at full water, of Lake Cochituate is 800 acres; when drawn
down 10 feet or level of the flow line of conduit, the area is 489
acres. Elevation is 134.36 feet, and bottom of conduit at dam 121
feet above tide level. There are two granite dams 500 feet apart.
The first dam was built on quicksand, and after filling of the lake,
springs boiled up and washed away the sand.
The new supply from Sudbury River was inaugurated in 1878. The
drainage is 78.24 square miles. The conduit is 16 miles long, with
a grade of 1.056 feet per mile. It is built of concrete and rubble
masonry, lined with brick. It crosses the Charles River by granite
bridge 475 feet long and 75 feet high. Its sectional area is 56.75
square feet, and capacity 70 millions daily.
There are two earth embankment reservoirs, one of 120 millions and
the other of 550 millions capacity, besides four stone masonry
structures of 22 millions capacity combined. One of the latter is
used for high service, is 219 feet above tide, and has a capacity
of 7 millions. The Roxbury High Service is supplied by two 20″ by
36″ pumps, through a stand-pipe 5 feet in diameter and 80 feet high.
There is also a couple of temporary high service works. There are
several cast-iron syphons of 20 and 24-inch pipes, with ball and
socket points, submerged in the rivers. A crack in one of these
20-inch pipes was stopped by pine wedges, and then covered with
an india-rubber band, secured by iron clamps. The work was done
by a diver, and occupied three weeks. The Mystic Water-Works, of
Charleston, became a part of the Boston Water System in 1873, by
annexation.
The population is 412,000; miles of pipe, 500; daily average
consumption, 36 millions; number of water takers is 68,334. There are
1,313 meters in use. The value of the works to December, 1880, was
$18,354,716.17.
_St. Louis._--The first water-works was built at foot of Bates
Street in 1830, eight years after it became an incorporated city.
The old works were entirely abandoned in 1872, when the new works,
built after the design of Jas. P. Kirkwood, civil engineer, were
put in operation. The new pumping stations is at Bissell’s Point at
the northern city limit. The water is taken from Mississippi River,
through a cast-iron tower (arranged to take water at any level) sunk
in the river to the bed rock, and conducted by a 66-inch iron pipe to
the first or low service pumps, which raises the water from 15 to 50
feet, according to the stage of the river, into settling basins (four
in number, each 25 millions capacity); from thence it flows through a
brick conduit 1,100 feet long, to the clear well of the high service
or main works. The clear water is pumped through a stand pipe into a
reservoir on Compton Hill, 870 feet by 540 feet, and 22 feet deep,
and 176 feet above city directrix. The low service works has two
Cornish bull and one rotative engine, and the main works has three
combination beam engines with a combined capacity of 40 millions of
gallons daily. The sediment in the water amounts, at times, to 1.8
per cent. of the total bulk. Nine hundred and forty-four parts in
one thousand of the sediment is deposited within twenty-four hours
in still water. One of the old reservoirs was abandoned entirely for
twelve years, on account of the accumulation of deposit, being 30
feet in depth. It was cleaned by hydraulic mining, after a method
designed by Henry Flad, civil engineer.
The population by last census is 350,522; miles of pipe, 200; daily
consumption, 25 millions; number of taps, 20,000.
The cost of the new works was about five millions of dollars.
_Baltimore._--In 1814 an association was formed for the purpose
of introducing a copious supply of wholesome water into the city
from Jones’ Falls. The works were purchased by the city in 1854 for
$1,350,000, and enlarged in 1857-’62. The river water is diverted
into Lake Roland, an artificial lake of 116 acres water surface.
From this reservoir it is brought through an elliptical conduit,
3.62 miles, and discharged into Hampden Reservoir. This reservoir
is semicircle in form, 1,000 feet diameter, with a water surface of
8 acres. It is 217 feet above tide. From this point the water flows
through three lines of 30-inch cast-iron pipe, 7,100 feet in length,
into Mt. Royal Reservoir, which is a circular structure 550 feet in
diameter with a water surface of 5 acres, and 150 feet above tide.
This reservoir supplies that portion of the city below 112 feet
elevation. The Hampden Reservoir supplies the districts between 112
feet and 188 feet above tide, and the high service reservoir the
district between 188 feet and 320 feet above tide. In 1867 the Druid
Lake was constructed with a view of storing clear water, to be used
when Lake Roland was muddy. It is made by building an earthen dam
(across a natural valley in Druid Hill Park), 119 feet high in the
middle with a puddled wall in the center 36 feet wide at the bottom.
The greatest depth of water is 63 feet. Seven lines of cast-iron
pipe were originally laid under the embankment, but broke within two
years. Five lines of 30-inch pipe were then laid through a cut-in
rock. Its capacity is 493,000,000 gallons, with water surface of 53
acres. The high service reservoir is circular, 500 feet diameter, 20
feet deep, and 350 feet above tide, and supplied by two Worthington
pumps.
The new supply from Gunpowder River is brought through a 12-foot
conduit 7 miles in length, having a capacity of 170 million gallons,
to Montebello Reservoir, of 80 acres water surface, and 163 feet
above tide. From here it is conveyed partly in tunnel and in open cut
5,391 feet to Lake Clifton, which has a water surface of 30¼ acres
and elevation 163 feet above tide, and 31 feet deep. Provisions are
made for six 40-inch mains; two now being used. The new system cost
$4,704,260.83, and was formerly inaugurated in October, 1881. The
statistics for 1880 are: population, 332,190; miles of pipe, 277;
water takers, 49,000; meters, 524; outstanding bonds amounting to 9
million dollars.
_Buffalo_ takes its supply from a pier in Niagara River, and is
conducted through a tunnel 22½ feet below the river bottom. The
system is pumping and reservoir distribution with Holly plan for fire
purposes and supply of higher levels. At the pumping station there
are two Worthingtons--one of 10 million and the other of 15 million
capacity--and a condensing beam engine of 8 million capacity. A third
Worthington is now in course of erection. There are three Holly
pumps, one of 1½ millions; one of 2½ millions; and one of 6 millions
capacity, which take their supply from the face main 20 feet below
the reservoir, and pump directly into the mains. The statistics for
1880 are: population, 155,137; miles of pipe, 102; daily consumption,
16½ million gallons; water-takers, 9,099. The original cost of the
works was $400,000. Present value 3 million dollars, outstanding
bonds $2,950,000.
_Washington_ is supplied from the Potomac River by diverting the
waters at Great Falls 17 miles above the city, by a dam of cut
masonry with rip-rap backing. Its top is 148 feet above tide level at
Washington. The water is conducted through a brick aqueduct 9 feet in
diameter, with a grade of 0.75 feet per mile. The reservoir at Powder
Mill Branch (made by damming the stream), has a water surface of 50
acres, with a capacity of 176 million gallons. The expectation that
the Potomac water, which is frequently very muddy, would have time to
settle in this reservoir before being drawn from its outlet was not
realized in consequence of the turbidity of drainage water collected
by the reservoir itself; a connecting conduit was therefore built in
1864 to supply direct from Potomac River, during freshets, in Powder
Mill Branch.
The high levels of Georgetown or those more than 90 feet above tide
level, are supplied by pumping and reservoir distribution. The
reservoir is a hemispherical brick structure, 120 feet in diameter,
and 220 feet above tide.
The statistics for 1880 are: population, 147,307; miles of pipe,
175; daily consumption of water, 26 million gallons; number of taps,
17,000. Cost of aqueduct and its maintenance to June 30, 1880, was
3.8 million dollars, and for water mains, 1.7 millions.
_Louisville._--The Louisville Water Company was chartered in 1854,
and in 1856 the city subscribed to the capital stock to the amount
of $550,000. The supply is taken from the Ohio River, 1½ miles above
the city limits. The intake is 300 feet from shore, 50 feet in
diameter, made of a crib of timber filled in with stone, the mouth
of the inlet being 5 by 12 feet, and set 1 foot below lowest stage
of water. By 1865 the inlet pipe was half full of silt; in order to
clean it a well was sunk over the pipe, 105 feet from its end, the
pipe cut, and then cleaned out. In 1877 the pipe was again cleansed.
Anchor ice has given them much trouble. There are two Cornish beam
engines which deliver the water through a wrought-iron stand pipe,
48 inches in diameter and 132 feet high, into a reservoir of earth
embankments, 141 feet above low water, and 3,650 feet from the works.
The water surface of this reservoir is 178 by 374 feet. The new
reservoir on Crescent Hill is 175 feet above low water, and 2½ miles
from stand-pipe. It has a capacity of 100 millions. Notwithstanding
extraordinary care having been taken in the foundations of this
reservoir, leaks and slips occurred soon after it was filled.
The statistics for 1880 are: Population, 123,645; miles of pipe, 110;
daily consumption of water, 5½ million gallons; number of meters,
201; hydraulic elevators. 50; value of the works--construction,
$800,000; enlargements, $2,400,000; total, 3.2 million dollars.
_San Francisco_ is supplied by the Spring Valley Water Company from
three sources. One from Lobos Creek, 4 miles from the city, where the
water is gathered after slow percolation through sand, and conducted
through 23,700 feet of wood and masonry aqueduct to the pumping-works
(at zero datum of city level) at Point Black. These engines raise
the water into two reservoirs on Russian Hill, respectively 396 feet
and 139 feet above city datum. The ordinary yield of the source is
2¼ millions daily. Another source is from the mountains of San Mateo
County, 15 miles from San Francisco, where a dam was built in 1864,
640 feet long, 26 feet wide on top, 95 feet high, with slopes 2¾
and 2½ to 1 foot. A puddle-trench is sunk 26 feet below the natural
surface to the rock. After the reservoir was full, a leak appeared
at one end of the dam caused by an unsound rock. While the reservoir
was full a shaft was sunk 80 feet deep to the point, and the rock
removed and replaced with puddle. This reservoir is 46 feet deep, and
has a capacity of 1,083 million gallons, with a water surface of 692
feet above the sea. The water is conducted 13 miles, through a flume
partly of 30-inch wrought-iron pipe, to Lagunda Honda Reservoir, 377
feet above the sea, with a capacity of 33 million gallons.
The third supply is brought from the water-shed of Lock’s Creek, 2.75
square miles in area, and 505 feet above tide. This water is conveyed
17.42 miles to St. Andres Reservoir through wrought-iron pipes and
tunnels lined with solid masonry.
The St. Andres Reservoir has a capacity of 7,000 million gallons, and
is formed by an earth dam 640 feet long, 25 feet wide on the top, and
93 feet high, with a puddle-trench 47 feet more to the rock. The cost
of the works to 1875 was $8,746,928.12. Amount paid on dividends to
stockholders $4,701,562.18.
The population in 1880 was 233,956, and daily consumption of water 17
millions.
_Cleveland._--The water-works were constructed in 1853 after the
plans of T. R. Scowden, civil engineer. The system is pumping through
stand pipe with reservoir distribution. The source is Lake Erie,
where the water is taken through a crib located in lake, 1¼ miles
from shore, and conducted through tunnel under lake to the pump
wells. The pumping stations contains two Cornish, a “Henderson”
compound duplex, and a 10 million Worthington. The combined capacity
is 28 million gallons. Another Worthington engine is being added
to the service. The stand pipe is 148 feet high and 36 inches in
diameter. The reservoir is made of earth embankments, 21 feet deep,
with a capacity of 8 million gallons.
The population for 1880 was 160,142; miles of pipe, 125½; daily
consumption of water, 10.18 million gallons.
Total cost of works to January 1, 1878, was $2,402,000. Bonded
indebtedness, $1,725,000. Cost of original works, $523,000.
_Portland, Maine_, is supplied with water from Lake Sebago, which has
storage capacity sufficient to supply the largest city of the world.
The total area of water-shed is 520 square miles. The annual receipt
of moisture, including rain and snow, is 51 billion cubic feet,
while the discharge is 20½ billion cubic feet. The water is conveyed
partly through a box conduit, 3′ 9″ by 3′ 6½″, an oval brick conduit
5,440 feet long, 2½′ by 3½′, to a gate-house, whence two wrought-iron
mains, lined inside and covered outside with best quality Rosendale
cement, each 16 miles long, distribute the water to the city. One of
the mains is 20 inches in diameter for the whole length, the other 26
and 24 inches, and respectively 4 and 12 miles long. The water system
is owned by the Portland Water Company.
_Cincinnati._--The permanent system of water supply was commenced
in 1817, when city council granted to the Cincinnati Manufacturing
Company the privilege of supplying the city with water for
ninety-nine years at an annual consideration of $100--the water to
flow three feet above the first floor of James Ferguson’s kitchen, on
west side of Vine, between Sixth and Seventh Streets, by 1820.
The first water was drawn from a wooden penstock at Sycamore Street
and Lower Market, July, 1821, being raised by horse-power from Ohio
River at the present site of pumping works, and forced into a wooden
reservoir, and from thence delivered through wooden pipes to water
consumers.
The Cincinnati Manufacturing Company transferred its privileges, in
1820, to Samuel W. Davis, and by him sold to Cincinnati Water Company
in 1825. The entire works were purchased by the city in 1839, for the
sum of $300,000, and consisted of 19 miles of wooden pipes, 3½ miles
of iron pipe, reservoir in three compartments of 1,700,000 gallons
capacity, two high pressure pumping engines with a capacity of
4,200,000 gallons per twenty-four hours.
The management of the water department was vested first with a board
of directors composed of one councilman from each ward. In 1847 this
power was given, by act of legislature, to a board of three trustees
elected by the people, and in 1876 the Board of Public Works was
established, which assumed entire control of all the public works,
including the water-works.
The city is supplied by pumping and reservoir system, with a main
and two auxiliary pumping works, and four distinct reservoir or
distributing services.
The main work is located on the bank of the Ohio River, and takes
its supply through two stone aqueducts, each 100 feet in length. The
western one is extended 60 feet further into the channel of the river
by two 40-inch wrought-iron pipes.
The pumping engines at these works are--three double and three single
engines with a combined theoretical capacity of 49 millions, with
present available capacity of 32 millions. The oldest reservoir,
built in 1850-’53, is a stone structure, entirely above the surface
ground, made in two divisions 23 feet in depth; the eastern part
being 163 by 116 feet, and western 180 by 116 feet. Its capacity is
5½ million gallons. The cost was $50,000; its elevation, 176 feet
above low-water mark in the Ohio River. The largest reservoir is
built in a ravine, where a masonry structure was erected 1,251 feet
long, 120 feet high, 48½ feet in width at the bottom, and 25 feet on
top. There are two compartments formed by a masonry wall 307 feet in
length, 30 feet at the base, 10 feet on top, and 67½ feet extreme
height. The upper part contains 57 millions, and the lower 43 million
gallons, at 30 feet depth. The elevation of flow line is 235 feet
above low water in the Ohio River. The cost was $1,660,000. The high
service No. 1 supplies nearly two millions daily to the hill-tops,
pumping into two iron tanks, each 60 feet diameter by 38 feet high,
310 feet above the pumping station level, through 2,700 feet of
20-inch and 4,501 feet of 16-inch cast-iron pipe. The cost of this
service to 1881, with forty miles of pipe, two pumping engines of
six million capacity, tanks, etc., was nearly half a million dollars.
No. 2, high service, was started in June, 1881. About 15,000 gallons
are pumped daily into an iron tank, thirty feet in diameter by
sixteen feet high, temporarily erected on wooden supports sixteen
feet high. The elevation of flow line of tank is 354 feet above the
pump station.
Number of miles of pipe in use (1880) 189
Number of valves in use 2,334
Number of branches or taps 23,627
Number of meters 545
Number of hydraulic elevators 318
Daily average consumption of water for 1880 19,476,739
Population 260,000
Gallons of water per inhabitant per 24 hours 75
Largest consumption of water for one day, 1880 27,951,391
The present value of works is $6,778,847.55, distributed as follows:
Hunt Street Pumping Works $ 184,475.98
Front “ “ “ 1,696,356.33
Third Street Reservoir and property 400,000.00
Mt. Auburn Tanks 35,000.00
Water Mains 2,706,864.58
Western Hill Supply, No. 2, High Service 58,603.61
Garden of Eden Reservoir 1,670,225.55
Office Fixtures 5,000.00
Markley Farm 22,321.50
The amount of outstanding water-works bonds is $1,625,000.00.
The water-fund provides for the interest on the entire fund, and a
sinking fund for $600,000 of bonded indebtedness. The department
furnishes free water to the fire department and public buildings to
the amount of $40,000 per annum.
The net water-rent receipts for 1880 were $499,857.36
Net expenses $186,527.90
Net interest 102,768.00 289,295.90
-----------
Net gain (applied to extension of mains) $210,561.46
_Toledo_ established her water-works in 1873-’74, after plans of J.
D. Cook, C. E. The water is taken from the Maumee River, through
a hexagonal crib, made of two rows of piling, with the space
filled with broken stone and coarse gravel, and conveyed, through
wrought-iron pipe and five foot brick conduit five hundred feet long,
to filter gallery of 19,000 square feet. The filtering material is
24 inches of broken stone, 6 inches of 2-inch gravel, 6 inches of
1-inch gravel, 6 inches of ½-inch gravel, 6 inches of ¼-inch gravel,
and 24 inches of fine sand. Maximum depth of water is four feet. The
filtered water is discharged into a clear-water reservoir by means of
gathering drains and an effluent pipe, and thence to the pump well.
There are two Worthington engines, each of five million capacity,
pumping against a 260-foot lift, into a stand-pipe. The cost of the
works to December 31, 1880, including interest, was $1,145,476.62;
population, 50,143; miles of pipe, 46.87; meters, 40; taps, 1,616;
daily consumption, 3,262,000 gallons.
