+ 
 
 GINEERS CLUB OF CINCINNATI, 
 
 JUNE 16TH, 1892, 
 
 WATER SUPPLY By! NATURAL FILTRATION. 
 
 BY LATHAM ANDERSON. 
 
 Water supply systems using naturally filtered water comprise two 
 classes: 
 
 Ist.—Those using ground or soil water, and. 
 
 2d.—Those drawing water from bars in or on the banks of running 
 streams, , 
 
 In the first, water may be collected either in large wells or galleries 
 walled with stone, or by means of gangs of driven wells. Probably the most 
 noted example in this country of a large curbed well is that in Prospect Park, 
 Brooklyn. 
 
 The driven wells yielding ground water are so generally used as not to 
 require further mention and they will not be further discussed in this paper, 
 whose special object it is to call attention to the second class, i. e., those using 
 naturally filtered stream water. 
 
 According to Humber and Kirkwood the following are the principal 
 cities in Europe using this system in 1868: 
 
 Glasgow, Scotland...............00.-e28-seeeeee, POPulation, 750,000 
 
 Perth 3 pavabe tePacsr <a cases Voice ey 36,000 
 Be Meee TCO ays tae sky al seks vs cosceudds ans%> : 400,000 
 Peer CtS ORM Wt so MEER Rashard cavd seas ce cn na ovps $ 150,000 
 Angers eevee ccoe GEREN sch cok yhees me sewers i 53,000 
 Genoa, Italy eevresecesa ee eeeeeoe SPCCCSSCOR +s ereeree eeeese + 165,000 
 
 1,554,000 
 
 In all of these except Glasgow the system is acomplete success. In Glas- 
 gow the supply was inadequate owing to the smallness and shallowness of the 
 wells, which were only 10 feetin diameter and 6 feet deep. 
 
 The water works of Lyons are particularly noticeable and interesting 
 to citizens of Cincinnati because the two cities have, in regard to this source 
 of supply, so many features in comimon. They have about the same popula- 
 tion ; the large rivers on whose banks they stand both flow through populous 
 alluvial basins; both are subject to excessive floods, and a large and deep 
 gravel bar lies contiguous to both cities. 
 
 Inasmuch as, according to these accounts, the Lyons plant is a brilliaut 
 success, and under conditions so closely resembling our own, common 
 prudence suggests a careful investigation to ascertaii whether the same 
 system is applicable here before committing ourselves to the expenditure of 
 at least $6,°0',000.00 to obtain impure muddy river water. 
 
 At this point in the discussion it may not be out of place to review 
 briefly the surveys and examinations heretofore made for a new or enlarged 
 water supply for Cincinnati. The data are obtained from the report of A. G. 
 Moore, Superintendent of Water Works, for 1880. 
 
 it 
 
 Waa’, 202. 
 
 # 
 
HISTORY OF PLANS PROPOSED FOR NEW WATER SUPPLY. 
 
 ‘The first official record looking toward a new water supply is found in 
 Minutes of Board, May 30, 1845, as follows: 
 
 “That a Committee be appointed to ascertain the practicability of 
 bringing water intothe city from either of the Miamis, and that said Com- 
 mittee be authorized to employ means to obtain the necessaiy information. 
 
 “Mr. Stephenson was appointed that Committee. 
 
 “The records show no action of Committee. 
 
 “In 18538, the Board ordered Prof. Locke to make analyses of the various 
 waters in this vicinity, and his report shows that all the waters, except those 
 from the Ohio river, are too highly impregnated with carbonate of lime for 
 domestic use. 
 
 “In 1854 Superintendent Lewis Warden alludes to new supply, and,while 
 commending the system for snpplying New York and Boston, nevertheless is 
 satisfied that no such consideration is here attainable from any contiguous 
 stream within fifty miles. His opinion was based upon the surveys of the 
 Miamis, Mad and White rivers. 
 
 “Mr. Irvin brings up the subject, in his Annual Report of 1857, of supply- 
 ing the city by gravity in preference to the pumping system, on the point of 
 econonly, in which he states that this subject ‘has been mooted at different 
 times without giving much light in regards of real truth.’ He obtained the 
 levels of the feeders of the Miami canal at Middletown and Mad river, and, 
 comparing these with the height of reservoir, finds the ‘project not very 
 plausible.’ 
 
 “Mr. R. C. Phillips submitted, at this time, schemes for utilizing several 
 water-sheds—one some miles above Brighton House, forty feet above Miami 
 canal, with capacity of seventy millions daily supply, and another thirteen 
 miles above the same place, and fifty-eight feet higher than the canal. His 
 idea was to use the canal-bed as an equeduct to convey the waters to the city. 
 The most important step toward securing a new water supply was made in 
 1865, when Council appointed a Special Commission to investigate and report 
 on the project. 
 
 “They secured the services of Jas. P. Kirkwood, of New York, who made 
 a thorough examination of all the available sources, and submitted an 
 elaborate Report of his investigations, with the plans and recommendations 
 for a pumping system, with subsiding and storage reservoirs, the site selected 
 being this side of Crawfish creek, using Ohio river as a source. The esti- 
 mated cost was $3,038,214.07.” 
 
 “Markley Farm.” 
 
 “On the 27th of April,. 1871, the Trustees of the Water Works sent a 
 communication to the Common Council recommending the purchase of the 
 Markley Farm reservoir site. 
 
