Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-06-10
what Gen. Meigs Says About It-Caused
by u Vegetable Growth.

n Il
What Gen. Meiss Says About It-Causea
by Vegetable Growth.
A STAR reporter visited Gen. NJ. C. Meigs.
under whose supervision the District water
works were built and who has devoted great
deal oil thought and study to the subject of pure
water supply. to get his opinion with regard to
the di>agreeable odor which has pervaded the
fo'onac water. After being told the object of
the reporters visit, the general said: "a good
many years ago first heard of this fishy odor
as present in Cochituate aqueduct, Boston. That
city draws its water from Lake Cochituate,
which is a lake without tributaries in sandy
soil. 1t is supplied entirely by springs. There
was much speculation by the press as to the
cause and the people complained, as we do. of
a ,lshy taste and odor They flushed the pipes
ana took SUCH measures rs are ordinarily tax en-
ana Hnaily the odor disappeared. The next
complaint heard OF was a year or two
afterwards. It came from the Croton
a:queduct. and. 1 think, the same season
IL appeared i'll the Potomac water. L
Iiunched boat in the receiving reservoir, and
Inund the whole surface covered with Il very
thln transparent green pelliclc. Wherever our
oars struck through it the clear, bright water
appeared; so this pellicle was only on the sur
brought it to the city for examination But
we never seen it determined precisely what it
Is. l believe it is vegetable and not animal
matter 1t Is composed of very minute cells.
when combine into thread-like forms. They
are not offensive, apparently, when fresh, but
when broken up they sink into the water un-
derSo decay or fermentation, and become very
offensive. The next visitation remember was
to Cincinnati. which draws is water by pump
peatedly, as have learned by the press in
New York, Boston and in the waters of other
eeI,tleS, and has several times afflicted
Washington. The plant seems to have
Its regular growth; to appear in moderately
warm, quiet and dry weather. With us, gem
orally, it disappears after being broken up and
N ,.l,~. 80
and heavy showers. l think that after the
storm OF last Friday it will soon disappear here
II Is not confined to stasnant or still water or
To reservoirs and ponds, for i'll still weather the
quiet and shallow reaches OF the Potomac and
OHIO, and doubtless of all other rivers in this
sGdeS ha M'h pro tas esea
this vegetable growth conferr9. He said that
when the pe!licie is broken UP and sinks natur-
parting its disagrecable fishy odor to the water
He reiterated the opinion that it had about
disappeared here and would not trouble Wash
he said.
Any person who has observed the upper re-
SerVolr during the past two weeks must have
seen seen that the water in the lower end was COW
cred with just such colored scum, of a thin
hlmy nature as Gen. Meigs describes.
GEN. MEIGS' VIEW SUSTAINED.
AT recent meeting of the Engineers club of
Philadelphia, reported in the Science Bulletin, a
paper prepared by Mr.. A. Harvey Tyson, engin-
eer of the Reading, Pa, water works, on the
subject of this fishy odor in water was read
lie water pipes were thoroughly flushed, but
that did not remove the trouble. Mr.. Tyson
stated that an examination into the cause of
the trouble showed that instead OF having the
natural blue-green color the water had a bright
green, ana Ian examination of the lake" he
said, 'developed the cause OF the trouble to be
vegetable formation which, when alive and
scattered through the water, gave no noticeable
taste or odor to it, but in its decay became
highly offensive. The plant itself when gath
cred from the surface seemed to be without
disagreeable taste or odor, but when exposed
to the heat or light of the sun rapidly fermented
and became very offensive. This plant when
In subsIding reservoirs subjected to the suns
rays grows rapidly, and when drawn into the
distributing pipes the want of air causes decay,
and, as result, taint.'' Mr.. Tyson went on to
state that in Antietam lake, which supplies
Reading, the trouble grows worse yearly, and
that he had heard of its existence in over 100
places where water is impounded for public
service. 1t does not appear in the Potomac or
given trouble here several times when accord
ing to Cen Meigs, the spring weather was"warm,
quiet and dry"
THE INSPECTION OF THE RECEIVING REsER-
NOIR BY THE DOCTORS YESTERDAY.
1t was at the request of the District commits
sioners that DR.. Townshend, health officer, and
Drs. Bayne, McKim, Magruder and Klein
schmidt, police surgeons, yesterday visited and
examined the receiving reservoir. The object
of their investigation was to ascertain the
cause or causes of the unpleasant odor which
has attached to the Potomac water as distfibu-
ted through the service pipes of the city for
Townshend said tfadt the committee Of physi.
clans took boats and explored the two streams
which are tributary to the reservoir. ''The lit
tie branch at the lower end of the reservoir op-
posite the conduit road" said the doctor
''amounts to nothing 1t proceeds from a small
srs to only So short w. and is too r
up Mill creek, or Spring branch, as it is
sometimes called. as far as our boats could
at the old mill. The old mill is only used occa-
sionally. On the mill race, some distance from
the creek, is privy used by three persons. 1t
Mill creek, which we also explored, as far up as
we could go, is a much larger stream. There is
not house anywhere along the creek. OF
these streams, but we did 20 far enough to SEE.
that people are not living along their banks.
we took two samples f OF % water from on ,a each creek
above where it discharges into the reservoir,
and one each reservoir-the upper and lower.
here in the city, and all these will be analyzed
by competent chemists. 1t has been said that
the. drainage. from Brooks hotel is car
opposite direction. OF course in time of of
rain great deal of storm water empties into
the upper reservoir through these creeks" DIR.
Townshend said the committee will wait for
the analyses of the samples of water taken
by them before preparing their report. They
did not look into the question Of the water
being tainted by vegetable growth on the sur
face. DR.. TOwnshend to-day received a letter
from Gen. Meigs calling his attention to this
phase. of the question, and that will be cOnsid-
cred. The doctor still holds to his theory, that
decomposed fish spawn from the reservoirs has
had much to do with imparting to the water
the odor complained of.
CHEMIST DE sMEDT ANALYSES THE WATER,
District Chemist De Smedt has made an
analysis of the Potomac water taken at his lab
oratory. on 41a street, in the District govern
ment buildings, and finds: Free ammonia O. Is
millogrammes per liter; parts per million, albu-
mold, O.O75 do, do; mitrates, traces; chlorine,
&, do, do. He states: II now compare this
analysis with my latest analysis of May %.
We find May %, free ammonia, OOS: June 8,
tity. This might be attributed to the rainfalls
since that date. Rain water containing an
average OF OF parts per million. May %, albu-
mold ammonia, O.1OO; June 8, albumoid am
monia, O.O75 diminished in quantity parts per
million, OOPS. So, Notwithstanding the fshy
smell, which think Is disappearing, the PO-
tomac water is organically purer now than
May 2S.'
Affairs i'm West Washington.
THREE WEST WASHINGTON BOYs.-Among
the graduates Of the National College of Phar-
macy who will receive their degrees at Ford's
Opera House tomorrow evening are James 7.
r. Appleby (nephew of DR.. Appleby). Charles A.
Becker (sOn of the well known druggist and
Joseph A. HOrigan, all of this place.
TWO NEGRO BURGLARS IN HIS HOUSE.-Mr.
F. M. MOftitt, No. 1901 2Sth street, reports that
about $50 o'clock this morning he was
getting out Of bed discovered two negroes up
stairs and near the entrance to his room IJDOn