_London_ is supplied with water by the following companies:
==================+===============+=============+==========+===========+
NAME OF | SOURCE OF |AVERAGE DAILY|NO. HOUSES| ESTIMATED |
COMPANY. | SUPPLY. | SUPPLY. | SUPPLIED.|POPULATION.|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
------------------+---------------+-------------+----------+-----------+
Kent Water Co. |Chalk Wells. | 6,828,700 | 43,901 | 250,000 |
New River Co. |Lea River and | 27,179,000 | 123,493 | 900,000 |
| other sources.| | | |
East London Co. |Lea & Thames | 24,754,919 | 107,851 | 808,882 |
| Rivers. | | | |
Southwark & |Thames River. | 19,264,250 | 80,146 | 502,350 |
Vauxhall Co. | | | | |
West Middlesex Co.| “ “ | 10,468,138 | 47,039 | 332,792 |
Grand Junction Co.| “ “ | 12,017,830 | 3?,709 | 321,381 |
Lambeth Water Co. | “ “ | 13,671,900 | 52,529 | 367,703 |
Chelsea Water Co. | “ “ | 8,134,300 | 28,395 | 210,000 |
==================+===============+=============+==========+===========+
==================+=============++============++======================
NAME OF | CAPACITY OF || FILTER || ENGINE POWER.
COMPANY. | SUBSIDING || BEDS. || +---------
| RESERVOIRS ++----+-------++----+-------+ GREATEST
|IN MIL. GALS.|| NO.|AREA IN|| NO.| HORSE | LIFT
| || | ACRES.|| | POWER.| IN FEET.
------------------+-------------++----+-------++----+-------+---------
Kent Water Co. | -- || -- | -- || 16 | 1,291 | 314
New River Co. | 169 || 13 | 11¼ || 22 | 1,804 | 270
| || | || | |
East London Co. | 605 || 25 | 23 || 18 | 2,475 | 335
| || | || | |
Southwark & | 66 || 9 | 14½ || 11 | 2,000 | 360
Vauxhall Co. | || | || | |
West Middlesex Co.| 57 || 5 | 8 || 17 | 1,461 | 195
Grand Junction Co.| 19½ || 4 | 7¾ || 11 | 1,820 | 180
Lambeth Water Co. | 125 || 7 | 4 || 17 | 1,460 | 380
Chelsea Water Co. | -- || 7 | 6¾ || 8 | 1,025 | 175
==================+=============++====+=======++====+=================
The East London Company has its intakes further up the Thames than
the other works, where pumping engines, of 750 horse-power, are
capable of delivering ten million gallons daily, through a stand-pipe
240 feet high and three feet in diameter, into its subsiding
reservoirs. It also takes its supply partly from the Lea River.
The West Middlesex Company is above Hampton, and two miles below the
East London Company’s works. The water is drawn from the river every
day, whatever its state may be; but, in times of exceptionally foul
water, the intake is reduced as much as possible.
Close to the West Middlesex Company is the Grand Junction works. Near
the latter are the works of the Southwark & Vauxhall Company. And at
Thames Ditton, two miles further down, are the Lambeth and Chelsea
works.
The Kent Water Company takes its supply, exclusively, from deep wells
in the chalk. The New River Company takes its supply chiefly from
the Lea River. It has supplied a large portion of London, for two
hundred and seventy years, through a conduit originally forty miles
in length, which has been shortened by various cuts.
The statistics, as per monthly report for July, 1875, were:
Population, 3,713,108; miles of pipe, 3,074; daily average
consumption from Thames, 64,791,000 gallons; daily average
consumption from other sources, 57,528,000 gallons. Total daily
average, 122,319,000 gallons.
The Capital invested in the supply of water by these eight companies
represents a total sum of $51,900,000.
The largest pumping engines in use, in 1875, were:
STEAM CYLINDER. PUMP.
″ ′ ″ ′
Single-acting beam-engine at Battersea works. 112 × 10 50 × 10
“ “ at Grand Junction. 90 × 11 38 × 11
“ “ at East London. 100 × 11 50 × 11
“ “ at East London. 85 × 10 43 × 9
An act of 1871 provides power to compel the companies to give
constant supply when the public authorities may demand it.
By the act of 1872 a Government Inspector was appointed, who examines
and reports monthly the condition of the works and the character of
the water furnished.
As the London and Lea Rivers have been condemned by the Rivers
Pollution Commission, as well as the shallow surface wells, of which
they say, are not fit for human consumption, several schemes have
been proposed for new or improved sources.
Mr. Bateman proposed to furnish a daily supply, equal to 220 million
gallons, from the mountains of North Wales, where the annual
rain-fall amounts from 70 to 150 inches. The cost was estimated at
$51,000,000.
The plan proposed by Messrs. Hemans and Hassard is to gather the
water from the mountains in Cumberland, where a supply equal to 250
million gallons daily can be secured for the sum of $61,000,000. The
Rivers Pollution Commission were of the opinion, that an ample supply
of wholesome water could be secured from the chalk wells and springs,
within a radius not exceeding fifty miles of London.
_Liverpool_ had in 1874, 493,405 inhabitants. It is supplied with
water partly by gravitation and partly by pumping from deep wells
in and near the city. The gravitation-works are situated on the
slopes of Rivington Pike, a distance about 33 miles. One-third of
the storage water is required for compensation purposes. The area of
water-shed is 10,000 acres; that of the impounding reservoirs and
filter-beds 549 acres, with a storage capacity of 3¼ billion gallons.
The ordinary work of the six filter-beds is 14 million gallons daily.
The materials used for filtration are: 2½ feet sharp river sand,
clean gravel of the following depths and sizes: 6 inches ⅛-inch
diameter, 6 inches ¼-inch diameter, 6 inches ½-inch diameter, 6
inches 1-inch diameter, and 6 inches 2-inch diameter; 6 inches of
broken stone 4-inch diameter, and 12 inches broken stone 6-inch
diameter. The cost of filtration is $1.37 per million gallons. The
water, after filtration, flows from the clear water tank through a
main, 44 inches diameter and 18 miles in length, to the service
reservoir at Prescott, 102 feet lower than the clear water tank; to
break the pressure in this length there are two small reservoirs.
From Prescott the line is continued by two pipes, one 44 inches and
the other 36 inches in diameter, a distance of five miles to the
service reservoirs, which are seven in number, with a water surface
area of 37⅓ acres, and 114 million gallons capacity. They are partly
above ground and covered. The quantity delivered through the conduit,
is 10⅓ million gallons daily.
There are four pumping stations located at the respective wells, with
five Cornish and five Bolton and Watts’ condensing engines. Four
pumping stations have been abandoned on account of the pollution in
well water. Part of the town is supplied directly from mains and
partly from cisterns. It is now compulsory for all new property to
be provided with cisterns, and that the overflow-pipe be carried
outside the premises instead of being connected to soil-pipe or
sewer. 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. The cost is estimated at $15,000,000, and
daily capacity 52 million gallons.
_Glasgow._--The present water system was commenced in 1856, and
completed in 1859, after the designs of Mr. J. F. Bateman, civil
engineer. The supply is taken from Loch Katrine, including Lochs
Drunkie and Vennachar, with a drainage area of 47,800 acres, and a
storage capacity of 1,455 million cubic feet. The total length of
aqueduct is 25¾ miles, of which 13 are tunneled, 3¾ of iron pipe
across valleys, and remaining 9 miles of open cuttings and bridges.
There are 80 distinct tunnels. The capacity of aqueduct is 50 million
gallons per twenty-four hours. The amount required for compensation
purposes is fixed at 40½ million gallons daily, to be discharged
into the River Teith. The cost of the works was 6 million dollars.
The water is exceptionally soft, being less than one degree.
_Manchester._--The new supply was commenced in 1848, designed by Mr.
J. F. Bateman, civil engineer. The source is in the counties of Derby
and Chester, 777 feet above city datum. There are thirteen storage
and distributing reservoirs, with a water surface of 975½ acres, and
capacity of 6,458 million gallons. The greatest depth of reservoirs
is 84 feet. The conduit is 18 miles in length. The drainage area is
19,300 acres. Available daily supply is 33 million gallons, of which
13 millions are required for mill-owners. The average rain-fall is
50 inches, and mean available resource of 33 inches. The cost of the
works was 4 million dollars. The population in 1874 was 750,000;
daily average consumption 16 million gallons, and 550 miles of pipe.
_Edinburgh_ derives its supply from springs and brooks flowing from
the northern slope of the Pentland Mountains. The water is collected
in storage reservoirs, with a capacity of 280 million cubic feet,
three of which are compensating reservoirs for mill-owners. The
conduit is 8 miles in length, and varies from 20 to 15 inches in
diameter. The water is distributed directly into mains with an
equalizing cistern on the Castle Hill, 225 feet below the source of
supply, and 332 feet above tide. The capacity of pipe is 253 cubic
feet per minute. There were three filter-beds (in 1868) a short
distance below the reservoir embankment. The sand surface of each
is 90 by 90 feet. The superficial area of the three filters, 24,300
square feet; maximum rate of filtration, 85½ U. S. gallons per square
foot per diem. The spring water is not filtered. The additional works
were completed in 1868, which increased the supply to 992 cubic feet
per minute, or 10,685,770 U. S. gallons per day.
_Dublin_ secures its water supply from the Vartry River, 24½ miles
distant from city, and 692 feet above low water at Dublin. The area
of water-shed is 14,084 acres; the storage capacity, 2,400 million
gallons. The water is conveyed through a 33-inch cast-iron pipe
(with an average fall of 20 feet to the mile) to the Stillogram
distributing reservoir. There are three receiving tanks on the
line, with self-acting valves to shut off the water in case of pipe
bursting. The distributing reservoirs contain 86 million gallons--are
230 feet above the average head of the city, and 4½ miles distant.
Two 27-inch pipes distribute the water to the city from this point.
There were seven filter-beds in 1875, each 215 feet and 115 feet at
the top and 187 feet by 89 feet at the bottom, and 10 feet deep. The
filtering material is 6½ feet deep, composed of 2½ feet 4-inch stone,
2 feet gravel, and 2½ feet washed sand. The head on filter-bed was
increased from 2 to 3 feet to secure larger supply. The total cost
of this new supply was 3 million dollars. The water-rate taxation is
26½d. per pound. The population in 1875 was 330,000; daily average
consumption, 14 million gallons. All plumber fittings must be
inspected and stamped, for which a fee of two cents is charged. This
consumption, by careful inspection, was reduced from 19 millions. The
largest annual rain-fall from 1861 to 1874 was 69.34 inches; minimum,
40.08 inches. Fifteen inches is allowed for evaporation, leaving 25
inches for available supply for the dryest year during this period.
_Berlin._--The water department is owned by an English company,
called the Berlin Water Company, who have had the exclusive privilege
of supplying filtered water as required by the contracts since 1856.
After 1881 the Government has the option of taking stock, and should
the dividends exceed 10 per cent., one-half of the surplus is to go
to the sewerage fund for the proposed sewers.
The water is derived mainly from the River Spree, through a canal
reaching to the middle of the river. The pumping station is one
mile outside of the city, in which are located eight double pumping
engines, each pair having two beams, two pumps, and one fly-wheel.
The first four engines erected have pump-barrels of unequal diameter
and stroke, being respectively, 38 and 21½ inches diameter and 32
and 36 inches stroke. The large barrel was originally used for the
delivery of the river water to the filter-beds under a pressure not
exceeding 20 feet; the small barrel delivered the filtered water
into the city under a varying pressure of 90 to 120 feet. As now
operated, the four oldest engines pump the river water into the
settling or storage basin before filtration; while the other four
deliver the filtered water directly into the city mains, but the
pressure is regulated by a reservoir and stand-pipe along-side of
it. 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. The average rate
of filtration is 90 gallons per square foot, and maximum rate 120
gallons per square foot per twenty-four hours.
The filtering materials consist of 24 inches sharp sand, 3 inches of
coarse sand, three courses, each 6 inches in depth, of gravel, of the
size of a pea, hazelnut, and walnut, and 9 inches of granite pieces.
The head of water on filter is 39 inches.
Frequently the river water is pumped directly into the filter-beds
without subsidence. The stream is very sluggish in its velocity,
being held back by locks for the purpose of navigation, the water
does not carry sufficient sediment to render subsidence a necessity.
There are, besides, certain lakes not far above the works through
which the river flows, that are effective settling basins. They,
however, communicate to the water a dark vegetable tinge.
The statistics for 1875 were: Population, 969,000; daily average
consumption, 12¼ million gallons; number of meters, 6,916. Water-rent
receipts, for 1875, were $600,000 or 13½ cents per thousand gallons,
and expenses were $376,000, or 8 cents per thousand gallons.
The water rents are assessed upon the valuation of the property, with
extra rates for additional water privileges.
New works were erected in 1875-’77, with a daily maximum capacity
of 12 million gallons. The source is the “_Tegeler See_.” The water
is collected, by infiltration, in twenty-three cisterns, each having
a separate connection to a suction-pipe, 36 inches diameter, 4,000
feet long, which leads to the pump wells, stationed midway on the
suction line. The cisterns are circular in form, with two concentric
walls, the first of stone, the second of brick, with an intervening
space filled with gravel through which the water percolates. The
interstices of the stone are small, to prevent the washing in of
sand, in which the wells are made. The water is pumped, by six
compound engines, into a reservoir of two compartments, whence it
flows into a second pumping station at Charlottenburgh, where four
compound engines raise the water a second time, with a lift of 125
feet, into two reservoirs of six million capacity. The water is then
distributed into the city by two lines, one for the north side, the
other for the south side of the city. The first pumping station is
four miles from the second works, and the latter six miles from the
city.
_Vienna_ had a population, in 1875, of 1,007,365. Previous to the
application of the new supply, in 1873, the city was supplied by
ten thousand wells; ten gravitation works, for suburbs, public and
private buildings, palaces, etc.; four pumping works--one for large
abattoir, one for the parks, a special supply for the main street,
called Ring Strasse, which cost $75,000, besides several small
private works, and sixty-six public wells for street sprinkling, etc.
The first pumping works was erected in 1843, by Emperor Ferdinand
I., and given by him to the city. The total cost, to 1871, of this
service, was nearly $1,200,000, consisting of three pumping engines,
of Watts’ & Wolf’s designs, with a gross horse-power of 220; three
reservoirs, and a suction and filter canal 27,000 feet long. The
water is taken from a canal of the Danube, and raised forty-seven
feet high. The daily delivery was 2,600,000 gallons. In 1864, fifteen
projects for supplying the city with water were submitted, and the
plan of securing the spring water from the foot of the Alps was
adopted. Work was commenced in 1870, and completed in 1873. The cost
was nearly $11,000,000. The mean quantity secured daily from the
springs was originally 37 millions, the maximum 45 millions, and
minimum 5½ millions. The water is collected in three reservoirs,
located on mountain ridges, with a capacity of one million gallons.
The conduit is fifty miles long, and has sixteen tunnels, 5.2 miles
long, drifted through rock and cemented, and nine and one-half
miles of masonry bridges. The water is delivered into a reservoir,
arched and covered with ground; from this it is led into three other
covered reservoirs, with a combined capacity of seven millions. The
quantity realized from the springs was not as large as expected,
and additional springs were added to the source at an expense of
$250,000. It is now the intention to increase the main pumping works
for manufacturing purposes, so as to reduce the supply of spring
water for domestic use.
_Hamburg_ had a population, in 1875, of 337,602. The water-works were
erected in 1849. The water is taken from the River Elbe, through an
arched canal, to four pump wells (for subsidence of the water) with
a combined capacity of 53 million gallons. The water is slightly
turbid, except in floods. The pumping station is two miles above the
city, and contains four Cornwall and one Wolf engine, with a total
horse-power of 850. The water is forced through a stand-pipe 240 feet
high, under a variable pressure, according to the demand, into the
pipes. There are three reservoirs for equalizing the pressure, also
storage of water. Two of them are stone structures; the other is a
covered iron tank on a stone foundation 39⅓ feet high. The maximum
consumption was 19 millions daily; and daily average, for 1875, was
15¼ millions, or 45 gallons per inhabitant. The cost of pumping one
million gallons is $20, or $8.33 for one million gallons raised 100
feet high.
_Frankfort-on-the-Main_ was supplied by well water. In 1872, a supply
was brought into the city from the Spessart Mountains, where the
water from 139 springs were gathered together, and conveyed through
an aqueduct 41 miles long, two miles of which is made of cement 9½
to 18 inches in diameter, 38½ miles of 14½-inch cast-iron pipe,
and ½ mile of canal. The water flows through a syphon tower. There
are two reservoirs--one of 3½ millions, and the other of .8 of a
million capacity. The population, in 1875, was 103,136. Daily average
consumption, 1¾ million gallons; miles of pipe, 64½.
_Leipsic._--The water-works was built, by the city, in 1866, at a
cost of $900,000. The water is taken from the Pleisse River, through
an arched aqueduct, 656 feet long, to subsiding reservoirs or wells,
two miles in diameter, and thirteen feet below the lowest stage in
the river. The water is pumped into a reservoir, 140 feet lift, by
two Wolf engines, with a power of 120 horse-power. The maximum daily
consumption of water, in 1876, was 2.6 millions, and the minimum was
1.8 million gallons.
_Stuttgart_ had a population, in 1875, of 107,575. It has two kinds
of supply--one for drinking, that of spring water, and the other
for manufacturing and general use. For the latter demands, the
supply is taken partly from the Neckar River, and pumped through
three artificial filter beds; and partly from lakes, whose water is
conducted, through cast-iron pipes 15,000 feet in length, to five
filter-beds, and thence into two reservoirs, 145 feet below the lake.