 “On June 9th a resolution was passed authorizing the Committee on 
 Water Works to examine sites and employ a competent engineer to prepare 
 plans, etc. In pursuance to this.action, on July 22d, the Trustees of the 
 Water Works employed Mr. T. R. Scowden as engineer to report on the 
 subject. His report recommended the purchase of Markley Farm and his 
 general plan embraced the construction of Pumping Works for two lifts,with 
 
 a capacity of sixty million gallons daily. The total cost was estimated at 
 $4,545,143.95. 
 
 Ww 
 
“Superintendent Bell, in his report for 1878, has the following recom- 
 mendations: 
 
 “T would recommend to your Honorable Board the project of setting 
 aside a portion of the Water Works’ revenue for the future extension of 
 Pumping Works to Markley Farm. As the necessity for the removal of the 
 present works to a more suitable location becomes more apparent each year, 
 some action should be taken at an early date looking toward this change.” 
 
 To which Superintendent A. G. Moore adds in his report of 1880: 
 
 “Responsive to these arguments, I regard the Markley Farm location as 
 embracing all the advantages for an economical, copious, pure and intelligible 
 water supply which may be realized.” 
 
 There are 92 cities and towns in America using a natural system 
 of filtration galleries or wells in bars or on river banks. The data are 
 tabulated from Baker’s Manual of American Water Works, 1890 and 1891. 
 The classification adopted is only approximately correct. In many instances 
 where the galleries are set back from the river bank, it is probable that more 
 or less ground water is admitted, Kirkwood gives Lyons as an instance 
 of such an admixture. The resulting injury to the water supply may be two- 
 fold. In calcareous formations the hardness is increased and,what is of graver 
 importance, the water supply is liable, in some localities, to contamination by 
 organic matter. Kirkwood however, suggests that an important advantage 
 may sometimes result from removing the galleries some distance from the 
 water line. He says, in his account of the Toulouse Water Works. “The body 
 of sand and gravel referred to above, so much of it as lies below the level of 
 the water in the river, it is superflous to say, is saturated with water, and this 
 water, although evidently derived from the river and its affluents, has passed 
 through such a width or depth of material at a very slow velocity on the wide 
 plains above, as to have deprived it entirely of the matter which gives the 
 muddy hue to the stream. In the filtering galleries, therefore, it is found 
 colorless and limpid. /mmediately under the bed of the stream, or in too close prox- 
 imity to it, this result would probably not have place.”’ Right here it should be 
 emphasized that this opinion ought to have no controlling weight in any 
 particular case, except to point out one important line of investigation. The 
 sensible thing to do in all such examinations is to ascertain the facts by 
 actual test. As will be shown further on, this can be easily and inexpensively 
 done in our case. 
 
 In this connection another valuable suggestion by Mr. Kirkwood is im- 
 portant. Speaking of galleries of the Perth, Lyons, Toulouse, Genoa type, he 
 says: “‘These galleries are technically called filtering galleries, but in reality they are 
 mere receptac/es and conduits tor gathering the water already filtered by a natural 
 process. They serve nothing towards the filtration of the water, but only towards the 
 collection of a portion of it, and its transmission to the pumping machines.’’ 
 
 It seems to the writer that this general statement should be taken with 
 areservation. With regard to any particular case its truth would depend on 
 the following facts: * 
 
 Ist.—The ratio between the volume of the natural supply and that re- 
 quired for the city. 
 
 2a.—The size of the bar or natural reservoir, 
 
 3d.—The depth of the bar. 
 
4th.—The rate of percolation or infiltration through the bar, depending 
 upon the fineness or coarseness of the materials and of their mode of dispo- 
 sition or arrangement. 
 
 5th.—The ‘‘head” between the water surface in the river and the level 
 at which the water enters the galleries, and, possibly? 
 
 6th.—The velocity of the river current. 
 
 It may be possible to make such a heavy draught on one of these under- 
 ground reservoirs as to cause too rapid a percolation, thereby drawing sand 
 and silt into the galleries; (as an instance, see Kirkwood’s report on Angers); 
 or even when this result is not produced, it may happen, especially in shallow 
 submerged bars, that the water is drawn directly downwards through the 
 gravel, thus converting the arrangement from an underground reservoir, as 
 described by Kirkwood, into a natural filter But this would not necessarily 
 forbid its use, The bar might have sufficient filtering capacity to deliver for 
 all time the requisite volume of water, and of sufficient clearness and purity. 
 That would be another point to be established by examination and experi- 
 ment. Some bars are sO situated that their top surfaces are scoured during 
 floods, and a fresh covering is deposited during the subsidence of the water. 
 Such filter would never become clogged, as the upper layer, which is the first 
 to choke up,would be continually renewed by Nature. But in this downward 
 filtration there would always be liability of some organic matter being carried 
 into the galleries from the river above; so that even if the water so obtained 
 were fully up to the standard of purity, it is highly probable that the supply 
 obtained from the bottom current alone, i. e., the natural reservoir, would 
 be still purer. The latter would therefore be always a preferable source. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF THE ABOVE DATA. 
 
 An examination of the records in the Manual leads to the probable con- 
 clusion that the majority of works in the list above referred to are, 
 properly speaking, filters and not natural reservoirs—or are, as in the case of 
 Lyons, a combination of the two. 
 
 Humber says, “The success of the system of filtration now generally 
 adopted, like that of many other inventions and discoveries, has not been 
 achieved without costly experience and failure of considerable magnitude.” 
 
 Therefore it will be instructive to investigate and classify the causes of 
 failure in the cases above cited. 
 
