, 1880-02-28
OUR WATER.
Complaints Of It's Fi1thiness-
An Official Test.
Interview with the Mayor on the Subject
The Remedies Proposed.

!
The Bridgeport Pumping Works
. the Only Feasible One.
A Visit to the Crib-The Water Dirty
Effect Of the Winds.
Where Is the Honey to Come from to Carr: out
the Proposed P}aas9
For some time past complaints have been nU-
merous On the part Of tho consumers of water
and almost everybody consumes more Or less
that 1t was muddy and full Of dregs, and we'll
grounded opinion has prevailed that the south
western winds were driving OUR sewage towards
tho Crib and imprcgnating the water. These
complaints have cone to the city authorities
time and asui1,, and, though no noise has been
made about it, 1t hts leaked out that the Mayor
hns been quietly making some Investigations
and triuis to satisfy himself. It is understood
that the first complaint came from Ills own
household. 1t was to the effect that tho
water drawn from the faucets was grcenish,
thick, and gave forth an unpleasant odOr. This
was some weeks ago, and ho was ready to ut
tribute it to anything else than the olnptying Of
the river into tho luke, but yesterday the COM
plaint came again, and. not caring to take any
one else's word FOR 1t, he tried the water him
self, and found 1t just what had been repro
scutod, and WIS somewhat alarmed. He imMe-
diately cafne dow, to his office to
/ CONSULT THE CITY ENGINEER ON TIE SUBJECT,
| md, lest there might be some local trouble, It
was determined to mike test Mt the rookery,
| and the Health Office was selected us the place
| from which to get the samples. The faucet
| there has t1ltor attached to It, and is
estimated to have q capacity OF about ten
| gallons per minnie. To start WITH the Hitter
| was thoroughly cleaned, attached and fifty gal-
| Ions OF water were allowed to pass through It.
! The water WIS then turned OFT and tho filter re-
| versod. and the contents Of 1t emptled into
| xluss and allowed to stand. The water was very
! muddy, and the particles Of filth were percept1-
| bic to tho naked eye. After it had stood awhile
say five tninutas-the top Of the water was
| covered with u greasy, sent-glut1nous matter,
| to the depth Of quarter OF an inch, which was
! Of dark color with slight grecnish tingo; tho
bottom Of the glass contained sediment hav-
! ing the appearance OF very fine sawdust; and
| iu the body of the water were floating particles
| Of hbrous 1natter--the whole being repulsive
t and calculated to create u prejudice against
water as beverage. 4 second test wis naac
| with the saue result, and the samples IN both
cases were preserved, labeled, and sent to Dr.:
Learning Of The Mayors increased interest in
| the pure water question, reporter sat down IN
| bis private olhco to have a talK Win nlm Oh lae
"What do you think, he said, By way Of opon-
ing the subject, i" Of the several plans proposed
tbe tbe sesfes seweTaEe Se ovsl; pA' "'>''N <''
| Where DO you want me to begin2'
| "Well, begin with
THE SCHEME FOR DEEpEs1So THE CANAL"
"That regard as simply impossible. It VIII
| cost millions Of money, and the Stato hasn't got
eno1gh surplus refcnuo to undertake anything "a hda
| Of that sort now, ond probably won't be IN con-
dition to do so for sevrlnl years to come. 1t IS
one Of those things that lie SO fur ahead III the
future rs to take 1t out OF tho realm Ut the pfae-
How do you like the elaborate scheme Of
pumping works somewhere between Evanston e,
genious conIrivnnce for turning Washington
street tunnel lnto an immense catch.pasin an4
to TIC . HIST part Of
also lies In the expense, which would simply oe
enormous. Ny own idca is to
BUILD TIE TUNNEL FAuGnEn OUT INTO THE LAKE.
| don't see any benefit In running tunnel to
Highland Park, unless we come to the c9ncn. i!lo
sion that these tunnels aro not safc. JnnRe
FurwelIs tdea of using the tunnels to curry the
sewage out is based on the supposit1on tnat aa.
5ds dea nd1e'S IS that at II The so 4as system to
r tho present tunnels arc safe as fur the crib
and IRE going to be safe, sec no reason Why
they could not be pushed out two or three miie
l
Sna ia 4hoT The tr1,o gay Is to push tho out to
.st e i,.1 Et 1d thon n erncf crib rs we did
W. uht ns,"Hoar r. mr. T'he crib would bo In
eoct5cns eats q hat when we have located it and
eo,1it,1.fn1 the tuuuci to thar point, we could
sr "a 1on seotinn ofT twenty-five feet be-
in,v tn tha "a srurfacs Then | would have q
svStcm of grtes, the chains to which
,IJ 80 nnr +1no rlrse I'm tho flow Of water into
tHn,n Thn.1 e e. - aR5muId Became nccessary"
u - VIA = ,sn1id I've the nlrticulur advantages 20
] ,a t,.;not, 1"x ~, nj thfsi'
~ ~ hS. Et ,o ,rn,,J haxe our simply two or three
miles further out than ut present From the
information that can get, tho chicago Hlsee' ~
we were to empty all OF our sewage anto 80 ~,
and II arc to have million people 1G.t, ~. H..
sewage would not then 70 nFe nlits oue MY s ~
lake. Tho system, OF winds when presalis ~ ~,
is such that the river water empty1us 1ato ~ ~
lake would either so north CONTIGUOUS 70 1ni ans
shore, or south, contiguous to It, ano "ouao no'
reach the new crib, tour Or HFo lniics out~
u1s TINS PURE THEORY, OR OTHERWISE
urhoso +h;e a+.+ement ,,non Information which
.ln uos e.aaoivoG from en0inccrs, but which
"a nasE ~ +oe1ni II nnr M true. and it may no,
ha'e t put s,,nnnso tha INV Of The river cannot
~ oct ~ wntrT fo,1r DR. i've miles out With
emfes er 81 ,n ft TINT We can cut it oil twenty vs
Fant ha1n,r thn s,,rfrce and with gntes attAchcd
leet oeio" W ~ thot no .o,id command the mouth
~ The tunnel. what will be the result? We VII
. | then have crib that can never pe aucctea y,