The reservoir, for the filtered water from the river, is three miles
from the pumping station, and 180 feet elevation. Seven million
gallons are used daily.
The spring water is conducted through 23.6 miles of pipe, into a
reservoir of 132,010 gallons capacity. The maximum daily consumption
of spring water, in 1875, was 580,800 gallons, and minimum
consumption 369,600 gallons.
_Dresden._--The water-works were erected, in 1875, at a cost of
$2,000,000. The available maximum delivery was 11.88 million
gallons per day. The water is taken from the Elbe River, through
two cast-iron pipes, 9.8 feet below low water, and conveyed to two
wells, 23 feet in diameter, dug along-side of the river. The water is
pumped, by six double engines, with 720 horse-power, through 3,608
feet of pipe, into a reservoir 197 feet above the pumping station.
The maximum daily consumption of water, in 1875, was 3.7 million
gallons, and minimum .7 of a million; population, 197,000. In 1876
there were 2,047 meters in use.
_Marseilles_ obtains its water supply from the Durance River, at a
point sixty-two miles from the city. The water is conveyed through
an open canal (excepting the numerous tunnels) with a fall of six
inches per mile. Thirty-four millions, of the 159¾ millions total
daily ordinary flow of the canal, is considered sufficient for the
city, the balance being available for irrigation and water-power,
while the waste flows into the sea. About one-seventh of the water,
as estimated, is lost by evaporation and filtration. There were five
settling basins, with a water surface of 220 acres, constructed along
the line of the canal, designed to increase the deposition of the
heavier particles of sediment by diminishing the velocity of the
water. Only one of these basins was serviceable in 1868. The largest
one was used for a short period only, because of a defect in the
construction of the dam; the others were abandoned because of the
neglect in or difficulty of withdrawing the sediment. A costly filter
gallery was built at Longchamp, consisting of two apartments, with
a series of arches in the center, forming the bed for the filtering
material and the cover for the collecting reservoir for the filtered
water. The plan was abandoned in 1866, because of the unusual amount
of sediment carried down by the Durance River, which is estimated at
one thousandth part of its volume. In 1868, there were from three to
four inches of compact mud on the sand beds, and the gallery used for
a reservoir only. Subsiding basins have since been constructed. The
rate of filtration, when the gallery was in operation, was 90 cubic
feet to the square foot, equal to 8,312,940 U. S. gallons per day for
both filter-beds, or 36 gallons per inhabitant for a population of
230,000.
_Paris._--Previous to the introduction of the Vanne supply, in 1865,
the city was supplied from the following sources:
CUBIC FEET.
1. Aqueduct of Arcueil, 10 miles long, built in 1620-24. 56,480
2. Canal de l’Ourcq, 60 miles long, from the River } 3,671,200
Ourcq, built in 1801-22. }
3. Pumping works at Challiot, from the Seine River 1,421,000
4. Pumping works at Quai d’Austerlitz, opp. Challiot. 28,240
5. Artesian well of Grenelle 31,770
6. Springs on the north side of Paris, and of the } 17,650
Pres. St. Gervais. }
---------
Total. 5,217,340
or 39,025,713 gallons per day for 1,600,000 persons, or 25 gallons
per head.
The Passey artesian well increased the supply 5½ millions. The Vanne
supply has, as its source, the rivers Dhuys and Vanne. The conduit is
83 miles long; its capacity 20 millions daily.
There are projected works (1876) to secure the waters of the Mame
that will increase the daily supply 25 millions.
The waters are generally very impure, chiefly obtained from navigable
streams. None of the water is filtered. There are two covered
reservoirs--Ménilmontant and Montrouge--of vaulted arches, after
the Roman style. The pumping works are located in the city. The
daily average consumption, in 1868, was 55,861,472 gallons, or 33
gallons per head. Water is distributed throughout Paris, but not
more than one-fifth of the houses have water connection. The others
are supplied in carts and buckets, carried by men to the door. About
7,000 men, principally natives of Auvergne, are employed thusly. It
is a custom to let the water run for three hours, from the public
fountains, in the morning to cleanse the streets.
_Bombay._--The water-works were commenced in 1856. The source is in
the valley of the Goper, where the Vehar impounding reservoir, with
a storage capacity of 12,900 million gallons is located. The maximum
depth of the reservoir is 80 feet, with an area of 1,394 acres. There
are three dams--one 835, one 555, and the other 936 feet long. The
extreme height of first dam is 84 feet, inner slope 3 to 1, and the
outer 2½ to 1. The embankments were made in layers of six inches.
The top width of this dam, which carries a roadway, is 24 feet. The
puddle walls are 10 feet wide at the top, and have a batter of 1 in 8
on each side. The trenches, for the foundations, were excavated into
the solid basalt below the surface rock. The slopes and tops of all
the embankments are covered with stone pitching 12 inches in depth,
with another 12 inches of broken stone underneath. The waste weir is
358 feet long, with a top width of 20 feet.
CHAPTER VI.
The succeeding articles, viz.:
1. The Geology of Hamilton County;
2. Our subterranean water resources and well-boring;
3. The adjacent water-sheds in Ohio;
4. Kirkwood’s survey for a water supply--1865;
5. The Ohio River;
6. Scowden’s survey for a water supply--1872;
7. Moore’s survey for a water supply--1882;
have been prepared expressly for the dissemination of that
information bearing upon the proposed new water supply, that will
be useful, as well as interesting, to the citizens of Cincinnati at
this particular time. These subjects have their respective bearing on
our water supply,--that of the geological structure being especially
important, because we learn from it a more accurate knowledge of
our subterranean resources; of the impossibility of infiltration of
the Ohio River waters, and of the formation and availability of our
water-sheds.
No. 1.
GEOLOGY.
(Arranged from the Ohio State Geological Reports, 1873.)
The rocks of Ohio are:
===============+=============+==========================+===========
SYSTEM. | GROUP. | STRATA. | THICKNESS
| | | IN FEET.
---------------+-------------+--------------------------+-----------
| | { Delta sand. } |
Quaternary. |Drift. | { Forest bed. } | 200
| | { Erie clay. } |
| | |
|Coal. | { Upper coal measure. } | --
| | { Barren “ } |
| | |
|Measures. | Lower coal measure. | 1,200
+-------------+--------------------------+------------
Carboniferous. |Conglomerate.| Conglomerate. | 100
+-------------+--------------------------+------------
|Lower carb. | Chester limestone. | 20
|Limestone. | |
+-------------+--------------------------+------------
|Waverly. | { Cuyahoga shale. } | --
| | { Berea grit. } |
| | |
|Group. | { Bedford shale. } | 500
| | { Cleveland shale. } |
===============+=============+==========================+============
Devonian |Erie. | Erie shale. | 400
| | |
|Huron. | Huron shale. | 300
| | |
|Hamilton. | -- | 20
| | |
|Corniferous. | { Sandusky limestone. } | 100
| | { Columbus “ } |
| | |
|Oriskany. | Oriskany sandstone. | 10
---------------+-------------+--------------------------+-----------
Upper Silurian.|Helderburg. | Water lime. | 100
| | |
|Salina. | Salina shale. | 40
| | |
|Niagara. | { Hillsboro sandstone. 30| }
| | { Niagara limestone. 180| } 275
| | { Niagara shale. 60| }
| | { Dayton “ 5| }
| | |
|Clinton. | -- | 50
| | |
|Medina. | -- | 20
---------------+-------------+--------------------------+-----------
Lower Silurian.|Cincinnati. | { Lebanon beds. } |
| | { Eden shales. } | 1,000
| | { Mt. Pleasant beds. } |
| | |
|Calciferous. | { Calciferous } | 475
| | { Sand rock. } |
| | |
|Potsdam. | Potsdam sandstone. | 300
===============+=============+==========================+===========
The oldest rocks are designated by Eozoic system, consisting of
Laurentian and Huronian groups, and are metamorphic rocks underlying
a broad belt in Canada, from Labrador to the Lake of the Woods, and
thence to the Arctic Sea. It is computed that this group of strata
attains a thickness of 47,000 feet in Canada.
The Potsdam sandstone, the first member of the Silurian system, rests
unconformably on the Eozoic rocks wherever the two are found in
contact. This, as its name implies, is a sandstone, and is the first
product of the invasion of the Eozoic continent by the ancient ocean,
and the action of the shore waves upon the cliffs and surface.
It has been reached in the deep borings made at Columbus, Louisville,
and St. Louis. Neither the Eozoic or Potsdam stones are exposed in
any part of Ohio. Resting on the Potsdam stone, is a formation called
calciferous sand-rock, so named in New York because there it consists
of a mixture of lime and sand. This formation holds the lead of
central and eastern Missouri.
Trenton limestone, with its underlying strata of chazy, Black River,
and bird’s-eye limestones, rests on the calciferous sand-rock, and
forms a calcareous mass of 300 to 600 feet in thickness. It is
exposed in New York, Canada, Lake Superior, and Upper Mississippi,
where one of its members, the Galena limestone, claims special notice
as being the repository of all that rupture.
Upon the Trenton rests the Hudson group, consisting of the Hudson
River and Utica slates, and composed of mixed calcareous and
argillaceous sediments. This group is regarded as an equivalent
to the blue limestones, or Cincinnati group, which are of special
interest to the inhabitants of Ohio, inasmuch as they are the lowest
rocks exposed within our territory.
These older rocks are brought to the surface by an axis of upheaval,
reaching from Nashville to Lake Erie. They have been still further
exposed by the cutting down of the valley of the Ohio, near
Cincinnati, where 800 feet of the series are exposed to view. The
wells on the upper Cumberland, in Kentucky, were sunk in rocks of the
Hudson age. The earthy limestones of the Hudson period indicate a
shallow and retreating sea, an approach to land conditions, and the
completion of one circle of deposition.
The rocks next in order are:
The Oneida conglomerate marks a period of land subsidence, or water
elevation. It is composed of coarse materials torn from the coast
by shore waves. The system is found in central New York.
The Medina sandstone.--A period of mechanical sediments. In New
York it is 300 to 400 feet in thickness. It has been struck in
borings for oil in northern Ohio, but not well marked.
Clinton Group, in Ohio, is represented by a limestone 15 to 20 feet
thick, an outcrop following the line of junction of the Lower and
Upper Silurian.
Niagara Group is above the Clinton and occupies a wide-spread and
more important formation, composed of equal masses of limestone and
shale. This is the rock that underlies Chicago. The Niagara and
Clinton overlie the Cincinnati Group.
Salina is the formation from which the salt is obtained at
Syracuse. In northern Ohio it overlies the Niagara, and contains
the gypsum of Sandusky. This deposition marks the era of a retiring
sea, which left a series of shallow basins that became great
evaporating pans.
Helderburg group is the surface rock of a large area in Ohio, and
forms a summit of the Upper Silurian, and completes a circle of
sedimentary formation corresponding, in a way, with that of the
Lower Silurian.
The Trenton groups are nearly pure carbonate of lime, while those
of the Niagara series--Clinton, Niagara, and Waterlime--are highly
magnesian.
The Devonian age contains many strange forms of ancient life. In the
Mississippi Valley, the Devonian strata are mostly calcareous, and
much thinner than in New York and Pennsylvania, showing plainly that
here, as in eastern Canada, open sea prevailed during this age, and
that the Cincinnati Arch formed a land surface probably throughout
all the Devonian ages. The Devonian system comprise:
Oriskany sandstones.
Corniferous limestone.--An open sea deposit. The average thickness
in Ohio is 100 feet, and forms two belts of outcrop on opposite
sides of the Cincinnati arch. The rock contains 20 per cent. of
magnesia. Fragments of land plants and limbs of trees are found in
this group.
Hamilton group.--A soft, blue limestone in Ohio.
Huron shale--exhibits a prevailing black color, and contains 10 per
cent. of combustible matter. The line of its outcrop is marked by
oil and gas springs. It is exposed in Kentucky and Tennessee, on
both sides of Cincinnati anticlinal. It contains a large amount of
carbon, derived from sea-weeds.
Erie shales is the name given to the Huron shale in northern Ohio
and Lake Erie.
The carboniferous system is the highest group of rocks found in Ohio,
and holds nearly all the beds of coal. As this period is not relative
to Hamilton County, we shall only briefly refer to it.
At the period of the formation of the lowest bed of coal, the
level of the carboniferous continent would seem to have been the
highest; for when the stratum of bituminous matter had accumulated
to the depth of a few feet, it was submerged by water, that brought
shales and sandstone, and spread them in layers of many feet in
thickness above it, before the requisite conditions were reached
for the formation of another stratum. The intervals of repose, when
the surface of the land was nearly at a level with the sea, were
marked by the carbonaceous matter, and the thickness of each stratum
measures the length of time during which this state of quiescence
continued.
The changes of level were apparently all in one direction, that of
submergence. During the epoch of the coal measure, the surface of
the land and at the sea level, while the first stratum of coal was
forming, was depressed until there had been deposited upon it a
series of strata, which measured in Ohio, before being eroded, fully
2,000 feet in thickness, and included at least twelve workable seams
of coal, with a great number of thinner ones.
[Illustration: Water Works Weather Chart for 1880
From Signal Service Records]
At the time of the formation of the highest coal-beds, the Alleghany
Mountain system was elevated, and an area including most of the
States of our Union was raised above the ocean, never again,
to the present time, submerged. The anthracite coal basins of
Pennsylvania were once a part of the Alleghany coal-field, but were
isolated by the upheaval and erosion of the mountain ridges; and by
this disturbance, all the rocks were more or less metamorphosed, and
most of the volatile ingredients of the coal driven off, leaving it
in the condition of anthracite.
THE DEPOSITS OF DRIFT.
The period immediately following the Tertiary age [but separated from
it by we know not how many years] presents a complete change in the
physical condition, that during this time the pervading warmth of the
Tertiary was changed to an Arctic cold. While, in the former age,
the climate of our Southern States was carried to Greenland; in the
latter, or drift period, the present Greenland was brought as far
south as the Ohio. This was when we had our icebergs or glacial age.
The gravel, the bowlders, and an unstratified clay thickly studded
with small fragments of rock, are the glacial surface-covering.
Mingled with these are found many pebbles and bowlders of crystalline
rock, such as are found north of the great lakes.
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. At a later period, by continental elevation or the removal
of barriers to drainage, the water level was gradually depressed
until the inland sea was reduced to the comparative insignificance of
our great lakes.
The descent of the water by motion of the waves, cut the well-marked
terraces and edges.
CINCINNATI ANTICLINAL.
The term, Cincinnati Group, is now applied to the blue limestone
series, and is an equivalent, in the geological nomenclature, to the
Hudson Group of New York.
Its thickness is estimated at 1,000 feet. The line of upheaval passes
from the south line of Tennessee, with a direction a little east of
north, through Cincinnati to Lake Erie. Throughout its whole length
the strata are raised in a distinct arch, from which they dip away,
on the one side under the Alleghany coal-field, on the other beneath
the coal basin of Indiana and Illinois.
The bearing of this axis of elevation is nearly parallel with that
of the folds of the Alleghanies; that the date of its upheaval was
subsequent to the carboniferous, and anterior to the Triassic period.
The line, north of Cincinnati, extends from the Ohio River in a
direction a little east of north to the lake shore, between Sandusky
and Toledo. In consequence of the erosion, which all the region
bordering the Cincinnati Arch has suffered, the line of the axis
presents no conspicuous topographical features. About Cincinnati the
summit of the arch has been much more deeply and extensively removed
than farther north, yet this is still higher than its northern
prolongation.
There is every reason to believe, therefore, that this was originally
the highest part of that portion of the arch within Ohio, and, in
common with the Blue Grass district of Kentucky, the blue limestone
area about Cincinnati is the most elevated portion of the ridge; that
which has been the longest above the sea level and suffered most from
surface erosion. We find here a line or tract from which the strata
dipped on both sides in opposite directions.
The strata, that are found in the tops of the Cincinnati hills, can
be followed to the eastern side of Brown County, where they seem to
disappear beneath the river with a marked easterly dip; while below
Cincinnati, near Madison, Indiana, the same beds are carried beneath
the river by a strong westerly dip. The Cincinnati anticlinal, unlike
the folds of the Appalachian system, generally has its longer slope
to the westward, and its steeper descent towards the east, estimated
at 35 feet per mile. In the western half of the State, and especially
along the summit of the Cincinnati Arch, the dip of the strata is
strongly northward, amounting to about 1,000 feet between the Ohio
and the lake. The surface of the Cincinnati Group is in Highland
County, about 500 feet above Lake Erie, while on the lake shore it is
nearly 400 feet below the lake. These figures do not represent the
entire dip, inasmuch as the crown of the arch is extensively eroded
where it crosses the Ohio in Clermont County. The Cincinnati section
was originally crowned, there is little reason to doubt, with the
Lebanon beds [the highest rocks of the Cincinnati group] in whole or
in part, which suffered by erosion, forming our valleys of to-day.
The surface of the blue limestone, near Lebanon, is 441 feet above
Lake Erie, while the same rocks were found in the Columbus well to be
721 feet below Lake Erie, a dip of 1,167 feet in a distance of about
70 miles by an air line, or 16.6 feet per mile.
Toward the northern extremity of the arch the dip is north-west and
more rapid, the strata descending under the Michigan coal-field.
Near the lake-shore the minimum dip is 20 feet to the mile, while on
the Ohio it is 40 feet. The easterly dip is a succession of steps or
waves beneath the trough of the Alleghany coal-field, the axis of
which passes near or beyond our eastern border. This dip is so great
that the lowest stratum exposed on the crown of the Cincinnati arch
is on the eastern side of the State, buried about 2,000 feet beneath
the surface. East of the Ohio all the rocks rise again, and not
only the lowest exposed in our State, but even those which underlie
them, crop out on the flanks and summits of the Alleghany Mountains.