 Ist. As to quantity. (a) The failure in quantity may be due to an in- 
 herent defect in the bar itself. It may be too small as to area or depth (more 
 especially the latter); or the material may be so fine as to cause too slow a rate 
 of percolation. All of these detects seem to have been combined at Glasgow. 
 At Providence, R. I., the soil was not sufficiently porous. (b) The failures 
 have been frequently due to improper construction of the galleries, especially 
 in that they were not sufficierit in bottom area and sometimes were too 
 shallow. Kirkwood’s records show that in every case described, except that 
 of Genoa, the works as at first constructed were deficient in these respects, 
 and had subsequently to be enlarged. At Angers the requisite extensions 
 had not been made at the time of Kirkwood’s report. 
 
 2d. Failure in quality. Our country furnishes several examples under 
 this head. Two in our own State will be sufficient as illustrations, viz: 
 Dayton and Columbus. 
 
Dayton obtains Mad River water by 30 8-inch tube wells driven near 
 both banks, connected by a 20-inch main passing under the river. The 
 average depth of the wells is 40 feet. The supply is reported as sufficient, 
 but owing to the calcareous nature of the gravel bar the water has a high de- 
 gree of hardness. Owing to the open or porous texture of the bed it can have 
 but a feeble filtering action. The Mad River is exceedingly foul and any. 
 ground water that might find its way into the tubes is liable to contaminat- 
 ing in the populous region above. In the case of the Columbus supply, 
 (which is obtained from filtering galleries 10 feet below low water, extending 
 across and under the bed of the Olentangy River), the water is too hard, and, 
 as observed by the writer in 1881, it contained so much organic matter as to 
 become very offensive after standing two or three days in the open air. 
 
 These and other similar examples show the importance of scrutinizing 
 the character of the bar or gravel bed to be used as a filter or reservoir. 
 Whereas in Dayton and Columbus the gravel is entirely of soft soluble lime- 
 stone, and the texture of the bed coarse and open; permitting the water to 
 flow freely through it; where the stream is foul, caused by its small volume 
 and because it flows through a populous region; and where, morever, the 
 bed itself is in an urban or suburban district necessarily involving surface 
 contamination, all the conditions point to a hard, impure water supply. The 
 only alternative is to look for another source of supply or to purify the one 
 under consideration by an artificial process. 
 
 Two systems have been successfully and economically used on a large 
 scale. One (mentioned in the recent report on the Public Water Supply of 
 Cincinnati by a committee of the State Board of Health) is in use at Antwerp 
 It consists essentially in passing the water through revolving cylinders con- 
 taining bits of metalliciron. “By attrition fresh surfaces of the iron are con- 
 stantly exposed to the water passing through the cylinders, the carbonic acid 
 brought by the water dissolving a minute portion of the metal and forming 
 a protosalt of iron. On issuing from the cylinders into the open air, the 
 protosalt is converted, by the action of the atmospheric oxygen, into the in- 
 soluble ferric oxide, or iron rust. The action of the ferric oxide in its nas- 
 cent state in impure water is to burn up, so to speak, the organic matter. In 
 addition the ferric oxide, in its formation, encases in its flakes finely divided 
 matters in suspension, forming a flocculent precipitate, which can readily be 
 removed by rapid mechanical straining. For this purpose sand filters not 
 more than 18 inches in depth are sufficient; and as the organic matter has 
 been removed in large part before the water reaches the filter, only superfi- 
 cial cleaning is required.” The following are the salient points of thls re- 
 port of the Committee of the State Board of Health: 
 
 “Ts it possible for Cincinnati to obtain a sufficiently pure water supply 
 above local sources of pollution? This question should be fully answered 
 before changing the present source of supply. 
 
 “Can Ohio River water, above the mouth of the Little Miami River, be 
 so purified as to remove, or sufficiently minimize, the dangers attending the 
 use of a sewage polluted stream, and justify Cincinnati in obtaining water 
 from this source? This, it is believed, can be done.” 
 
 “There are other processes of water purification that would very greatly 
 improve the character of the Ohio River water, and it is earnestly recom- 
 mended and urged that this be made a subject of careful inquiry by a com- 
 petent commission before plans for obtaining a new water supply for Cincin- 
 
 nati are finally adopted. 
 5 
 
¥ 
 
 _“To sum up our conclusions: 
 
 “Ist.—The present water supply of Cincinnati is dangerously polluted 
 and should be abandoned as soon as possible. 
 
 “2d.—The Ohio River above all local sources of contamination offers the 
 best available supply, and : 
 
 ‘“3d.—This supply can not be safely used without purification. 
 
 The maximum amount of ammonia in the California water December 
 15, 1891 was .02 in 100,000, showing a bad water. The maximum amount of 
 chlorine .83 in 1880, 1.70 in 1887 and 1.40 in 1891, an alarming excess of this 
 most dangerous element above the safe limit and an increase in seven years 
 of over 100 per cent. 
 
 The other process demanding notice is that of Dr. Clark, of Aberdeen, 
 Scotland. This consists in precipitating the lime bi-carbonate by the addi- 
 tion of a solution of quick-lime. A proto-carbonate (whiting) is formed, 
 which being insoluble, settles to the bottom in the form of a milky precip- 
 itate. 
 
 From an analysis by Mr. Dugald Campbell, of a sample of water 
 from the new works at Canterbury, England, and submitted to Clark’s pro- 
 cess, it appears that the hardness before treatment was 14.9° and after treat- 
 ment 3.8°. Of the latter, -2.34° was due to Sulphate of Lime, Nitrate of 
 Lime and Silicate of Magnesia. Owing to the fact that these latter salts 
 can not be removed from water by boiling nor by Clark’s process, they are 
 said to produce ‘permanent’ hardness in the water. It will thus be seen 
 that the total reduction in temporary hardness of the Canterbury water was 
 from 12.56° to 1.48°. 
 