Along the Kentucky River from Frankfort to Nicholasville, and at
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the basal portion of the blue limestone
series is exposed to view; and if it was originally as thick at these
points as elsewhere, not less than 800 to 1,000 feet of the upper
part have been removed.
HAMILTON COUNTY.
Strictly speaking there are no hills in Hamilton County, the surface
being all referable to the tablelands and to the valleys worn in
them. The elevated lands, called hills, are merely isolated remnants
of the old plateau, which have, thus far, escaped the long continued
inundation. This isolation is effected by the Little Miami, the Ohio,
the Millcreek Valleys, and the abandoned channel of the Great Miami.
The bedded rocks of the Cincinnati section are as follows:
Lebanon beds, 293 feet { Hill quarry beds, 125 feet
Cincinnati beds proper, 425 feet--{ Eden shales, 250 feet
Mt. Pleasant beds, 50 feet { River quarry, 50 feet
---
Total, 768 feet
The Mt. Pleasant beds are so named because, at the Ohio River bed at
this point, they are the lowest of the exposed beds, and underlie the
lowest beds at Cincinnati by 50 feet. 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.
These shales have scarcely tenacity enough to hold their place in
steep descents, still less, when they have been removed from their
original beds, can they be made to cohere, and they form treacherous
foundations for buildings erected, or for roadways constructed upon
them.
The strata of river quarry-beds are comparatively but little exposed.
A moderate amount of building-stone of superior quality is taken from
the Covington quarries. But little can be burned into lime, but the
concretions constitute a hydraulic lime of great energy.
The Lebanon beds, in contrast to the Mt. Pleasant beds, are the
highest of the Cincinnati group, and the location determine their
name.
The drift formations are divided into--
1. Drift deposits of the highlands and slopes.
2. Drift deposits of the lowlands and valley drift-beds.
The upland drift has no uniformity in the order of formations aside
from the monotonous deposits of yellow clay, which, when filled
with water, becomes quicksand. But little clean gravel occurs in
the upland, and bowlders also are unfrequent. The drift clays
come largely from the waste of blue limestone effected by glacial
attrition, while the natural soil has the same origin, except the
work of disintegration has been done by the slow action of the
atmosphere.
The lowland drift consists of the following terraces, in a descending
order:
FEET.
Soil 2 to 5
Gravel and sand with seams of loam, 40 to 60
Brick clay with sand and loam, 20 to 30
Buried soil with trees, leaves, etc., 5 to 10
Gravel and clay, 5 to 10
-- ---
Total, 72 115
The gravel of the Ohio differs from the Miami in being largely
composed of sandstone pebbles instead of limestone.
A formation of local occurrences, known as the blue or Springfield
clay, is found in a few places, but in limited, vertical and
horizontal, extent. The greatest thickness, of more than 30 feet, is
found on north Pearl Street, above Pike.
The broad valley, now occupied in part by Millcreek, extending from
the present valley of the Great Miami at Hamilton to the Clifton
hills, just north of Cincinnati, separates into two branches, one
passing to the north and east of the city, and entering the valley
of the Little Miami between Red Bank station and Plainville, while
the other branch is the present valley of the Millcreek. There are no
rocky barriers (nothing, in fact, but the same drift terraces that
make the walls of its present course) to shut out the Great Miami
from entering the Ohio valley at the same points where the Little
Miami and Millcreek enter. There is every reason to believe that this
was once its course.
Another of the earlier courses of the Great Miami, is now occupied by
the Dry Fork of the White Water; still a third of the old channels
is found near Cleves, Miami Township, where the Miami approaches
within one-half mile of the Ohio, but is blocked from entering it by
a ridge 150 to 175 feet, composed of glacial drift, and instead makes
a circuitous route of 10 miles for an outlet.
The well of Timothy Kirby, in Cumminsville, developed the following
borings:
FEET.
Soil and brick clay, 12
Sand, 4
Blue clay with gravel, 30
Gravel, 19
Coarse sand, 3
Sand, with fragments of bituminous coal, 11
Blue clay with gravel. (Low water of Ohio River.) 9
Blue clay--fine sand, sprinkled with coal, 16
Sand, water-worn gravel, blue clay, with occasional
fragments of bituminous clay. Shales of blue
limestone group, 43
---
Total, 151
A remarkable feature of the Millcreek is here presented, of the
present bed being at a higher level by 120 feet, than that of the
ancient channel,--an erosion that could not have been effected under
existing circumstances, but more probable, to the glacial period.
The coal-field wastes are also unaccountable.
No. 2.
OUR SUBTERRANEAN WATER RESOURCES.
Underlying our drift formation is that impervious strata of blue
limestone, 1,000 feet in thickness, through which no water can
circulate. The lowest limit of this mass of stone is at low water of
the Ohio River, at Cincinnati, from which point it anticlines in all
directions. There are crevices or pockets, however, in which water
has been accidentally found. The following are examples:
===================+==============+=====================+======+
| | | |
NAME OF OWNER. | LOCATION. | FORMATION. | DEPTH|
| | | IN |
| | | FEET.|
-------------------+--------------+---------------------+------+
John Kaufman. |Vine Street. |Blue clay. | 25 |
| |Sand and quicksand. | 73 |
| |Blue clay. | 55 |
| |Quicksand and gravel.| 35 |
| |Limestone. | 25 |
| | | |
| |Soil and quicksand. | 75 |
Holder’s Tannery. |Colerain Pike.|Clay. | 90 |
| |Limestone. | 50 |
| | | |
| |Alluvial and gravel. | 80 |
Freiburg & Workum. |Main Street. |Limestone. | 170 |
===================+==============+=====================+======+
===================+======+========+==========+===========
| | TOTAL | DIAMETER |
NAME OF OWNER. | DEPTH| DEPTH | OF |WHERE WATER
| IN |OF WELL | BORING | WAS FOUND.
| FEET.|IN FEET.|IN INCHES.|
-------------------+------+--------+----------+-----------
John Kaufman. | 25 | | |
| 73 | | |
| 55 | | |
| 35 | | |
| 25 | 215 | 3½ |In crevice.
| | | |
| 75 | | |
Holder’s Tannery. | 90 | | |
| 50 | 215 | 3½ |
| | | |
| 80 | | |
Freiburg & Workum. | 170 | 250 | -- |In crevice.
===================+======+========+==========+===========
The waters of the above wells are necessarily hard, although that
at Holder’s tannery is used for all purposes. The water at John
Kaufman’s is very turbid. The Freiburg & Workum well was originally
a dug one, forty feet deep, but the quantity was insufficient. When
they struck the present source, they destroyed the adjoining surface
wells of Hoffheimer Bros.
A number of failures to secure water in this limestone formation is
on record, but we can notice only a few.
At Rasche Bros., tannery, on Plum Street, opposite Bank Street, they
drove a 6 inch well through, respectively, 16 feet of clay, 4 feet
quicksand, 15 feet blue clay, 70 feet yellow clay, and solid quarry
rock. A pump was then inserted but was inoperative on account of the
large amount of sand. They continued the boring to 185 feet, striking
clay and soapstone, but found no water, and abandoned the undertaking.
Wm. Kirkup & Son, Pearl and Ludlow, bored 60 feet into rock, for
water, without success. At Maddox, Hobart & Co.’s rectifying
establishment, they have pierced the rock 150 feet, but found no
water up to this date. At Weber’s brewery, on McMicken Avenue, an
attempt was made to get water in the rock, and abandoned, after
boring to a depth of 458 feet.
The Cincinnati group is about 1,000 feet in thickness of blue
limestone, forming, almost exclusively, the rocks of Hamilton County,
although an outcrop of the oil stratum has been struck in the wells
of the Cincinnati Coffin Company and White Mills Distillery. At the
former establishment, flowing gas was found at a depth of 82 feet.
Another well was started, and at the same depth gas was discovered.
The boring of the latter was then continued into the rock to the
depth of 168 feet, when water was found. The water was analyzed by
Prof. Wayne with the following result:
GRAINS IN EACH GALLON.
Chloride of Sodium 33.21
Chloride of Calcium 4.20
Chloride of Magnesia 1.17
Sulphate of Lime 10.64
Carbonate of Lime 26.64
Carbonate of Magnesia 3.15
Oxide of Iron 12
The gas burnt out in a few days.
White Mills Distillery has four wells, from 4 to 6 inches in
diameter, and 220 to 235 feet in depth, bored through, respectively,
50 feet of clay, 40 feet clay and quicksand, and balance _soapstone_
or shale and limestone, where water was found in a crevice, highly
charged with gas and very brackish.
The following wells secure their water from drift terraces:
=================+=============+===================+========+
| | | |
OWNER. | LOCATION. | FORMATION. | DEPTH |
| | |IN FEET.|
-----------------+-------------+-------------------+--------+
| |Fill. | 30 |
Hulsman |W. S. John, |Blue clay. } | |
| near Lib’ty.|Quicksand. } | 131 |
| |Gravel. } | |
| | +--------+
Windisch, |Brewery on |Sand. } | |
Muhlhauser & Co.| the Canal |Quicksand. } | |
| |Gravel. } | |
| |Sand. } | |
| | +--------+
John Hauck |Brewery on |Quicksand, yellow.}| |
| Dayton St. | “ blue. }| |
| | +--------+
| |Gravel. | 46 |
| |Blue Clay. } | |
Emery Hotel. |Vine St. bet.|Black mud. } | |
| 4th and 5th.|Quicksand. } | 40 |
| |Gravel. | 60 |
| | +--------+
W. W. Johnson. |Sycamore & |Alluvial. | 12 |
| Yeatman. |Gravel. | 68 |
| | +--------+
City Infirmary. |Hartwell. |Black loam. | 12 |
| |Blue clay. | 13½ |
| |Blue clay mixed } | |
| | with gravel. } | 6½ |
| |Bowlder gravel. | 15 |
| |Quicksand. | 15 |
| |Gravel. | 29 |
=================+=============+===================+========+
=================+========+========+========+==============
| | TOTAL | SIZE OF|
OWNER. | DEPTH | DEPTH | BORE IN| REMARKS.
|IN FEET.|IN FEET.| INCHES.|
-----------------+--------+--------+--------+--------------
| 30 | | |
Hulsman | | | |
| 131 | 161 | 4 |Bored to the
| | | | rock.
+--------+ | |
Windisch, | | | 4½ |Driven to the
Muhlhauser & Co.| | | | rock.
| | | |
| | 180 | 4½ |
+--------+ | |
John Hauck | | | |
| | 170 | |
+--------+ | |
| 46 | | |
| | | |
Emery Hotel. | | | |
| 40 | | |
| 60 | 146 | 3 |From the
|--------+ | | cellar.
W. W. Johnson. | 12 | | |
| 68 | 80 | 3½ |To the rock.
|--------+ | |
City Infirmary. | 12 | | |
| 13½ | | |
| | | |
| 6½ | | |
| 15 | | |
| 15 | | |Also another
| 29 | 92 | 3½ | well 73 feet.
=================+========+========+========+==============
Upon the limestone lays the drift, consisting of water-worn pebbles,
gravel, sand, and clay. The porous nature of this formation, with the
assistance of a level surface plain, absorbs a very large percentage
of the rain-fall, and produces a fertile subterranean water supply,
whose depth varies from 30 to 200 feet.
There are in this vicinity about 250 wells that secure the water
from this source. The water is strongly impregnated with iron and
magnesia--a ferruginous decomposition from the fossil drift-wood
found in this formation. The availability of these wells is in
proportion to the capacity of the respective pumps attached to them,
but their combined requirements have had no apparent effect, at
present, on the source. Yet the fact can not be disputed, that this
drift supply of water is a very limited one.
The practical experience in London and Liverpool substantiate the
above fact, for there the underground sources have been materially
lessened by the demands made upon them, notwithstanding they are the
richest resources of this nature, and vastly superior to ours.
Prof. Orton, of the Ohio Agricultural College, in a valuable paper
on the “Relations of Geology to the Water Supply of the Country,”
refers to the purity of the drift water in the south-western part
of the State. He says: “The broad and fertile terraces of the river
valleys constitute, especially in the south-western corner of the
State (Ohio), the most attractive and most valuable portion of its
area. They consist of sand and gravel in large measures, and to this
structure they owe their chief attraction. _But this same structure
renders them unfit to be used for the water supply of the towns
built upon them_; for, although an abundance of clear and sparkling
water can easily be reached, it must not only be looked upon with
suspicion, but must be positively condemned as unsafe.
“These gravel-beds are as porous as a sieve, and there is
indisputable proof of the free communication of the water sheet
and all the receptacles of impurity that the surface of the ground
contains. The only relief is found in the fact that the water sheet
is also in free communication with the rivers, rising and falling
with them; _but_ even _this_ does not free the wells from the
poisonous effects of the filth soakage from above. Geology turns over
to sanitary science the conclusion, that the drift wells of central
and south-western Ohio are, in all densely populated districts, small
cities, towns, villages, and hamlets--even in those containing no
more than a dozen houses--_utterly unfit for human use_.”
The above facts are applicable to all the drift formation, including
that portion protected from immediate filth soakage of blue clay
formation.
A recent examination of our sewerage system, by the U. S. Census
Bureau, developed the fact that Cincinnati is polluting its
subterraneous soil, to an alarming degree, by the vault system. That
no city has so neglected the sanitary necessity of tapping the sewers
for house drainage than Cincinnati; that this nature of carelessness
was the cause of Memphis’ sad fate, which we have escaped because
our soil is of sand and gravel, and susceptible of natural drainage.
Yet through this same soil passes the water that is used by some 250
well-owners, still the use of this water is increasing.
London was originally supplied by shallow wells in gravel-beds of 10
to 20 feet in depth, and the direction of its growth was controlled
by this water-bearing strata, until the establishment of the New
River Water Company in 1600. The Public Health Act of 1872 gives the
sanitary authorities power to close these wells.
ARTESIAN WELLS.
Beneath the Cincinnati group are the calciferous sand-rock and
Potsdam sandstone, which are porous and water bearing, but they rise
to the surface nowhere in our State. They have been reached, however,
at this point in several of the deep well-borings, and flowing water
of sulpho-saline nature was found, at the following locations:
=========================+====================+==========+=============+
| | | |
NAME OF OWNER. | LOCATION. | DEPTH | SIZE OF BORE|
| | IN FEET. | IN INCHES. |
-------------------------+--------------------+----------+-------------+
Rabe’s Distillery | Cumminsville. | 1,400 | 4½ |
Millcreek “ | West of Millcreek. | 1,440 | 4½ |
Cincinnati Gas Co | West Front Street. | 1,360 | 4½ |
“ “ | “ “ “ | 1,360 | 4½ |
“ “ | Eastern Avenue. | 1,475 | 6 |
Moerlein’s Brewery | North Elm Street. | 2,408 | 4 |
Keck’s Fertilizing Works | Cumminsville. | 1,380 | -- |
=========================+====================+==========+=============+
=========================+==========+==========+========+============
| | | | CAPACITY
NAME OF OWNER. | DEPTH | PRESSURE | TEMPER-| PER HOUR
| IN FEET. | IN LBS. | ATURE. | IN GALLONS.
-------------------------+----------+----------+--------+------------
Rabe’s Distillery | 1,400 | 35 | -- | 6,000
Millcreek “ | 1,440 | 45 | -- | 16,000
Cincinnati Gas Co | 1,360 | 41 | 60 | 8,300
“ “ | 1,360 | 40 | 60 | 8,300
“ “ | 1,475 | 52 | 61 | 30,000
Moerlein’s Brewery | 2,408 | -- | 62 | 24,000
Keck’s Fertilizing Works | 1,380 | -- | 60 |
=========================+==========+==========+========+============
Through the kindness of Gen. A. Hickenlooper, President of the
Cincinnati Gas Company, the following complete account of the borings
at their works on Front Street is given, which will also serve for a
description of the above artesian wells.
The depth and classification of strata are:
Filling 5 feet.
Yellow clay 5 “
Blue clay 20 “
Sand and gravel 90 “
Soapstone 3 “
Blue limestone 40 “
Blue & gray limestone 50 “
Sandstone 5 “
Limestone 380 “
White limestone 240 “
Sandstone 65 “
Limestone, very hard 15 feet.
Red sandstone 62 “
White sandstone 85 “
Coarse sandstone } 15 “
Coarse limestone }
Sandstone 140 “
Very hard, flinty }
limestone }
Red and white } 25 “
marble }
White marble or flint }
-----
Total 1,250 feet.
The synopsis of boring is condensed as follows:
July 24, 1880.--The contractor, John J. Pfeffer, drove a 6-inch
iron tube with a heavy sinker, a few feet at a time, through 123
feet of drift, into limestone. A sand-pump was used to remove the
loose formation. This portion was completed August 2d, 11 A. M.
August 2.--Commenced drilling a 4½-inch hole through the stone
formation at an average rate of 33 feet per 24 hours, and continued
to a depth of 425 feet, when the diameter of the hole was reduced
to 4⅜ inches. The drilling was then continued, at the rate of 29
feet per 24 hours, until the 28th of August, when the socket pulled
out of pole attached to sinker at bottom of well, and at the same
moment the top pole, attached to chain on drilling beam, broke
and fell into the well along-side of the sinker. This accident was
repaired September 7th, and drilling resumed, at rate of 20 feet
per 24 hours, until a depth of 1,025 feet was reached, October 11,
1880, when the drill broke. Resumed work, at rate of 12 feet per
24 hours, until November 5, 1880, when a depth of 1,265 feet was
reached. At the depth of 1,225 feet, the well was tested by sinking
a 4-inch pipe into the well with a bag at lower end to fit tightly
into the 4½-inch bore. When the pipe reached a depth of 15 feet
below the 6-inch tubing, the water flowed over the top of the pipe
at surface, showing a leak around the bottom of the pipe where it
was bedded in the rock.
November 8th.--Tested well, and found a pressure of 30 lbs. per
square inch, and a flow of 90 gallons of water per minute.
February 17, 1881.--When testing well No. 2, the gauge was placed
on this one, which showed only 15 lbs. The bore was then increased
to 4½ inches, and drilling continued to a depth of 1,360 feet, the
last 40 feet being only 3½ inches in diameter. The additional 125
feet was through alternate formations of sand and limestone; the
last 10 feet through a hard flinty formation. Boring into this
last formation increased the pressure to 41 lbs., and the flow to
200,000 gallons per day. The outlay of the two wells is placed at
$8,000.
The analysis of the Moerlein artesian well, by Prof. Wayne, gave the
following results:
GRAINS IN ONE
U. S. GALLON.
Carbonate of Lime 19.34
Carbonate of Magnesia 9.13
Chloride of Sodium 534.77
Chloride of Potassium 3.95
Chloride of Magnesia 17.26
Chloride of Calcium 22.19
Sulphate of Lime 29.20
Sulphate of Potash 2.30
Iodide of Magnesium 30
Bromide of Magnesium 39
Oxide of Iron 43
Phosphate of Soda 1.34
Silica 79
Loss in analysis 76
--------
Total 642.16
Prof. Newberry is of the opinion that soft water is improbable in
these deep rocks.
No. 3.
WATER-SHED.
The courses of our streams show at a glance that a water-shed crosses
the State from north-east to south-west. This water-shed forms a
range of highlands that slope by long and easy descent to the Ohio in
the south, more rapidly to the lake in the north. _This water-shed
in its relief is almost insignificant_, its average altitude being
only 500 feet above the lake, its highest point rising perhaps 1,000
feet above the bottom valley of the Ohio. Our topographical features
may therefore be described of a plain, slightly raised along a line
traversing it from north-east to south-west.
The following altitudes will show the topography of the northern
divide. The levels are all above Lake Erie:
------------------+-----------------------------------------------------
SURVEY OF |
DAYTON AND | MIAMI CANAL.
MICHIGAN R.R. |
------------------+------+--------------------------------------+-------
| FEET.| | FEET.
Cincinnati-- | 67 | Junction, Paulding County, | 147.25
below lake, | | Lock 27. | 182.25
Hamilton, | 29 | Delphos, Lock 23. Allen County, | 211.
Dayton, | 180 | |
Dayton Canal, | 166 | Spencerville, Lock 15. Allen County, | 274.
Troy, | 270 | |
Piqua, | 360 | Lock 13. St. Marys, Auglaize County, | 291.25
Sidney, | 428 | Lock 10. “ “ | 313.
Principal Summit, | 430 | Lock 9. “ “ | 319.
Wapakoneta, | 318 | Lock 4. “ “ | 361.
Lima, | 302 | Lock 3. “ “ | 367.50
Cairo, | 241 | Lock 1. Bremen Summit, Auglaize Co., | 386.30
Weston, | 103 | Near Sidney, | 376.00
| -- | Troy, | 257.00
Perrysburgh, | 64 | D. & M. R.R. crossing Dayton, | 166.00
Toledo, | 12 | Basin at Hamilton, | 37.00
| -- | Upper level of canal at Cincinnati, | 23.00
| -- | Low water in Ohio River, below lake, | 133.
------------------+------+--------------------------------------+-------
The actual crest of the divide forms a singularly tortuous line with
remarkable variations of altitude. The water-sheds, with which we
are particularly interested, are found in the counties of Shelby,
Mercer, and Auglaize, where we have the water-gap of the head-waters
of the St. Marys and Auglaize, as feeders of the Maumee River with
the Wabash and Big Beaver Rivers on one side, and the Great Miami
on this side; with another gap, between the Miami and Mad Rivers,
and the Scioto River, found in Logan and Hardin Counties, in which
the highest points of the State are found viz., 1,000 feet above low
water in the Ohio River. These streams descend very rapidly to the
level plateau (500 feet above the Ohio River) passing over lime and
magnesia rocks, through swampy lands and “cat-head prairies,” the
latter composed largely of vegetable accumulations. The population,
through which the Great Miami and Mad rivers flow, is approximately
360,000.
The available resources of the Big Beaver, Wabash, and St. Mary’s
water-sheds are collected in St. Mary’s Reservoir, a lake of 47,000
acres, for feeding the Miami Canal north; while Lake Laramie in
Shelby County, and Lewistown Reservoir in Logan County gather the
waters of the Miami, and being at the summit level, feed the canal
both north and south. This level is 519 feet above low water in Ohio
River, St. Mary’s 424 feet, Eden Park Reservoir at Cincinnati 235
feet, and Third Street Reservoir 173 feet. The distance in air line
from Cincinnati to St. Mary’s is about 95 miles, to Lewistown over
100 miles.
The waters of all the streams named present those features that
experience considers most objectionable for a gravity supply, namely:
“1st. In the calcareous nature of the soil, producing hardness of
water.
“2d. In the low and level plateau of water-sheds from which a
minimum surface flow can be realized, requiring storage reservoirs
of large surface area, that are objectionable, because; 1. The loss
of water by evaporation: and 2. The liability to stagnation of
water and propagation of vegetation.
“3d. The streams are fed by the drainage from richly manured farms,
and the water polluted by vegetation of the swampy lands, and
the sewage of a large and growing population. This condition is
intensified, when we consider the proportional size of the streams
to the amount of pollution, and the fact that the most perfect
means of filtration would not suffice to make the water wholesome.
“4th. The available resources of these water-sheds are now used
for feeding the Miami Canal, from which a number of mill-owners
secure their power, whose rights must be protected.
“5th. The insufficient elevation of the sources for securing a fair
hydrostatic water pressure, and their extreme distance, causing
loss of head by long conduit, and enormous cost for construction,
for conveying unwholesome water.”
RIPARIAN RIGHTS.
The compensation to millers by the Manchester and Liverpool
Water-Works was fixed by Parliament at one third of the available
rain-fall. Nearly one-half of the present capacity of the Glasgow
supply is used by mill-owners.
On this subject John W. Erwin, resident engineer of the Ohio State
Board of Public Works, says:
“The riparian right of water-users are great, and could not be
purchased for $2,000,000. The water for this purpose can not be
spared. The canal is fed as far as Middletown, by a feeder from Mad
River. At Middletown we feed it from the Miami, which furnishes its
supply of water to Cincinnati, a distance of forty-four miles. The
Middletown Hydraulic Company have owned their rights since 1808,
long before the canal was constructed; and when the canal was built
there was no surrender of such right, merely common consent to the
use of the water, but since that time more than double the amount
of water is used than was contemplated.
“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.
“A large portion of the water of the Miami, and at the present
time we might say half the volume of the water of the river is
carried into Cincinnati by the canal. This is more than was ever
contemplated, and is destined to injure the water-power of the
river itself.”
The abandonment of the canal in the city, will no doubt be
accomplished within a short time, when provisions should be made to
provide a better use for this surplus water than turning it into
Millcreek.
Monthly and annual quantity of water from rain and snow reduced to
water, in inches and hundredths, at Cincinnati, Ohio. Latitude 39° 6′
north, longitude 84° 29′ west.
======+========+=========+======+======+======+======+======+=======+
| | | | | | | | |
YEARS.|JANUARY.|FEBRUARY.|MARCH.|APRIL.| MAY. | JUNE.| JULY.|AUGUST.|
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1856 | 1. | 2.49 | 1.51 | .73 | 1.23 | 2.24 | 3.43 | .61 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1857 | .54 | 1.98 | .76 | 2.73 | 5.53 | 3.09 | 2.50 | 2.92 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1858 | 2.50 | 1.74 | 1.05 | 4.34 | 8.32 | 5.69 | 3.01 | 7.97 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1859 | 2.58 | 5.92 | 4.38 | 7.53 | 2.32 | 3.22 | 1.74 | 3.79 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1860 | 1.43 | 1.56 | .41 | 5.32 | 3.68 | 1.55 | 7.97 | .92 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1861 | 2.68 | 1.81 | 2.08 | 3.88 | 5.91 | 3.80 | 3.62 | 7.10 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1862 | 4.74 | 2.36 | 5.84 | 6.30 | 3.32 | 3.02 | 3.05 | 1.49 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1863 | 5.55 | 3.05 | 4.37 | 2.13 | 2.84 | 3.11 | 3.21 | 2.99 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1864 | 1.85 | .99 | .90 | 2.43 | 2.34 | 3.43 | 1.25 | 3.42 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1865 | 2.45 | 2.43 | 4.40 | 3.89 | 7.72 | 2.59 | 7.77 | 2.26 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1866 | 2.74 | 1.26 | 5.06 | 2.03 | .94 | 4.44 | 6.94 | 2.75 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1867 | 1.41 | 3.56 | 2.71 | 2.74 | 3.80 | 3.73 | 1.60 | 1.57 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1868 | 3.72 | .57 | 4.87 | 2.72 | 6.09 | 5.60 | 1.21 | 4.64 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1869 | 1.60 | 2.51 | 5.06 | 2.87 | 5.93 | 3.60 | 5.36 | 1.20 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1870 | 5.35 | 1.55 | 3.26 | 1.59 | 1.74 | 4.84 | 2.38 | 0.58 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1871 | 2.34 | 3.53 | 3.57 | 1.23 | 4.66 | 2.02 | 4.30 | 5.22 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1872 | 3.118 | 4.18 | 2.438| 4.890| 4.362| 3.442| 7.129| 2.191 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1873 | 2.808 | 3.717 | 1.90 | 2.098| 3.856| 3.291| 3.935| 4.766 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1874 | 3.95 | 5.91 | 3.65 | 4.06 | 1.38 | 2.58 | 3.42 | 1.03 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1875 | 1.59 | 1.83 | 3.69 | 2.12 | 3.92 | 4.83 | 9.63 | 3.17 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1876 | 9.49 | 2.92 | 5.07 | 3.26 | 1.25 | 6.53 | 6.91 | 6.38 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1877 | 2.33 | .67 | 5.47 | 2.32 | 1.26 | 5.24 | 4.25 | 2.26 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1878 | 4.33 | 2.33 | 4.03 | 3.05 | 2.53 | 5.03 | 4.32 | 4.11 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1879 | 2.20 | 2.22 | 5.30 | 2.14 | 4.23 | 5.22 | 2.75 | 1.172 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1880 | 5.14 | 4.50 | 4.15 | 5.82 | 5.70 | 9.86 | 2.46 | 4.01 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
1881 | 3.76 | 4.95 | 3.51 | 3.25 | 2.23 | 7.82 | 3.12 | .76 |
------+--------+---------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
======+==========+========+=========+=========+=========
| | | | | SUM OF
YEARS.|SEPTEMBER.|OCTOBER.|NOVEMBER.|DECEMBER.|THE YEAR.
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1856 | 3.62 | 1.74 | 2.09 | 2.19 | 22.88
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1857 | .75 | 4.92 | 5.36 | 3.82 | 34.90
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1858 | .85 | 4.66 | 2.57 | 6.41 | 49.17
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1859 | 2.10 | 1.28 | 4.46 | 3.75 | 42.57
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1860 | 4.34 | 1.28 | 3.53 | 1.85 | 33.84
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1861 | 2.93 | 3.77 | 3.62 | 1.10 | 41.30
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1862 | .93 | .80 | 3.97 | 3.01 | 38.83
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1863 | 3.10 | 3.85 | 2.05 | 3.80 | 40.05
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1864 | 8.66 | 2.92 | 3.40 | 2.94 | 34.51
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1865 | 5.76 | .86 | .56 | 3.89 | 4.53
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1866 | 1.055 | 1.85 | 3.06 | 1.98 | 43.60
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1867 | 0.47 | 2.05 | 2.20 | 3.07 | 28.91
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1868 | 7.19 | 1.32 | 1.70 | 2.07 | 41.60
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1869 | 3.20 | 2.75 | 3.30 | 2.46 | 39.84
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1870 | .30 | 2.77 | 1.50 | 2.17 | 28.03
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1871 | 1.08 | .98 | 3.40 | 3.31 | 35.64
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1872 | 3.170 | 2.852 | .868 | 5.55 | 35.433
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1873 | 2.340 | 3.212 | 2.521 | 6.843 | 41.193
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1874 | 2.33 | 1.31 | 5.35 | 2.58 | 37.55
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1875 | .65 | 3.05 | 4.35 | 3.75 | 42.58
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1876 | 3.17 | 4.26 | 2.36 | .88 | 52.48
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1877 | 1.66 | 1.85 | 3.49 | 3.35 | 34.65
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1878 | 2.84 | 2.39 | 2.77 | 3.89 | 41.62
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1879 | 4.01 | .65 | 4.05 | 7.11 | 51.60
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1880 | 1.37 | 2.98 | 4.42 | 4.26 | 54.67
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1881 | 2.10 | 6.01 | 4.06 | 5.67 | 47.24
------+----------+--------+---------+---------+---------
1856 to 1871 the observations were taken by Prof. G. W. Harper; 1872
to 1874 by the City Water-Works, and the last years by the Signal
Service.
[Illustration: DAILY STAGE OF THE OHIO RIVER FOR 1880.]
No. 4.
KIRKWOOD’S SURVEY.
In 1865 the common council appointed a special commission to
investigate and report upon the best method of obtaining an abundant
supply of pure and wholesome water. The committee consisted of L. A.
Harris, mayor; Thos. H. Weasner, president of council; D. T. Woodrow,
Henry Pearce, and Henry Kessler, trustees of water-works, Geo. F.
Davis, Wm. P. Wiltsee, and Chas. Brown, who succeeded R. B. Moore,
members of council; and A. W. Gilbert, city engineer. They secured
the services of the most eminent of engineers, John P. Kirkwood, of
New York. His instructions were to ascertain the most economical and
practical mode of supplying pure water, either from the gathering
grounds by gravity, or by pumping from the Ohio River. No scheme was
to be considered that would not provide at least thirty millions
daily, with resources for future necessities. This limitation
rejected Lick Run and Ross Run entering Millcreek; West Fork and East
Branch of Millcreek, Duck Creek and Sycamore Creek entering Little
Miami River. Those that presented _fair_ prospects for the collection
of water as regards quantity were:
-------------------------------------+-----------------------------+
| SITUATION AT |
| CONNECTING POINT. |
+---------------+-------------+
|ELEVATION ABOVE| |
| LOW WATER AT |DISTANCE FROM|
| CINCINNATI, | CINCINNATI,|
| FEET. | MILES. |
-------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+
I. The great Miami Valley-- | | |
Clear Creek | 270 | 49 |
Gregory Creek | 220 | 38 |
Dick’s Creek, below Middletown, | | |
was found to be very | | |
unfavorable for reservoirs | | |
| | |
II. Little Miami Valley-- | | |
Muddy Creek | 222 | 32 |
Turtle Creek | 220 | 33 |
| | |
III. Valley of Millcreek-- | | |
West branch of Millcreek | 196 | 16 |
-------------------------------------+---------------+-------------+
-------------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------
| | |
| DRAINAGE | DEGREE OF |
| AREA, | HARDNESS, |
|SQ. MILES.| IN U. S. | REMARKS.
| | GALLONS. |
-------------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------
I. The great Miami Valley-- | | |
Clear Creek | 39.9 | 15.51 |
Gregory Creek | 16 | 13.31 |after
Dick’s Creek, below Middletown, | | | boiling.
was found to be very | | |
unfavorable for reservoirs | | |
| | |
II. Little Miami Valley-- | | |
Muddy Creek | 10.25 | 9.83 |
Turtle Creek | 27 | 11.35 |
| | |
III. Valley of Millcreek-- | | |
West branch of Millcreek | 28.5 | 9.17 |
-------------------------------------+----------+-----------+----------
The objections to these waters were: 1. The hardness; 2. The
contamination of richly manured farms; 3. The uncertainty of the
availability of the water-sheds. To produce the thirty millions it
required the combined area of Clear and Gregory creeks, besides large
storage reservoirs for dry seasons. The distance of latter creek is
38 miles from the city, and 15 feet below flow-line of Eden Reservoir.
He considered the waters of the Ohio most preferable _providing the
water was taken above the city limits_. The plan embraced a pumping
service with two lifts, to be located in Pendleton, with storage and
settling reservoirs and filter-beds. The elevation of reservoir was
200 feet above low water, and would not supply elevations above 175
feet. The estimates were:
Three settling reservoirs, $381,436.02
Two filter-beds, 514,220.50
Storage reservoir of 39 acres, 635,386.50
Pumping house and foundations for low service works, 194,822.80
Pumping house and foundations for high service works, 77,285.75
Pumping engines--two for low service and two for high
service, 30 millions capacity, 402,500.00
Force-main, with river inlets, 119,979.50
Forty-two-inch supply main to Third Street Reservoir, 457,355.00
Lands and damages, etc., 105,225.00
Auxiliary pumping engine and reservoir for Walnut Hills, 150,000.00
-------------
Total, $3,038,214.07
The majority of the committee in recommending the plan stated; “that
they regarded the question, as to the source of supply, as definitely
settled for all time, that the Ohio River is the only means from
whence this city should derive her supply of water. The site is as
high up the river as can well be obtained without crossing the Little
Miami.” This latter consideration they thought would be demanded
fifty or one hundred years hence. The minority report recommended
the retaining of the present system, and the construction of a new
reservoir in Eden Park,--the minority report was adopted. Had the
Eden Reservoir been completed within a reasonable period it would
have served the purpose intended, at least for a few years, but
before it was ready for use the consumption of water increased from
five, to seventeen millions daily.