 The analysis also shows ‘that the softening process has practically 
 no effect upon the aeration of the water, there being a loss of only o 12 out 
 of a total of 8.11 cubic inches.’ 
 
 ‘Prof. Tyndall has recently applied the electric light to the com- 
 parison of different waters supplied to various towns; and the result is, that 
 such apparently clear waters as those of Loch Katrine, seem, under this 
 searching test, to be water of a muddy pool compared with the unyielding 
 transparency of the Canterbury water, which is brought about mainly by 
 the effective precipitation of foreign matters with the carbonate of lime in 
 the softening process.” | 
 
 Both these artificial methods of purifying water are, as instanced at 
 ‘Antwerp and Canterbury, successfully and economically employed. In 
 purity and clearness of the water, Clark’s is unquestionably the most perfect 
 yet devised for use on a large scale. The system used at Antwerp seems 
 to be less costly and is susceptible of enlargement at less cost. But un- 
 doubtedly the plan of tapping a large supply already clarified by Nature 
 is the best of all where it can be secured. Its advantages are the following : 
 
 1st —Its first cost 1s usually much less than that of a system of stor- 
 age and service reservoirs. 
 
 2d —Where the natural supply is sufficient little or no reservoir is 
 required. | 
 
3d.—The water is clear at all stages of the river. 
 
 4th.—Where a wide, long. and deep bar exists, so that the galleries 
 or driven wells may be in the stream some distance from the bank, the 
 supply will usually be protected from contamination by mixture with ground 
 or soil water. 
 
 5th.—The system can be readily entarged from time to time to meet 
 the increasing demands of the town. 
 
 6th.—Where the galleries or mains are ample, so as to maintain a low 
 velocity of infiltration, the cost of maintenance of the system is small, and 
 it is practically perpetual. 
 
 7th.—By having a proper number of mains connecting the galleries 
 or banks with the pumping works the danger of a failure of the supply is 
 reduced to a minimum. 
 
 Past experience shows that the following points should be kept in 
 view in the selection of a source of river bar supply, and in the construction 
 and operation of the works. 
 
 The source should be examined = 
 
 Ist. —As to the topography of the river bottom and the relation of 
 the site; as to its distance, elevation, difference between high and low water, 
 etc. 
 
 2d.—The width and depth of the bar, and its texture, involving the 
 rate of infiltration and the amount of silt resulting from different rates, so 
 as to determine whether we are merely tapping a natural basin of clear 
 water or whether a filtering action is set up. 
 
 3d.—The volume of the underground supply as compared to that 
 required for the city. 
 
 4th.—Is the water hard or soft? If hard is the hardness permanent 
 or temporary ? 
 
 5th.—lIs it clear at all stages of the river? 
 
 6th.—As to the organic amount of impurity in the water, especially 
 immediately on the bed rock or very deep in the bar. 
 
 “th.—In this connection, if we are compelled to set up a partial 
 filtering action in the bar, is the latter so open as to endanger the contami- 
 nation of the underground water by drawing down that of the river im- 
 mediately above, or the soil water from the banks ? 
 
 Sth.—If the bar acts in whole or in part as a filter, is there any 
 danger of its becoming clogged in course of time ? 
 
 The depth of the bar and its composition can readily be determined 
 by borings. The rate of coefficient of infiltration is best found by sinking 
 driven test wells in the bar. 
 
 The water so obtained can then be subjected to chemical and micro- 
 scopical examinations. ; 
 
 The volume of the supply can be calculated from the dimension of 
 the bar and the coefficient of infiltration. 
 
 If the test shows the water to be of standard quality we will then 
 have data for determining the character, dimensions and details of the works 
 
 and the approximate cost of the system. 
 7 
 
Deductions from the surveys and examinations heretofore made 
 for the Water Works. 
 
 The biclogical examination made recently by a committee of the 
 State Board of Health proves that the water of the Ohio above the Little 
 Miami is far too impure for use, 
 
 Test wells sunk by the recent Board of Experts, and at various other 
 times in the valleys of Millcreek, the two Miamis, Sedamsville, etc , in- 
 cluding deep wells, invariably yield too hard a water. 
 
 The well on the Dayton Sand Beach, although on the bank some 
 distance from the water line gave a much softer water. 
 
 Some of the deevest wells, notably that at Sedamsville, contained 
 an alarming amount of suspicious chemicals, especially of Chlorine, an 
 unusual and surprising result in such deep wells. 
 
 The slight degree of hardness of the water from the Dayton Sand 
 Beach would indicate that the bar was composed of rocks and sand from 
 the silicious formations above, and not from the outpour of the local streams 
 flowing threugh and surrounding calcareous beds 
 
 A high English authority, Dr. Letheby, recommended on the score 
 of health that water of not less than 1o degrees of hardness be used; 
 nevertheless this is so objectionable commercielly, on account of its injury 
 to boilers and to many manufacturing processes, that a much softer water is 
 usually demanded, and 5 or 6 degrees would seem to be a fair compromise. 
 
 In designing the works, the collecting appliances should be of ample 
 capacity, so that a very low speed of infiltration may result, thereby pre- 
 venting the entrance of silt and the filtering action of the bar, or reducing 
 that action to a minimum Several intake mains should be laid and so 
 arranged that any engine may draw from any one of the mains 
 
 Where the mains leave the river, they should enter a tunnel through 
 a water-tight bulkhead so strong as to resist the highest floods. All the 
 steam connections should be above the high water line. 
 
 All parts of the pumps should be accessible for observation and re- 
 pairs at all stages of water. 
 