No. 5.
OHIO RIVER.
The Ohio River above Cincinnati has a water-shed area, estimated by
U. S. Census Bureau, of 100,000 square miles, one-tenth of which
is of limestone formation. The hardness of the water varies in
proportion to the contribution from this formation. The water, at
the mouth of the Big Sandy, is .8 of a degree hardness; at Markley
Farm, 4½ to 8; at Dayton sand-beach, 7 to 8; at pump-works, 6 to 8;
Eden reservoir, 7 to 9; Eggleston Avenue sewer, 7 to 13; wells in
the banks of the river at Dayton sand-beach, 32 to 39; and those at
Sedamsville 50 to 60 degrees. The well water is upland surface water.
In fact, all borings in the banks of the river secure, in more or
less degree, this nature of water.
In the south-western part of this State, the river flows over
the bedded rocks of the Cincinnati group, its waters alternately
impinging on one side of its banks, and depositing its earthy
matters, through the influence of sluggish currents and eddies, on
the opposite side, and forming what might be termed accidental beds,
as in the case of the Dayton sand-beach. The material deposited is an
argillaceous substance; and, with the friction and influence of the
water, is partly transformed into quicksand. The beds do not form a
part of the river in low water, as depicted by the sketch in the last
report of the Board of Health.
The sediment in the Mississippi water, at St. Louis, is nearly two
per cent. of the bulk of the water; the largest portion (944 in
1,000) depositing itself within 24 hours. The Ohio River water,
at this point, is, at times, almost as bad. The sediment forms a
tenacious and impervious clay, so susceptible of solidification that
conductors of river water are only kept open by a constant flow of
water.
The volume of water passing down the Ohio River is an extremely
variable one. No special gauging, however, has ever been made to
ascertain the quality; but from the surface velocities, measured by
the Chief Engineer of the Southern Railway, we can approximately
arrive at the figures
At 3-foot stage, by Water-Works mark, the velocity was .97 miles per hour.
“ 6 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 1.125 “ “ “
“ 18 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 3.51 “ “ “
“ 21 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 3.20 “ “ “
“ 27 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 4.70 “ “ “
“ 31 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 4.30 “ “ “
“ 41 “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ “ 5.002 “ “ “
The slope of water surface, from water-works to bridge, was .367 of a
foot for low stage; for average stage, .403 of a foot; and .415 of a
foot per mile for high stage. The approximate flow of water in cubic
feet per second at the Southern Railway Bridge is 5,000 feet for
minimum stage, 100,000 feet for mean stage, and 400,000 for maximum
stage. The minimum flow of the Schuylkill is 378 cubic feet per
second; the Delaware, 2,000 cubic feet; the Merrimack, 2,100 cubic
feet; and the Thames River, 700 cubic feet.
Investigations of the influence on our climate, by the removal of the
forests, develop the fact that streams, utilized for water-power,
have become less constant in their flow than formerly. The Ohio River
has of late years exhibited greater fluctuations of levels than ever
known, and has lost its prestige as a reliable channel of navigation.
Prof. Newburg, in Vol. I of the Geological Survey of Ohio, records an
instant where a large rock, at Smith’s Ferry, has recently become so
fully exposed that on its surface inscriptions were found, that are
ascribed to a race which once populated this country anterior to the
nomadic Indians.
There are about 78 villages and towns and 13 cities on the Ohio
River between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, a distance of 460 miles.
The population on this portion of the river, and its contributing
streams, is over 3½ millions. The average population, per square mile
of drainage area, on the Ohio River is 47; above Cincinnati, 35;
on the Great Miami, 109; on the Delaware, 176; on the Hudson, 172;
on the Merrimack, 92½; on the Susquehanna, 62; on the Connecticut,
78; on the Potomac, 54; on the Schuylkill, 45; on the Thames, above
water-works, 300.
Considerable space has been devoted to River Pollution, to which
attention is directed. The following remarks, however, afford
comparative results for the Ohio River.
The comparative merits of river waters, as expressed in analytic
results of pounds of sewage in each million gallons, are, for the
Ohio water at Dayton sand-beach, .82; at Markley Farm, 1.00; at
the pumping works, 1.81; at Eden reservoir, 1.78; at Eggleston
Avenue sewer, 4.41; the Croton water, New York, .98; Glasgow,
Scotland, water, .65; Thames River, 4.91; London supply, 1.33; Fresh
pond, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1.50; Mystic River, Boston, 1.87;
Schuylkill River, Philadelphia, 1.58; Merrimack, above Lowell, .93;
above Lawrence, .90; below Lawrence, 1.03.
The Thames and Lea Rivers have been condemned by the Rivers Pollution
Commission because, as they say, there is no hope of remedying their
disgusting condition, notwithstanding the parliamentary laws for
their protection against pollution.
The Schuylkill River is the principal source of supply for
Philadelphia, but its water is very suspicious. Above Reading, it is
unfit for manufacturing and culinary purposes, owing to the large
amount of sulphuric acid. This acid is, however, neutralized and
considerably reduced before the water reaches Philadelphia. The
Fairmount pool is polluted by cess-pool and slaughter-house drainage.
The following means to restore and maintain the purity of the
Schuylkill water has been suggested by Dr. Cresson:
1. The diversion of all sewage, now flowing into the pool of
Fairmount dam, into another channel.
2. The diversion of all sewage, containing fœcal and animal matter,
flowing into the river below Flat Rock.
3. The filtration of the sewage from all mills, to exclude solid
matter, animal or vegetable.
4. The exclusion of ammonia waste and surface wash from gas-works,
cemeteries, etc.
5. The cultivation of fish and of suitable plant life in and upon
the waters of the river.
6. The erection of suitable cascades over the reservoirs, so as to
secure the benefits of aeration to as great extent as possible.
7. The employment of proper prophylactic and curative agents as
occasion may require.
Boston obtained legislative power to protect Pegan Brook from sewage
pollution. Test cases, to compel manufacturers to provide some
other means of disposing of their drainage, were carried to the
Supreme Court, and decided in favor of the city. Similar cases will
be brought against other offenders. In the meantime the pollution
continues. The same authorities procured a law to protect Mystic
Lake, and provide other channels for sewage. The provisions of the
act were held to be impracticable, and the law is now a dead letter.
The self-purification of river water is not recognized by some
authorities, but equally good authorities value its merits. The
following observations on this subject are particularly applicable to
Cincinnati:
“The most efficacious means to get rid of the sewage is not to put
it into the river at all.
“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.
“The question is, not whether the chemist would find out the
organic matter, so much as it is, whether the germs that
disseminate the disease still have their property further down
the river. This can only be solved by the effects. _You might
go on using the water for years, and it might not be discovered
until some outbreak of disease occurs directly attributable to the
water._”
The practical sanitary experiment would then be solved, but at the
expense of a number of lives.
Dr. Klob, of Vienna, has discovered, in the evacuations of cholera
patients, millions and millions of microscopic fungi similar in form
to a mushroom.
There are, above the Cincinnati pumping works, six sewers discharging
their filth into the Ohio River, besides the fœcal drainage of no
less than five thousand privies, all within a radius of less than
three miles. Now, the quality of such water is readily established,
for we are putting the sewage into the water knowing there are no
means to get rid of it.
OHIO RIVER STATEMENT, SHOWING THE HIGHEST, LOWEST, AND AVERAGE STAGES
FOR EACH YEAR AT CINCINNATI WATER-WORKS.
=====+========================++=========================+===========
| || |AVERAGE FOR
YEAR.| HIGHEST STAGE. || LOWEST STAGE. | THE YEAR.
+-------------+-----+----++--------------+-----+----+-----+----
| DATE. |FEET.| IN.|| DATE. |FEET.| IN.|FEET.| IN.
-----+-------------+-----+----++--------------+-----+----+-----+----
1832 |February 18 | 62 | 11½|| | | | |
1847 |December 17 | 62 | 3½|| | | | |
1858 |June 16 | 43 | 10 ||October 3d | 2 | 5 | 12 | 10
1859 |February 22d | 55 | 5 ||September 19th| 3 | 3 | 17 | 7
1860 |April 16th | 49 | 2 ||October 3d | 5 | 4 | 16 | --
1861 |April 19th | 49 | 5 ||July 13th | 5 | 1 | 19 | 1
1862 |January 24th | 57 | 4 ||October 31st | 2 | 4 | 17 | 5
1863 |March 12th | 42 | 9 ||October 6th | 2 | 6 | 15 | --
1864 |December 23d | 45 | 1 ||August 6th | 3 | 1 | 16 | 8
1865 |March 7th | 56 | 3 ||October 19th | 5 | 8 | 21 | 10
1866 |September 26 | 42 | 6 ||August 17th | 4 | 9 | 19 | 2
1867 |March 14 | 55 | 8 ||October 19th | 3 | -- | 17 | --
1868 |March 30th | 48 | 3 ||July 21st | 5 | 1 | 18 | 8
1869 |April 2d | 48 | 9 ||August 21st | 5 | 4 | 19 | 8
1870 |January 19th | 55 | 3 ||October 4th | 3 | 10 | 17 | 10
1871 |May 13th | 40 | 6 ||October 12th | 2 | 8 | 11 | 10
1872 |April 13th | 41 | 9 ||October 14th | 3 | -- | 11 | 8
1873 |December 18th| 44 | 5 ||October 1?th | 3 | 8 | 18 | 5
1874 |January 11th | 47 | 11 ||September 22d | 2 | 4 | 15 | 8
1875 |August 6th | 55 | 4 ||September 19th| 4 | 3 | 18 | 9
1876 |January 29th | 51 | 9 ||September 4th | 6 | 2 | 18 | 2
1877 |January 20th | 53 | 9 ||October 9th | 3 | 3 | 15 | --
1878 |December 15th| 41 | 4 ||October 24th | 4 | 4 | 16 | 9
1879 |December 27th| 42 | 9 ||October 23d | 2 | 6 | 14 | 6
1880 |February 17th| 53 | 2 ||October 28th | 3 | 9 | 17 | --
1881 |February 16th| 50 | 7 ||September 18th| 1 | 11 | 16 | 11
=====+========================++=========================+===========
A recent examination of the currents of the river passing the inlets
was conclusive that the Eggleston Avenue sewer, 1,000 feet below,
could have no effect on our water supply. Be this as it may, its
proximity taxes our delicate tastes. The location of the inlet of
the Shield aqueduct is not a desirable one, being at the revetment
wall, past which all the shore water flows. The small aqueduct
certainly can not be improved, its inlet being sixty feet beyond the
wall, where the currents produce the best water obtainable.
The value of changing the location of the intakes can be illustrated
to a good advantage by the experience of London during the cholera
epidemic of 1854. After the epidemic of 1849, the Lambeth Water
Company moved their intakes to Teddington, beyond the range of London
sewage; while their competitor, the Southwark Company, continued
to take its water close to one of the sewers. Their respective
water-pipes interlaced each other; and of the 26,000 houses supplied
by the Lambeth Company, there were only 294 deaths in 1854, while in
40,000 houses, supplied by the other company, there were 2,284 deaths.
SCOWDEN’S SURVEY OF MARKLEY FARM.
On the 29th of April, 1871, the Trustees of Water-Works, in response
to the Council, submitted a report to them upon the necessity of a
new water supply. On the ensuing 9th of June, the Council ordered
that a competent engineer be employed to examine sites, and report
upon the most suitable location for water-works, with plans,
estimates of cost, etc. Mr. T. R. Scowden was accordingly appointed;
and, on the 9th of September of the same year, he submitted a
supplemental report, recommending, in the highest terms, the “Markley
Farm” site. Upon his recommendation, the property was purchased for
the sum of $22,321.50, consisting of 146 acres, with a river frontage
of 2,000 feet. The principal points upon which the recommendation was
based were:
“The site known as Markley Farm is a point where the water of the
Ohio River is deep and free from drainage or any other vitiating
influence to affect its quality, perhaps for a century to come,
if ever. The shore is bold, and, with the bed of the river, is
of gravel and rock formation, washed clean by an active current
at all seasons of the year. Pumping works may be located at this
point without any objectionable and expensive inlet-pipe; while the
adjacent hills afford an excellent site for a storage reservoir,
307 feet above extreme low water, and 75 feet above the Garden of
Eden Reservoir. On the lower level there is a fine plateau for
locating, not only the pumping house, but subsiding reservoirs and
filtering basins.
“The force-main extending from the pump house to the storage
reservoir will be short, or about 1,450 feet long, whereas, works
located on the second site, or any other sites examined, would
require force mains several thousand feet in length. By the first
site, water from the river would be lifted by the pumps and
forced to the reservoir with the least amount of power, friction,
and expense of fuel to do the work. This site also commands an
excellent and safe landing for boats supplying the works with coal.
“The analyses of waters lately taken at the Water-Works and at the
Markley Farm clearly indicate the superior quality, purity, and
healthfulness of the latter.
“It has been suggested that the offal from one or more
distilleries, said to be in operation at New Richmond, some ten
miles above the Markley Farm, would leave its taint in the water
reaching the latter point. My answer is, that in this case the
river, so slightly affected at New Richmond, and flowing ten miles
to reach the Markley Farm, would, from agitation and dilution, and
from the well-known self-purifying property of water, become pure.”
Regarding the other sites surveyed he said:
“The second, but objectionable, site for water-works was found some
three miles above the Garden of Eden reservoir, and about the same
distance below the mouth and offensive discharge of the Little
Miami River. This location, although favorable in many respects,
intercepts the drainage of the upper portion of the city, and all
of that from the Miami Valley emptied into the Ohio River, which
renders that site wholly inadmissible for water-works purposes.
“The valley of the Miami forms a water-shed of several hundred
square miles in area. Upon the surface of this vast plain is
deposited the dead carcasses of animals, and the droppings
from cattle of all kinds. The ground is covered with decayed
vegetable matter, and the soaking of stable-yards, hog-pens,
slaughter-houses, distilleries, stagnant pools, etc. The refuse
is washed off by rain storms into the Miami, which is the common
receptacle, and thence into the Ohio River.
“It is only necessary, first, to disease the water, then disease
the man; and it is clear, therefore, that water-works located
below the Miami would, by wholesale pollution, disease the whole
community.
“There is no city in the civilized world so regardless of the
cleanliness and health of its citizens as to adopt a plan of water
supply to foist upon them the concentrated filth from sewerage and
the impurities of a stream, the water of which is only fit for
mill-power, manufacturing purposes, and for cattle to drink; and I
did not think that Cincinnati was emulous of setting the example.
“With regard to intermediate points between the county line and
the mouth of the Little Miami River, I found the Ohio River lined
with sand-bars, some of which projected from the shore nearly to
the middle of the river, miles in length; while the bottom or bed
of the river was, for the most part, covered with logs and craggy
stones.”
His plan embraced the construction of pumping works for raising the
water, first, from the river into subsiding and filter reservoirs,
and then pumping it a second time into storage reservoirs. The water
was to flow, through 10⅓ miles of 42-inch supply mains, into Eden
Reservoir. The capacity of the pumps was estimated at 60 millions
daily. The recapitulation of cost was:
For Engine-House and Grounds $ 312,790.00
For Pumping Engines 750,000.00
For Force Mains 92,130.00
For Storage Reservoirs 521,529.45
For Subsiding Reservoirs 560,252.00
For Clear-Water Well 14,669.60
For principal Supply Main, two lines 1,811,078.00
Miscellaneous expenses 60,500.00
------------ 4,131,949.05
Add ten per cent 413,194.90
-------------
Total cost $4,545,143.95
In conclusion, he said:
“I, therefore, regard the first and best site, known as the Markley
Farm, as one commanding all the advantages sought, where works may
be erected combining greater simplicity of construction, economy of
cost, and maintenance when put in operation, than could be built at
any of the other points mentioned.”
No. 7.
MOORE’S SURVEY.
On the 23d of January, 1882, Mr. A. G. Moore, Superintendent of the
Cincinnati Water-Works, submitted a communication to the Board of
Public Works relative to the present condition of the pumping works
and its future requirements. From it we arrange the following:
“The present pumps are deficient; that during the summer of 1881
the daily demands exceeded, at times, their capacity; and on one
particular day there was a deficiency of over six million gallons.
The engines are generally of light construction, and not sufficient
for any increased loads. They are expensive in operation and
maintenance. First-class engines of to-day would save two-thirds of
the fuel used. The principal reliance, during the summer, is the
large “Shield” engine, which is most extravagant on fuel, and has
a wrought-iron 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.
“The subject of increasing capacity requires immediate attention;
and should the removal of the works be deemed inadvisable, it will
become essential to at once proceed with the erection of machinery,
buildings, aqueduct, and aqua-fort at the old works. The cost of
these improvements is placed at $1,394,000; reserve engine for
1884, $618,000; and sewer in Front Street, to carry the sewage
below the works, $1,600,000. Total, $3,612,000.”
His plan for Markley Farm provides for one lift of 305 feet, with
three compound pumping engines of 100 million capacity, subsiding and
storage reservoirs, and one effluent-main 62 inches in diameter.
The estimate is condensed as follows:
Aqua-fort and buildings $ 410,000.00
Engines and boilers for 100 million capacity 1,255,000.00
Three subsiding reservoirs of earth and masonry }
embankments, with 90 acres of water surface } 1,836,500.00
Effluent-main, including 55,000 feet of 62-inch pipe, }
from the Farm to Eden Reservoir, and 18,000 feet } 1,804,000.00
of 48-inch, from Eden Reservoir to Harrison Avenue }
Contingencies 460,000.00
-------------
Total $5,725,000.00
The important question is presented by him, which the public must
decide, namely, whether it is a prudent policy to expend four
millions of dollars to improve the old works, and retain all the
expensive and unreliable machinery, and still supply an impure and
turbid water; or to expend an additional two millions for an entire
new system, from a source where a supply of pure and clear water can
be secured, commensurate with the growing city.