 Comparing our surroundings with those of other cities using naturally 
 filtered water, we find, that while but little systematic examinations in this 
 direction have been made, the indications here are of the most encouraging 
 character. With the exception possibly of Genoa, none of the cities enum 
 erated in the above lists have as long and as wide a bar as ours, and judging 
 from Yngling’s well, our bar is deeper than any used in Europe. 
 
 The analysis shows that in regard to hardness and freedom from or- 
 ganic impurities the water from the Dayton Sand Beach is of high grade, as 
 a whole far better than any other found in the neighborhood ; so much so 
 that the Health Officer, in his report for 1880, recommended this as the 
 best source of water supply. 
 
The top of the bar has large areas two or three feet above low water ; 
 so that the galleries or intake mains could be laid during the summer in 
 open cuts at small expense, and they would always be accessible for repairs 
 at low water. 
 
 From appearances the bar has sufficient width for this purpose at 
 a point not over half a mile from the pumping station. This point could, 
 of course, only be determined by a careful examination. It would seem 
 then that the environment offers us every inducement to give this system 
 of water supply a thorough examination. especially as the works could 
 probably be constructed at less cost than on any other system. There 
 being no surveys or examinations on which estimates for such a plan 
 could be based, it is of course impossible to approximate the cost of 
 such works. 
 
 But in the way of suggestion only, and as a basis for the discus- 
 cusion of such a system, the writer ventures the following outline of plan; 
 
 An examination of the lines indicated above would show the ex- 
 tent and character of the bar, and the quality of its water. 
 
 The lowest point at which the bar could be tapped would also be 
 ascertained. 
 
 A new site for a pumping station should then be acquired on the 
 north side of Eastern avenue, above flood line, as far down stream as 
 practicable from the lower end of the intake on the bar. 
 
 A tunnel at proper depth should then be driven under the avenue 
 to the river bank, where its end should be closed by a water tight bulk- 
 head wall. An ample number of intake pipes should pass from the 
 pumping station, through the tunnel and bulkhead, to the collecting 
 appliances in the bar. If the distance from the latter should not prove 
 too great, the park below the Third street reservoir could be used as a 
 site. 
 
 Duplicate lines of force mains should be laid to the Eden Park 
 reservoir, remote from each other, so that if one were to break, it would 
 not endanger the other. 
 
 Some new engines of the most approved design would undoubt- 
 edly be required. They could be erected and connected with the new 
 force main without interfering with the ptesent works. Such of the 
 present engines as should be deemed worth retaining could be transferred 
 one at a time to the new station, and set to work as soon as the connec 
 tions were complete. When a sufficient number of the new engines were 
 ready for work, one basin of the reservoir should be emptied, and the 
 bottom washed clean with nozzle streams. The basin could then be 
 filled with filtered water through this new force main. When the new 
 station is complete the present force main would be connected with it, 
 and the remaining basin emptied, cleaned and filled with crystal clear 
 water. Then muddy water for Cincinnati would be a thing of the past. 
 
 9 
 
It should be noted that in estimating the contamination of water 
 by the number of pounds of sewage, so called, to 1,000,000 gallons, it is 
 stated that when pure water is exposed to the atmosphere, especially in 
 or near large cities, it receives contamination equivalent to from 1 to 13 
 pounds of sewage to 1,000,000 gallons. Therefore, the larger the storage 
 reservoir, the longer it would remain exposed to the air before use, and 
 the greater would be its contamination from this source. Hence, when a 
 city has its reservoir of filtered water under the bottom of the river bar, the 
 smaller its service reservoir is the better. Whatever its size, the system 
 would not be perfect, especially under the smoky skies of Cincinnati and 
 in leafy Eden Park, unless the reservoir where arched over, like those 
 of Paris and Marseilles, the arches being covered with earth to keep the 
 water cool. 
 
 The collection appliances might be either galleries of masonry. or 
 preferably lines of collecting mains somewhat similar to those proposed 
 by Yngling. In any event the water should be taken from as great a 
 depth as possible in the bar. Therefore, if galleries are used, they should 
 be water tight and the water collected by wells permeable only near the 
 bottom and sunk at intervals along the bottom of the galleries—as in 
 the Angers water works. 
 
 The situation may be summed up in a few words: 
 
 1st.—All experts who have examined the subject concur in re- 
 commending the Ohio river as the best source of water supply for Cin- 
 cinnati. 
 
 2d.—All are equally agreed that the present supply below the 
 mouth of the Little Miami is dangerously unfit for use. 
 
 3d.— While the water above the Little Miami is less foul than 
 that below, the recent examination by the Committee of the State Board of 
 Health proves the former to be unfit in its present state for the use of 
 human beings. 
 
 4th.—The Committee therefore recommended that it be filtered 
 and purified, and adds: “It is earnestly recommended and urged that 
 this be made a subject of careful inquiry by a competent commission 
 before plans for obtaining a new water supply for Cincinnati are finally 
 adopted.” 
 
 5th.—More than 1,000,000 people in Europe and 1,250,000 in 
 America successfully use naturally filtered water from the banks or bars 
 of rivers—not counting inland towns using driven wells. 
 
 6th.—Appearances strongly indicate that Cincinnati is more 
 favorably situated for the use of this system than any other city in the 
 above lists. ; 
 
 If the above premises be correct, a failure to make a thorough 
 examination with reterence to this system would be reprehensible neg- 
 ligence on our part. 
 
 10 
 
REMARKS ON A NEW WATER SUPPLY FOR CINCINNATI. 
 
 By G. BOUSCAREN. 
 
 s 
 
 The principal factors to be considered in designing water works for a 
 city are the QUALITY, the QUANTITY and the PRESSURE of the water to 
 be furnished. 
 
 QUALITY. 
 
 The objectionable features in water are, by order of importance— 
 POLLUTION, HARDNESS and TURBIDITY. 
 Water is said to be polluted when it contains elements injurious to 
 health. The most dangerous of these elements are germs of diseases and 
 organic matter in dissolution, which may not be visible to the naked eye. 
 Perfectly clear water may be badly polluted and extremely unwholesome. 
 Hard water contains mineral salts, principally carbonates, sulphates and 
 chlorides, in such proportion as to render the water unfit for washing and 
 cooking, for the production of steam and for many industrial purposes. 
 Turbidity is due to solid bodies, generally clay and fine sand, held in 
 suspension in the water. Turbid water is not necessarily unwholesome, 
 unless it contains organic matter or is otherwise polluted, but it can not be 
 used without clarification for a great number of manufacturing processes. It 
 causes a deposit of sediment in the distributing pipes which is always a 
 source of annoyance and expense, and its usage for domestic purposes is, to 
 say the least, very unpleasant. 
 Cincinnati is limited, in its choice for a water supply, between the Ohio 
 River and the underground water found in the gravel and sand formations of 
 the valleys tributary to the Ohio. 
 The eminent engineers employed three years ago by the Board of 
 Public Works to give advice on the best source of supply, recommended the 
 Ohio River. The other alternative was rejected for the very good reasons 
 that the underground water referred to is Aard, and that the possibility of 
 procuring it in sufficient quantity to supply the city permanently, must be, to 
 a certaiu extent, a matter of experiment. 
 On the other hand, the river can always furnish an abundant supply 
 Its water is soft, about one-tenth only of the drainage areaof the Ohio above 
 Cincinnati being of a limestone formation. The water, if taken above the 
 local sources of contamination, as recommended by the board of experts, is 
 wholesome; by reason of the great distance of other large cities above Cin- 
 cinnati and ot the great volume of discharge of the river. 
 The greatest fault that can be found with the river water is its turbidity. 
 The methods in vogue for clarifying turbid water are: 
 ist.—By drawing it out of the river through the medium of filtering galleries 
 or wells, whereby the water is made to percolate through sand or 
 gravel on its way to the pumps and arrives there clear. 
 
 2d.—By storing it in reservoirs a sufficient length of time to allow clarification 
 to take place by sedimentation, 
 
3d.—By filtration between the pumps and the distributing pipes, which can 
 be accomplished either by filter beds or machine filters. 
 
 Filtering galleries are expensive: they are “per se’ experimental works; 
 they very often become inoperative after a time by the puddling of the gravel 
 or sand bed in which they are built; they are at all times of difficult access 
 for repairs and for long periods of time entirely inaccessible. 
 
 They are opened further to the grave objection of supplying some- 
 times hard underground water instead of river water. 
 
 Such was the case with the well originally sunk at the old Covington 
 Water Works to feed the pumping engines. It was finally abandoned and a 
 direct intake pipe was laid from the pumps into the river 
 
 The second mode of clarification, by subsidence in reservoir, is especially 
 adapted to the Ohio River water, on account of the large proportion of clay 
 in the water. It is now a well established fact that the clay acts, in a measure, 
 as a coagulent and carries with it to the bottom the greater part of the 
 organic matter and of the Bacteria that may exist in the water, which is 
 thus purified as well as clarified. ; 
 
 A settling reservoir, having a capacity of ten days supply and provided 
 with the necessary facilities for cleaning periodically by flushing, would there- 
 fore be a very desirable feature in a new plant for the city, especially if the 
 water is not to be filtered. 
 
 It is not to be expected however, that such reservoir would furnish 
 sparkling water. The great bulk of the sand and clay would inaeed be 
 eliminated, but the water will always retain a milky appearance due to the 
 finer particles of clay which filtration alone can remove. 
 
 Filter beds are extensively used in Europe. They are expensive to con- 
 struct as well as to maintain properly, which requires cleaning at regular in- 
 tervals of time. For this reason they are a feature of rare occurance in 
 American water works, and their adoption for Cincinnati would hardly meet 
 with much favor, considering the necessity which exists of accomplishing as 
 much as possible with a moderate outlay. 
 
 Mechanical filtration is less expensive in cost of first establishment 
 and has been successfully applied in a number of cases, although never on 
 such a large scale as would be required for the treatment of the entire supply 
 for Cincinnati. 
 
 There are a variety of machine filters in operation, the most successful 
 ones being those where a coagulent is used to assist in separating the finer 
 impurities. 
 
 A considerable amount of mechanical power is required to force the 
 water through the filters and a certain amount of water must be used daily 
 for the frequent flushings required to maintain the filters in good working 
 order. This, with the expenditures for repairs and for the wages of the men 
 employed to operate the filters, constitute the cost of operation. 
 
 The percentage of this item to the total rate of cost of the witer 
 furnished, will vary largely with circumstances, but it will always be suff- 
 ciently great to be taken into consideration in determining to what extent 
 filtration shall be applied. 
 
 It seems a useless expenditure of money to filter the water used for street 
 sprinkling and sewer flushing, for elevators, for fire service and for many 
 other purposes where the partly clarified water from the settling reservoir 
 
would answer quite as well. The problem of separate delivery of both kinds 
 of water can be solved either by two distinct systems of distributing pipes, 
 or by confining the delivery of the filtered water to certain parts of the city 
 where the demand for it is greatest. This latter alternative is the less expens- 
 ive of the two and could readily be applied in the case of Cincinnati, by con- 
 necting the filtering plant to one or two only of the three divisions of the 
 service, viz: the HIGH, MIDDLE and LOW service. 
 