He also embodies, by way of comparison, the following estimate for
locating the works on the Kentucky side of the river:
For right of way and property, State and municipal 500,000
Aqua-fort and buildings 410,000
Three engines, with boilers complete 1,255,000
Subsiding Reservoirs 1,836,000
Effluent-mains, 23,000 feet 533,000
Tunnel for pumping main 270,000
Tunnel under the Ohio River, 3,000 feet 825,000
Thirty-inch main to Eastern Avenue, 22,500 feet 201,000
Contingencies 550,000
----------
Total for Newport plan $6,381,000
CHAPTER VII.
COST OF CONSTRUCTING WATER-WORKS.
The cost of constructing water-works varies very much, according
to local features, geological structure, and kind of scheme most
suitable to the place. In Great Britain, gravitation schemes cost
from $10 to $13, and pumping schemes from $7 to $10, per inhabitant.
The average cost per head, for London, was $20; for Liverpool, $20;
for Bradford, England, $35; for Halifax, England, $25; for Dundee,
Scotland, $30; for Glasgow, $15; for Manchester and Sheffield (each)
$12 per head.
The average cost for a supply of 20 imperial gallons per day, per
head, for 66 towns of Great Britain having gravitation supplies,
was $8; for 48 towns, with pumping system, $5.80; and for 11 towns,
having both systems, $7. From the annual report of Chicago, for 1880,
we take the following cost, per capita, for water-works construction:
Detroit, $23.11; Newark, N. J., $19.08; Wilmington, Del., $20.73;
Buffalo, $18.29; Cincinnati, $26.20; Milwaukee, $19.25; Columbus, O.,
$18.14; Louisville, Ky., $25.04; Cleveland, O., $16.84; Providence,
R. I., $52.74; Boston (gravity supply), $44.46; Manchester, N. H.
(water pumping power), $24.24; Hartford, Conn. (gravity), $35.60; New
York (gravity), $34.38, St. Louis, $26.07; Chicago, $17.49.
The _Engineering News_, of New York, Vol. IX, No. 4, contains
valuable tables on construction, and other valuable water-works
statistics, from which the following is compiled:
Average cost of construction, per capita, for American cities
having stand-pipe system, with 50,000 population, $20.70; for
30,000, $12; for 15,000, $16; for 10,000, $13.30.
Average cost of construction, per capita, for direct pumping
system, for 75,000, $16; for 40,000, $13.40; for 25,000, $13.80;
for 15,000, $21.70; for 10,000, $16.40; for 5,000, from $8 to $12.
Average cost of construction, per capita, for reservoir pumping
system, for 100,000 population, $22.50; for 75,000, $21.50; for
50,000, $15.25; for 35,000, $22.50; for 25,000, $33.20; for 15,000,
$22.40; for 10,000, from $10 to $32; for 5,000, from $8 to $40.
Average cost of construction, per capita, for gravitation works,
for 50,000 population, $26; for 30,000, from $17 to $40; for
20,000, from $16 to $30; for 10,000, from $10 to $30; for 5,000,
from $5 to $25; for 3,000, from $17 to $40.
REVENUE AND EXPENSE.
The average water-rent receipts, for 1880, per mile of water pipe
in use, was $2,022 for Chicago, $3,200 for New York, $1,932 for
Philadelphia, $2,730 for Boston, $3,307 for Brooklyn, $2,183 for
Baltimore, $3,112 for St. Louis, $2,647 for Cincinnati, $1,600 for
Louisville, $1,611 for Cleveland, $1,821 for Detroit, $2,060 for
Buffalo, $1,500 for Milwaukee, $1,746 for Indianapolis; $1,128 for
Columbus, Ohio, $3,556 for Pittsburgh, $397 for Washington, and $618
for Toledo, Ohio.
The cost of maintenance, for stand-pipe system, varies from 10 to 90
per cent. of revenue; for direct pumping, from 30 to 140 per cent.
of revenue; for reservoir pumping, for large cities, from 12 to 37
per cent. of revenue; for small cities, from 12 to 120 per cent.
of revenue; and new works, from 12 to 60 per cent. of revenue; for
gravitation works, from 13 to 120 per cent. of revenue.
The revenue and the cost of maintenance (exclusive of interest), for
each 1,000 gallons of water pumped, are respectively: Philadelphia,
5.77 and 1.28 cents; St. Louis, 6.91 and 2.55 cents; Chicago, 4.12
and 1.18 cents; Detroit, 4.09 and 82 cents; Buffalo, 3.50 and 1.00
cents; New York, 4.7 and one cent; Cleveland, 5.43 and 1.5 cents;
Cincinnati, 7.01 and 2.6 cents.
The revenue received, for each 1,000 gallons delivered, is 15.52
cents at Liverpool, England; 14.35 cents at Berlin, Germany; 8.13
cents at Dresden, and 4 cents at Hamburg.
The comparative annual water-rent charges for a large house, in
different cities, are as follows: Columbus, Ohio, $23.50; Lawrence,
Mass., $20; Providence, R. I., $31; Brooklyn, $29.25; Buffalo,
$43.50; Detroit, $23.25; Cincinnati, $28.73; Cleveland, $21.50;
Chicago, $34; Philadelphia, $27.75; Pittsburgh, $71.50; Milwaukee,
$34.50; Louisville, $51.50.
The meter rate charges, per 1,000 gallons, are 10 to 40 cents at
Boston; 10 cents at Chicago; 10.2 at Cincinnati; 7 to 20 at Columbus,
Ohio; 15 cents at Brooklyn; 13½ at Baltimore; 6 to 12 at Cleveland;
20 to 30 at Buffalo; 15 cents at Philadelphia; 7½ cents at New York;
and 30 cents at Providence, Rhode Island.
The meter rates, per 1,000 U. S. gallons, at Stuttgart, Germany,
are 11 cents for filtered river water, 5½ cents for lake water, and
15 cents for spring water. The rates, at Frankfort-on-the-Main, are
3.7 to 5 cents; at Hamburg, Germany, 8½ cents; at Leipsic, 7½ to 9¼
cents; at Berlin, Germany, 6½ to 25½ cents; at Dublin, Ireland, 6½ to
11 cents; and at Glasgow, Scotland, 15 cents per 1,000 U. S. gallons.
The average dividend paid by the water companies of Great Britain, in
1870, was 7 per cent.
WATER PIPES.
The different kinds of water pipes in use are made of wood,
cast-iron, wrought-iron, and glass. For adapting wrought pipe to
practical use, various methods have been resorted to, that of coating
with asphaltum, enameling, galvanizing, and lining inside and
covering outside with cement. The latter method has been adopted by a
number of water-works; but the liability to corrosion, from imperfect
work and material, has caused its abandonment in a number of places.
The Spring Valley Water Company, of San Francisco, have in use a
number of wrought-iron riveted pipes, coated with asphaltum, of 20 to
42 inches in diameter. They are made of No. 12 to 14 iron (Birmingham
wire gauge), and have a hydrostatic pressure upon them of from 200
to 400 feet. Virginia City (Nevada) water-works laid two lines of
wrought-iron pipe across the Washoe Valley, 7½ miles wide--one of
12-inch riveted pipe, and the other of 10-inch enameled, lap-welded
tubes. The pressure on the pipe at the bottom of the valley is 750
pounds. The enormous pressure has caused a number of rivets to give
out. On the test for the respective capacities, the 10-inch pipe
delivered 2½ 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.
These obstructions are now removed by boring tools forced through the
pipe by the hydrostatic pressure. The Superintendent of the Halifax
(N. S.) Water-Works records the cleansing of a 12-inch main, 32,000
feet long, in three-fourths of an hour. The preservation of cast-iron
pipes, and the prevention of these concretions, are now accomplished
by carefully dipping the pipe, previously heated to a temperature
of 300 degrees, in a bath of distilled coal tar, mixed, to a proper
consistency, with linseed oil, or an oil of the tar.
The Rivers Pollution Commission condemned the common practice of
using hemp in pipe joints, because it affords a nidus for the
breeding, development, and decay of animalculæ. Turned joints were
recommended.
The results of the observations of this commission prove conclusively
than the commonly received opinion, that soft water necessarily
acts upon lead pipes, is erroneous. The Loch Katrine water, which
is notorious for dissolving lead in water exposed to the open air,
yet no symptoms of lead poisoning have been discovered since its
introduction, eighteen years ago. The water will act upon the lead
at first, but will ultimately coat the inside of the pipe with a
vegetable deposit that prevents further deterioration.
The frictional head, for a given diameter, is as the square of the
velocity nearly; and, for different diameters, inversely as the
diameters. Thus the loss of head, for each 100 feet of clean cast
pipe, the velocity being three feet per second, is 1.35 feet for a
3-inch pipe; 1.02 for a 4-inch; .679 of a foot for a 6-inch; .407 of
a foot for a 10-inch; .255 for a 16-inch, and .204 of a foot for a 20
inch pipe. The mean coefficient of friction, for cast-iron pipes of
small size, with velocities of three feet, is .00644 for clean pipe;
.0082 for slightly tuberculated pipes, and .012 for foul pipes.
WEIGHTS OF CAST-IRON PIPE, WITH ALLOWANCE ADDED FOR BOWL AND SPIGOT
ENDS.
_Weights in columns per foot lineal. Iron .2604 per cubic inch._
-------------+------------------------------------------------------------
INTER’L DIAM.|
IN INCHES. | THICKNESS OF IRON SHELL IN INCHES.
+---------+
|
+----+----+-----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
| ⅛ | ¼ | ⅜ | ½ | ⅝ | ¾ | ⅞ | 1 | 1⅛ | 1¼ | 1⅜ | 1½ | 1¾ | 2
---+----+----+-----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
2 | 3 | 6 | 9.3| 14| 19| | | | | | | | |
3 | 4 | 9 | 12.5| 18| 23| | | | | | | | |
4 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 23| 30| 37| 44| 53| | | | | |
5 | 6.5| 13 | 20 | 28| 36| 44| 53| 61| | | | | |
6 | 8 | 15 | 24 | 33| 43| 52| 63| 72| | | | | |
8 | 10 | 20 | 32.5| 44| 56| 68| 81| 93| | | | | |
10 | 14 | 26 | 40.5| 56| 69| 84| 99| 114| | | | | |
12 | 15 | 30 | 48 | 65| 82| 100| 117| 135| | | | | |
14 | 18 | 36 | 54 | 75| 95| 115| 137| 159| | | | | |
16 | 20 | 40 | 64 | 86| 108| 130| 154| 176| | | | | |
20 | 26 |52.5| 79 | 107| 134| 162| 190| 216| | | | | |
24 | 32 | 63 | 95 | 127| 160| 192| 225| 259| | | | | |
30 | 40 | 78 | 118 | 158| 198| 238| 278| 318| 358| | | | |
35 | 45 | 90 | 135 | 180| 225| 270| 315| 360| 405| 450| 495| 540| |
36 | 47 | 94 | 141 | 188| 235| 282| 335| 384| 433| 483| 533| 583| |
40 | 52 |104 | 156 | 208| 260| 312| 364| 413| 465| 517| 569| 621| |
42 | 55 |110 | 165 | 221| 276| 331| 386| 442| 496| 552| 608| 662| 718|
48 | 63 |125 | 189 | 252| 315| 379| 444| 510| 573| 640| 705| 771| 904|1039
---+----+----+-----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----
WATER-WORKS STATISTICS
FROM REPORTS FOR 1880 AND 1881.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Gals. of Water
Cities of U. S. Miles Popul- per day No. of No. of
of Pipe. ation. per head. Taps. Meters.
Albany, N. Y. 77 90,903 55 2,832 10
Baltimore 524 332,190 -- 49,000 524
Boston 500 412,000 87 69,504 1,631
Brooklyn 350 566,889 54 60,000 1,085
Buffalo 102 155,137 122 9,099 --
Chicago 455 503,304 114 67,949 2,113
Cincinnati 196½ 264,000 80 24,300 600
Cleveland 125 160,142 65 10,013 402
Columbus, O. 39 51,665 41 2,156 534
Detroit 209 116,342 127 22,465 29
Hartford, Conn. 71 42,553 119 4,291 --
Indianapolis 43 75,074 40 1,200 12
Jersey City 323 120,728 122 -- 220
Louisville 110 123,645 33 7,225 251
Milwaukee 86 115,578 75 6,835 --
New York 510 1,206,590 80 80,000 550
Newark, N. J. 136 136,400 67 10,965 150
Philadelphia 746 846,984 67 110,000 30
Pittsburgh 112 156,381 102 -- --
Providence 152 101,255 31 9,691 4,036
Rochester 113 89,363 56 7,588 100
San Francisco 220 233,956 70 -- --
St. Louis 212 350,522 71 20,204 980
Washington, D. C. 175 147,307 176 17,000 --
------------------------------------------------------------------
INDEX.
PAGE.
ABSORPTION of water, 49
ADKINS & CO., charcoal filter plates, 31
ALUM, use of, 31
ALTITUDES of Ohio, 97-99, 102, 109, 121
ANALYSES of filtering materials, 31, 32
ANALYSIS of water--Methods of, 8, 10
Sanitary value, 11
Surface water, 48
Tables of, 9, 10, 117
Well water, 40, 104, 109
AQUEDUCTS, date of, 56
Description of, 53
Examples of, 5, 26, 53, 71, 74, 88, 90
Roman aqueducts, 5
System of, 53
AERATION, effect of, 15, 16, 20
Methods of, 33, 34
Value of, 33
ARSENIC in water, 25
ARTESIAN WELLS--Analysis of, 109
Boring and cost of, 107
At Cincinnati, 106
Description of, 40, 42, 43, 107
Examples of, 42, 43, 90
Laws of, 40
Temperature of, 42
BALTIMORE--Aqueduct of, 55
Dams of, 58
History of, 72
Water rates, 126, 127
BERLIN--History of water-works, 85
Meter rates, 127
BOMBAY--History of water-works, 91
BONDED indebtedness water-works, 73, 74, 77, 79
BORAX, use of, 31
BOSTON--Aqueduct of, 54, 55
Dams of, 58
History of water-works, 70
Pollution of water, 25
Protection of water, 118
Water revenue & expense, 126, 127
BROAD Street pump, London, deaths from, 14
BUFFALO--History of water-works, 73
Water revenue & expense, 126, 127
CARBIDE of Iron, value of, 31
CARBONATES in water, 24
CAST-IRON water pipes, 128
CHARCOAL, value of, 31
CHICAGO--His. of water supply, 26, 70
Pumping engines, cost of, 67
Tunnels, description of, 55
Water revenue & expense, 126, 127
CHOLERA caused by impure water, 12, 118
CINCINNATI--Altitude of, 109, 110, 114, 121
Anticlinal, 97
Aeration of water, 34
Cost of engines, 64, 67
Duty of engines, 62
Gravity supply, water-sheds, 109
Hardness of water, 115
History of water-works, 77
Kirkwood’s survey, 113
Markley Farm, 120
Moore’s survey, 124
Newport plan, 125
Pollution of supply, 119, 121
Protection of supply, 124
Scowden’s survey, 120
Riparian rights of, 111
Water revenue & expense, 126, 127
Well-water supply, 102, 106
CLARK’S system, 34, 35
CLEANING water-pipes, 128
CLEVELAND--History of water supply, 26, 76
COMPONENT parts of water, 7
CONCRETIONS in water pipe, 128
CONDUITS--See aqueducts.