 QUANTITY. 
 
 It has been recognized from time immemorial that the good health and 
 comfort of a population call for an abundant supply of water. The grand old 
 aqueduct of Rome, under the Caesars, carried over 800 gallons per day to every 
 inhabitant of the Eternal City. We manage to get along with a great deal less 
 now. The daily consumption per capita in the large cities of Europe seldom 
 exceeds 50 gallons. In the United States the corresponding figures are about 
 twice as large. The following are taken from the Manual of American Water 
 Works for 1889-1890 : 
 
 New York, before the last extension of the Croton 
 
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 As the pumpage is not generally measured, but is computed from the 
 number of revolutions of the pumping engines, the above figures are © 
 probably in excess of the actual consumption. These figures necessarily in- 
 clude the waste, which is a very important item where meters are not in 
 general use. 
 
 From Mr. Arthur Moore's last report the rate of consumption in Cin- 
 cinnati seems to have been about 120 gallons. Considering the bad condi- 
 tion of the pumps which served to gauge the delivery, it is likely that the 
 correct figures would hardly exceed 100 gallons. 
 
 Making allowance for the probable increase of population in the next 
 decade, and for the higher rate of consumption during the summer months, 
 it would not be prudent to provide machinery for a daily pumpage of less 
 than fifty million gallons. This would require a pumping plant of seventy- 
 five million gallons total capacity, divided in three tiers, two of which being 
 in service, with the third one in reserve by rotation. The Conduits, Engine 
 House and Intake should be proportioned for a demand of not less than 
 seventy-five million gallons daily. 
 
 PRESSURE. 
 
 Sufficient pressure in the mains to insure good and regular service in 
 all the ramifications of the pipe system, is an essential feature in a well de- 
 
 = a 
 
signed system of water works. The pressure required will necessarily vary 
 with the elevation of the locality above the base of supply and the frictional 
 resistance to be overcome by the water in reaching it. 
 
 Pressure in the mains, represeuting stored energy, equivalent to money 
 spent in coal burnt under the boilers, becomes an expensive luxury when 
 used beyond the amount necessary for a good service. For this reason the 
 division of the distribution system in Cincinnati into a high, middle and 
 low service, according to the elevation of the districts served, is eminently 
 proper and should be preserved. The new machinery and reservoirs should 
 be designed with this object in view. 
 
 GENERAL. 
 
 In their report to the Board of Public Works, in 1889, the commission of 
 experts have defined clearly what the main features of a new plant for Cin- 
 cinnati should be. 
 
 They were all men of experience and ability. They gave the subject a 
 careful consideration and were very guarded in giving their opinion, not to 
 commit themselves on doubtful points. In my judgment, no important de- 
 parture should be made from their recommendation without very potent 
 reasons, and experimental ventures should specially be avoided. If itis true 
 that experiments are the foundation of engineering, it is also fundamental 
 of good engineering that experiments should first be tried on a small scale as 
 an intitial step to larger ones, and that no unnecessary chances be taken on 
 the final success of great undertakings. r 
 
 A discussion of the details of the work would be premature and out of 
 place here, but the thought that a good plan may easily be spoiled in the ex- 
 ecution suggests itselt in connection with the proposed plant on account of 
 the mistakes which are being frequently made in buying cheap machiney to 
 do expensive work. 
 
 The increased cost of operation in such cases generally exceeds the 
 interest on the additional sum which would have been required to have made 
 the machinery adequate to its work in all respects, without speaking of the 
 great annoyance, inconvenience and expense arising from frequent break- 
 downs. 
 
 It is to be hoped that the mistake will not be made in this case, but that 
 the BEST and not the CHEAPEST machinery will be adopted for our new 
 water works. 
 
 May 26, 1892. 
 
CINCINNATVS WATER SUPPLY. 
 
 BY EDWARD FLAD. 
 
 The City of Cincinnati has for many years been in need of a new 
 system of Water Works, and numerous efforts have been made towards the 
 establishment of a system of works commensurate with the present and 
 future needs of the city. 
 
 Expert opinions and reports have been obtained in great profusion, 
 some of them gratis, and others for value received; and though the former 
 class have indicated considerable difference of opinion, it is encouraging 
 to note that, in the main, there is a sufficient agreement between the 
 opinions of the leading engineers of the country who have devoted their 
 attention to the subject, to leave no doubt, at least in the minds of such who 
 are willing to abide by the decision of professional men rather than laymen, 
 as to the general plan upon which new water works should be constructed. 
 
 So much has been written upon the subject, that it is scarcely possible 
 to offer an opinion or argument that has not already been advanced. The 
 “report, which bears perhaps the greatest weight of professional reputation, 
 is the one made by a committee of experts to the Board of Water Supply 
 Commissioners of Cincinnati, in February, 1889, and as the writer is, in 
 the main, in thorough accord with the opinions and recommendations ad- 
 vanced therein, having had an opportunity, during some six months of offi- 
 cial connection with the above Board, to study the various phases of the 
 subject, it may be as well to state, at the beginning, that the general plan 
 outlined below is identical with the recommendations in the report above 
 referred to. 
 
 SOURCE OF SUPPLY. 
 
 Of the various sources of water supply which have been suggested 
 for Cincinnati, the only one which is available within reasonable limits of 
 expenditure, and without any risk as to quality and quantity of water ob- 
 tained, is the Ohio river. 
 