CONSTRUCTION of water-works, 114, 125
CONSUMPTION of water, 131
COST of water-works--See historical account, 68
CORNISH engines, 61, 62, 69, 75, 83
COVERED reservoirs, 34, 83, 91
CROTON aqueduct, 53
DAMS, 56, 57, 58, 71, 76, 83, 93
DAYTON (Ky.) sand-beach, 115
DEPOSITION of water, 18, 24
DETROIT--New supply, 26
DILUTION of water, 18, 20
DIVIDENDS of Water Companies, 76, 85, 128
DRESDEN--History of water supply, 89
DUBLIN--Aqueduct of, 54
Dams of, 57
History of water supply, 84
Water rates, 127
DUTY, tables of, 61, 62
Fuel expense, 67
Term of, 61
EDINBURGH--History of water supply, 84
ENGINES for pumping water, 61, 62, 64, 67, 81
EVAPORATION, tables of, etc, 49, 52, 90
FILTRATION of water, 29, 32, 80, 82, 84, 85, 86, 89, 90, 114
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN--History of water supply, 88
FRICTION in water pipes, 129
GENOA (Italy), filtering gallery, 28
GEOLOGY--Structure of, for gravity supply, 50
GEOLOGY of Ohio, 93
GLASGOW--Aqueduct of, 53
Cholera epidemics, 13
Filtering gallery, 28
History of water supply, 83
Value of its soft water, 35
GRAVITATION--Cost of, 58, 125
Geological structure, 50
Examples of, see Chapter V, 68
Objectionable sites, 50
Points on, 50
Short supply, 49
Surface water, 48
System of supply, 47
Water-shed resources, 49, 51, 84, 85
Vegetable impurities, 26
GREAT Miami River, 110, 116
GRENELLE well, 42
HAMBURG--History of, 88
Water rates, 127
HARDNESS of water, 24, 34, 35, 115, 128
HEMP joint, effect of, 129
HIGH service, examples of, 68, 69, 71, 77, 78
HOLLY system, 61, 63, 64, 74
HUSBAND’S balance valve, 66
IMPURITIES in water, 7, 22, 24, 25, 26, 34, 35
INDIA--Dams of, 57
Reservoirs of, 6
INDIANAPOLIS--New supply, 26
INFILTRATION, 27, 28, 29, 87
INSPECTIONS for waste of water, 83, 85
INTAKES, change of, 12, 120
INTERCEPTING wells, 46
KIRKWOOD’S, J. P. survey of, 113
LARAMIE reservoir, 110
LEAD pipes, effect of soft water, 129
LEIPSIC--History of water supply, 89
LEWISTON reservoir, 110
LITTLE Miami River, 122
LIVERPOOL--History of, 49, 58, 83
Well supply, 37
LONDON--Cholera epidemics, 12
Covered reservoirs, 34
Filtration and subsidence, 29, 32
Hardness of water, 35
History of water supply, 20, 80
Pollution of water, 20, 120
Projected supplies, 38, 82
Stand pipes, 65
Thames water, 20, 120
Well supply, 37, 38, 106
Cost of works, 125
LOUISVILLE--History of water sup., 75
Stand-pipe, 65
Water revenue & expense, 126, 127
LOWELL--Filtering gallery, 27
LYNN (Mass.)--Wells of, 46
LYONS (France)--Filtering gallery, 28
MADRID (Spain)--Aqueduct of, 54
MAD RIVER, 110
MAGNESIA, effect of, 24
MAINTENANCE of water-works, 69, 75, 80, 86, 127
MANCHESTER (Eng.), 12, 49, 84
MARKLEY FARM, 114, 120, 124
MARSEILLES--History of, 53, 89
METERS in use, 131
MEXICO--Water channels of, 6
MILES of pipe in use, 131
MOORE, A. G., 33, 124
NEWARK (N. J.)--Filtering gallery, 28
NEWPORT plan, 125
NEW YORK--Aqueduct of, 54
Dams of, 57
History of, 68
Pollution of water, 24, 25
Water revenue & expense, 126, 127
OHIO RIVER, 20, 75, 114, 115, 116, 119, 120
OXIDATION, 15, 18
OXIDE of iron, use of, 31
PAISLEY--Cholera epidemic, 13
PARIS--History of, 90
PERCHLORIDE of iron, use of, 31
PERTH (Scotland)--Filtering gal., 28
PERU--Water channels of, 6
PHILADELPHIA--Aqueduct of, 54
History of, 68
Schuylkill River, 19, 118
Water revenue & expense, 126, 127
POLLUTION of water, 13, 17, 22, 25, 26, 117, 120, 129
POLLUTION of well water, 38, 46, 105, 106
PONIARY reservoir, 6
PONT DU GARD aqueduct, 5
POPULATION of cities and water-sheds, 116, 131
PORTLAND (Me.)--History of, 77
POTABLE water, 6, 7, 12, 13, 14
PUDDLE walls, 57, 76, 91
PUMPING SYSTEM--Cost of, 114, 125
Description of, 59
Examples of, see Chapter V, 68
Expense of, 64
Engines, 61, 64, 67, 81
Survey of, 114, 122
Tables of, 59
PURIFICATION OF WATER--Agents, 17
Aeration, 15, 16, 19, 20
Deposition, 18
Dilution, 18, 19, 20
Means of, 27, 117, 118, 124
Ohio River, 122
Oxidation, 15, 18
RAIN-FALL--Availability of, 49, 51, 84, 85
Measurements of, 112
Storage of, 52
Resources of, 52
Resources of Ohio water-sheds, 109
Resources for wells, 46
RESERVOIR SYSTEM--Brick structures, 73, 74
Covered reservoirs, 34, 83, 91
Deposit in, 72
Equalizing reservoirs, 88
Examples of, see Chapter V, 68
Impounding reservoirs, 76, 82, 84, 91
Iron tanks, at Cincinnati, 77
System of, 6, 59, 68, 69, 75
Relief tanks, 83, 85
REVENUE--Water-rent, 126, 127
RIPARIAN rights, compensation, 82, 84, 111
RIVERS, flow of, 116
RIVER POLLUTION--Description of, 15, 117, 118, 122
Population on rivers, 116
Purification of, 15, 20, 24, 27, 32, 117, 124
Merrimack River, 18
Ohio River, 115
Schuylkill River, 19, 117
Thames River, 20, 120
Quality of pollution, 18, 22, 23, 118
ROCHESTER (N. Y.)--New supply, 26
ROME--Water supply of, 5
ROQUEFAVOUR aqueduct, 53
ST. LOUIS, 26, 67, 72, 126, 127
ST. MARY’S reservoir, 110
ST. MARY’S RIVER, 89
SAN FRANCISCO, 76, 130
SCIOTO RIVER, 110
SCOWDEN, T. R., 75, 120
SEWAGE in river water, 9, 10, 20, 23, 118
SHEET-IRON strips, use of, 31
SCHUYLKILL RIVER, 19, 117
SOURCES of supply--Lakes, see Chapter V, 68
Rivers--See Chapter V, 68
Springs--See Chapter V, 68
Wells--See Chapter V, 68
SOFT water, 35, 84, 129
SPENCER’S process of, 31
SPRINGS, 36, 82, 84, 88, 90
STAGNATION of water, 25
STAND-PIPES--System of, 59, 66, 70, 72, 86, 88
STATISTICS of water-works, 131
STUTTGART--History of, 89
STRYCHNINE in water, 24
SUBSIDENCE of water, 32, 86, 89, 114
SYSTEMS of supply, 36
TAPS--Number of, 131
THAMES RIVER, 20, 21, 32, 117
TOLEDO--History of, 65, 80
TORONTO filtering gallery, 28
TURBIDITY of water, 32, 72, 88, 90, 115
TOULOUSE filtering gallery, 28
TYPHOID FEVER, cause of, 15
VITAL statistics, 12, 25, 35, 120
VIENNA--History of, 87
WASHINGTON--Aqueduct of, 54
History of, 74
WATER--Ammonia in, 9
Analyses of, 9, 10
Drinking, 8
Effect on water pipes, 128
Impurities in, 7, 8
Sewage in, 9, 20, 118
WATER COMPANIES--See Chap. V, 68
Dividends of, 128
WATER revenue, 68, 69, 85, 86, 126
WATER pipes, 128, 129
WATER-POWER, 64, 69
WEIGHT of pipe, 130
WELLS--Abatement of, 106
Availability, 37, 38, 47, 105
Boring of, 44
Description of, 36, 37, 102
Examples of, 37, 70, 81, 83, 87, 90, 102
Flow of, 37, 38
Laws of, 36, 38
Pollution of, 38, 46, 85, 105
Resources, 45, 46
Tables of, 103, 104
WOODEN conduits, 77
WORTHINGTON pumps, 61, 62, 69, 74
WROUGHT-IRON pipe, 77, 128
ZYMOTIC diseases of, 48
* * * * *
* * * * *
JOSEPH SHARP,
BELTING and HOSE,
PACKING, LACE LEATHER,
AND
SUPPLIES,
59 Walnut St., CINCINNATI, O.
STEAM and PUMP PACKING
OF EVERY DESCRIPTION.
RESPECTFULLY REFER TO
Cincinnati Water Works. Covington, Ky. Water Works.
JOSEPH SHARP, No. 59 Walnut St., CINCINNATI, O.
* * * * *
J. E. McCRACKEN,
GENERAL AGENT FOR
McMAHAN, PORTER & CO.’S
SEWER PIPE, FIRE BRICK AND CLAY,
_Flue Linings_,
Fire Clay
Stove Pipe,
CHIMNEY
TOPS.
[Illustration: CEMENT PLASTER LIME]
ALL BRANDS OF LOUISVILLE
AND
ENGLISH PORTLAND
CEMENT,
Louisville White
Lime, Newark
and Michigan
Plaster and Hair,
Zanesville
Pressed Brick.
Office, No. 221 E. FRONT STREET,
--BRANCH YARDS:--
Harrison Ave., and M. & C. R. R.--534 & 536 John St.
Warehouse, 3, 5, 7 & 9 Butler Street. CINCINNATI, O.
* * * * *
COPE & MAXWELL M’F’G COMPANY,
HAMILTON OHIO.
STEAM
PUMPING MACHINERY
--FOR--
WATER WORKS.
CONSTRUCTED AFTER VARIOUS DESIGNS FOR RESERVOIR,
STAND PIPE, OR DIRECT PRESSURE SYSTEMS.
HORIZONTAL OR VERTICAL, DUPLEX OR SEPARATE ACTING
AT WILL. PHOTOS, DRAWINGS AND SPECIFICATIONS
ON APPLICATION.
The following are places where Water Works Machinery of the
Cope & Maxwell manufacture is in use:
Newport, Ky.
Clinton, Iowa.
Anamosa, “
Muscatine, “
Logansport, Ind.
Milwaukee, Wis.
Fort Dodge, “
Atchison, Kansas.
Desloges, Mo.
Trinidad, Col.
Broadford, Pa.
Pullman, Ills.
Hyde Park, “
East Liverpool, Ohio.
Cincinnati, “
Springfield, “
Athens Asylum, “
Dayton Asylum, “
Longview Asylum, “
STEAM PUMPS
--FOR--
Mining, Mills, Factories, Fire Protection, Sewage, Sugar Refineries,
Draining, Distilleries, Breweries, Boiler-Feeding,
and all kinds of Pumping Service.
CIRCULARS ON APPLICATION.
* * * * *
CHAPMAN VALVE MANUFACTURING COMPANY,
[Illustration]
Manufacturers of
STEAM, GAS
AND
Water Valves,
AND
GATE
Fire Hydrants,
WITH OR WITHOUT INDEPENDENT
NOZZLES.
[Illustration]
ALL VALVES & HYDRANTS
FURNISHED WITH
BABBETT METAL SEATS
AND
NON-CORROSIVE
WORKING PARTS.
[Illustration]
All Work Guaranteed.
GENERAL
OFFICE AND WORKS:
INDIAN ORCHARD,
MASS.
TREASURER’S OFFICE:
77 KILBY STREET,
BOSTON.
* * * * *
HENRY RANSHAW, WM. STACEY, THOS. H. BIRCH, R. J. TARVIN,
_Pres. and Manager_ _Vice-President._ _Ass’t Manager._ _Sec’y and Treas._
THE STACEY M’F’G CO.
Gas Works Builders,
ARCHITECTURAL IRON WORK,
Oil and Water Tanks, Lamp Posts,
IRON ROOFS, COAL ELEVATOR CARS,
COKE CRUSHERS, ROLLING MILL MACHINERY.
_ALL KINDS OF HEAVY WROUGHT & CAST-IRON WORK_.
33, 35, 37 and 39 Mill Street, & 16, 18, 20, 22, 24 & 26 Ramsey Street,
CINCINNATI, O.
* * * * *
CROWN WATER METER,
ADOPTED BY THE
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS,
NEW YORK CITY.
A POSITIVE ROTARY PISTON METER,
ACCURATE, DURABLE AND SIMPLE, HAVING
ONLY ONE WORKING PART.
In this new Meter will be found all the advantages of the best
known Meters, and none of their defects. It is a positive
displacement measurer. It forms no obstruction to the free flow
of water. The dial face is always dry and clean, and the interior
structure of brass and hard rubber renders corrosion impossible. We
claim that it will register on a finer stream than any other Meter
ever made. For Illustrated Circulars, giving testimonials, results
of tests, etc., address
NATIONAL METER COMPANY,
SOLE MANUFACTURERS.
JOHN C. KELLEY, President,
51 Chambers Street, New York.
N. B.--METERS FURNISHED OF ALL SIZES, FROM HALF INCH TO TEN INCHES INCLUSIVE.
* * * * *
HUGH MERRIE. Established, 1869. HENRY VERHAGE.
Merrie, Verhage & Co.,
--_MANUFACTURERS_--
LEAD PIPE & SHEET LEAD
--_AND ALL KINDS BRASS WORK FOR_--
Plumbers, Gas and Steam Fitters, Water Works & Machinists.
_DEALERS IN PLUMBERS, GAS & STEAM FITTERS SUPPLIES._
11 and 13 W. Seventh St. CINCINNATI, OHIO.
--AGENTS FOR--
MURDOCK’S HYDRANTS AND STREET WASHERS,
BIGNALL’S PUMPS AND SINKS,
ÆTNA IRON WORKS, WROUGHT IRON PIPE,
ABENDROTH BROS. SOIL PIPE AND FITTINGS,
STAR RUBBER CO.’S HOSE AND BELTING,
JENNING’S WATER CLOSETS,
ROB’T BROWN AND SON’S EARTHENWARE.
* * * * *
THE CINCINNATI
Stationary Engine and Hydraulic
WORKS,
MANUFACTURERS OF
STATIONARY STEAM ENGINES
OF THE MOST APPROVED PATTERN.
THE HOLDEN ICE MACHINES & REFRIGERATORS,
AND ALL KINDS OF
Machinery Castings and Iron Forgings of all Descriptions.
JOSEPH BELL, Manager,
Cor. Third and Lock Streets, CINCINNATI, O.
* * * * *
ESTABLISHED, 1846.
WM. KIRKUP & SON,
--AGENTS FOR--
_NATIONAL TUBE-WORKS CO._
--_ALSO MANUFACTURERS AND DEALERS IN_--
Wrought Iron Pipe and Boiler Tubes,
_Malleable & Cast-Iron Pipe Fittings, Brass Goods_,
Machinists’, Steam and Gas Fitters’, Boiler-Makers’, Engineers’, & Plumbers’ Tools and Supplies,
BRASS AND COMPOSITION CASTINGS.
_SALESROOM & FACTORY--S. E. CORNER PEARL & LUDLOW STREETS._
CINCINNATI, OHIO.
* * * * *
HENRY J. REEDY,
MANUFACTURER OF
HORIZONTAL, VERTICAL AND DIRECT ACTING
HYDRAULIC ELEVATORS,
--FOR--
FREIGHT AND PASSENGER SERVICE.
WORKS:
EIGHTH, LOCK AND CLEVELAND STREETS.
--CINCINNATI.--
Elevators in all the principal Cities in the United States.
SEND FOR ILLUSTRATED CATALOGUE AND PRICES.
* * * * *
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been
corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within
the text and consultation of external sources.
Table cells that were blank or had dots in the original book, are
displayed with a -- in this etext.
Except for those changes noted below, all misspellings in the text,
and inconsistent or archaic usage, have been retained.
Pg 8: ‘per 1000 gollons’ replaced by ‘per 1000 gallons’.
Pg 13: ‘The testimory Dr.’ replaced by ‘The testimony of Dr.’.
Pg 14: ‘of cholora; and’ replaced by ‘of cholera; and’.
Pg 19: ‘the 57 colleries’ replaced by ‘the 57 collieries’.
Pg 23: ‘Massachussets State’ replaced by ‘Massachusetts State’.
Pg 24: ‘New Yory City’ replaced by ‘New York City’.
Pg 25: ‘on the pharanx’ replaced by ‘on the pharynx’.
Pg 25: ‘miscroscopic plants’ replaced by ‘microscopic plants’.
Pg 31: ‘ORRGANIC CARBON’ replaced by ‘ORGANIC CARBON’.
Pg 33: ‘TO AL SOLIDS’ replaced by ‘TOTAL SOLIDS’.
Pg 36: ‘through permeable’ replaced by ‘through a permeable’.
Pg 36: ‘which land’ replaced by ‘which the land’.
Pg 36: ‘wells are which’ replaced by ‘wells are those which’.
Pg 40: ‘imperrious strata’ replaced by ‘impervious strata’.
Pg 43: ‘to exend it to’ replaced by ‘to extend it to’.
Pg 44: ‘Divonian.’ replaced by ‘Devonian.’.
Pg 44: ‘argellaceous below’ replaced by ‘argillaceous below’.
Pg 45: ‘reduce the jaring’ replaced by ‘reduce the jarring’.
Pg 55: ‘pockets of quick sand’ replaced by ‘pockets of quicksand’.
Pg 58: ‘SOURCE’ replaced by ‘SRCE’ to save table space.
Pg 60: ‘to one hunded’ replaced by ‘to one hundred’.
Pg 60: ‘States and Canadas’ replaced by ‘States and Canada’.
Pg 63: ‘American Society of Civil Engineers’ abbreviated to
‘A. S. C. E.’ in the table.
Pg 67: ‘SYSTEM CYLINDER’ replaced by ‘SYS. CYL.’ to save space.
Pg 77: ‘at Sycaamore Street’ replaced by ‘at Sycamore Street’.
Pg 84: ‘reservoir enbankment’ replaced by ‘reservoir embankment’.
Pg 87: ‘private puildings’ replaced by ‘private buildings’.
Pg 90: ‘the depurition of’ replaced by ‘the deposition of’.
Pg 91: ‘and Moutrouge’ replaced by ‘and Montrouge’.
Pg 95: ‘a shallowy and’ replaced by ‘a shallow and’.
Pg 108: ‘Chloride of Calcuim’ replaced by ‘Chloride of Calcium’.
Pg 109: ‘average attitude’ replaced by ‘average altitude’.
Pg 109: ‘FFET.’ replaced by ‘FEET.’.
Pg 109: ‘23. Allen Coounty’ replaced by ‘23. Allen County’.
Pg 109: ‘Perryshurgh’ replaced by ‘Perrysburgh’.
Pg 119: ‘LOWEST, AMD’ replaced by ‘LOWEST, AND’.
Pg 122: ‘renders that cite’ replaced by ‘renders that site’.
Pg 127: ‘Stuggart, Germany’ replaced by ‘Stuttgart, Germany’.
Pg 128: ‘also cruses the’ replaced by ‘also causes the’.
Pg 133: Entry ‘HIGH service’ moved in front of ‘HOLLY system’.
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