 It has often been urged that a system of tube or driven wells, located 
 on the “Dayton Sand Bar,” or in ‘‘Turkey Bottom,” would afford an amply 
 and wholesome supply, and the prospect of clear water to be obtained in 
 this manner has lent an attractiveness, especiaally in the eyes of laymen, to 
 this proposition. Numerous analyses of the water furnished by such wells, 
 except where they are located so as to furnish only river water, indicate a 
 degree of hardness far beyond what is allowable, varying from 20 to 60 de- 
 grees, and even if wells or galleries could be so located as to furnish river 
 water filtered throngh sand, with practically no admixture of upland water, 
 
 ~ 
 
 3) 
 
the reliability of a continued abundant supply is not indicated, either by the 
 experience of other localities or by sound reasoning. Works built upon 
 such a plan would be but a costly and uncalled for experiment not warranted 
 by existing conditions. 
 
 The recent experience of the city of Nashville, Tennessee, in the 
 matter of a filter gallery, located in a gravel bar, is instructive in this con- 
 nection. Suffice it to say that the experiment was tried there, and though 
 at first the results were satisfactory, after a few years of service a direct 
 inlet connection to the Cumberland river was found necessary, the filter 
 gallery being abandoned. 
 
 LOCATION OF INTAKE. 
 
 The location of the Intake should be above any present or probable 
 future source of pollution, and consequently:at some point above the mouth 
 of the Little Miami River. The conditions required for a suitable location 
 of the intake, viz: permanent channel, and possibility of erecting an inlet 
 tower without interfering with navigation, are found on the Ohio shore at 
 Markley Farm, at a distance of about 10% miles from. Eden Park Reservoir; 
 and on the Kentucky shore, just above the mouth of.the Little Miami a 
 distance of about 7 2 ro miles. The Markley Farm location offers a site 
 for a storage reservoir of a capacity which has been estimated at 300,000,000 
 gallons, with a high water line at an elevation of 75 feet above the. high 
 water line of Eden Park reservoir, but with the improved pumping machin- 
 ery of the present day, the additional expense involved in constructing this 
 storage reservoir and laying the increased length and size of water mains, 
 cannot be justified in view of the favorable location for settling reservoirs 
 and pumping station existing on the Ohio shore between the Miami river 
 and the town of California. 
 
 OUTLINE OF PROPOSED WORKS. 
 
 It is therefore proposed to locate the pumping station and settling 
 reservoirs on the Ohio river between the Little Miami river and the town 
 of California; with an inlet tower on the Kentucky shore, opposite the 
 pumping station ; a tunnel under the river connecting the two, to lead the 
 water to the pumping station ; and aseries of force mains leading from the 
 pumping station to Eden Park reservoir. 
 
 CLARIFICATION OF WATER. 
 
 Experiments made by the writer in January and February, 188q9, in- 
 dicate that a large portion of the suspended matter can be removed from the 
 water by subsidence Anaverage of eight experiments, when the river water 
 was very turbid, containing from 0.26 to 0.59 parts, by weight per thousand, 
 of silts in suspension, show that 76.8 per cent. of the silt was removed by 
 an average settling of 37.6 hours. AsmuchasSs5 per cent. of the suspended 
 matter was removed by 4o hours settling. 
 
 6 
 
While it is considered desirable to construct settling reservors in order 
 to remove the greater part of the suspended matter, it would not be practica- 
 ble to attempt to clarify the water entirely by simple subsidence Some 
 form of filtration or settling, with the aid of coagulents, must be resorted 
 to. Experiments on filtration of the Ohio water were commenced with the 
 view to obtaining full information as to the methods best adapted to the con- 
 ditions existing in Cincinnati, but were not carried to a conclusion. Further 
 exhaustive experiments will be required before any definate plan could 
 properly be recommended for so large a system under conditions not analog- 
 ous to those existing in Europe, where alone we are able to obtain data 
 upon filtration upon so large a scale. Moreover it 1s probable that the public 
 mind is not yet educated to the desirability or necessity of supplying clear 
 water, so that the additional expense of so doing would not be justifiable at 
 present, although undoubtedly the works should be planned with the in- 
 tention of ultimately furnishing perfectly clear water. 
 
 Sufficient property should be acquired for filter beds, and the design 
 of the settling basins, location of pumps, etc., should be such that filter beds 
 may readily be added at any future time with the least possible expense. 
 
 COST OF WORKS. 
 
 The cost of works as outlined above, even if built on the most liberal 
 plan, with provisions for future economical extensions to a capacity of 100 
 million gallons per 24 hours, need not exceed 414 million dollars for a supply 
 of 50 million gallons per 24 hours, with an addition of 1% million dollars 
 when the supply is increased to 75 million gallons. The works could be 
 coinpleted within from 4 to 6 years. 
 
 | According to the requirements of the new water works bill, passed 
 by the General Assembly of Ohio, the works must be built within the State 
 of Ohio. It is assumed that this requirement would not prevent the loca- 
 tion of the inlet tower on the Kentucky shore, otherwise it would become 
 necessary to locate the inlet at Markley Farm, with an additional length of 
 pipe line of about three miles, but even in this event the construction of the 
 Markley Farm reservoir would not be necessary or advisable. 
 
 The requirements of Cincinnati in the matter of an improved water 
 supply are well acknowledged on all sides. Ina work of this magnitude it 
 is, of course, of the utmost importance that politics should not be made the 
 basis of appointments. 
 
 In voting upon this question, however, it should be remembered 
 that the fear of corruption, often entirely unfounded, has caused the abandon- 
 ment or injurious delay of many public improvements well and _ skillfully 
 _planned, in the interest of those who rejected them. 
 
 St. Louis, Mo.. Feb. 26, 1892.