The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1890-10-28
TIE WATER SUPPLY.

THE WATER SurPLf.
The Idea of Filtration ihroush Sand Dis.
approved by IL Correspondent.
To the Editor Of the Inttiiigenor.
sIE:--ln reply to the communication
in your columnB OF October %, over the
signature Of "C. r." I desire 10 call
his attention to the fact that the kind Of
filtration lie proposes is not similar to
that employed in the city OF London, to
which he refers. DR.. Smarts analysis
OF the "crib water" is found in tho re.
port Of Inc State Board OF Health OF
West Virginia for 1854.
A river flowing over q sand stratum,
by q rowing town, offers atenp!ation, to
citizens who have not studied the quea.
ton on nll sideH, to try the experiment
Of iitering galleries for pure water. 1t
Is uncertain until the work is nearly
done or until long afterwards, whether
the inscrutible conditions will favor or
Illustrate the success or the maintenance
OF the system. But it seems simple
enough to sink reservoir by the shore
below the river level in the deep sand
bed, and tap tho stream by persolation
the clean Intervening sand; using
pumps to raise the filtered water, in n
stand pipe or otherwise, above the roofs
Ct the city. Without going into particu-
lars, suffice 1t to say, on this poiat, that
engineers generally agree thAt construc
ton, maintenance and risks, taken to-
geth,r, will be apt TO make this one OF
the most expensive methods for getting,
or rather trying TO get, pure water.
Captain Symon's Judgement is given il
few words in the War Departments
report on the Washington wafer.
The advantages presented to the IN
tutorcd imagination by this kind OF
scheme have Il very pretty look indeed.
But they disappear ruefully before the
tests Of experience or practical criticism.
Granting oil the good luck possible,
what kind Of q tilter have you? 1tmay
give the city 4 brief period OF great sat
isf!ction and pride. The water may
come through bright and clear, tolerably
free oi suspended matter, and il the.
stream has no organic contamination,
it may be steadily pleasant to smell end
taste. The movement will doubtless be
slow, but with the extenGive an expsn.
sivo worke presuppcsed, the accumula.
ton may DO sufficient for 4 small town
or large city, the vastness OF the nsces.
sary works would scarcely allow this
system 10 be thought oiaiter the fist es.
Inmates, unleaS the estimates were reck-
lessly suDguine as to the rapidity OF per-
collation. and the limit OF the necessary
fltering galleries.
The continuance OF this moderately
happy state OF things, however, is rs
rs n lottery. The progress
sive tendency may be, probably will be,
at my rate, to slower percolation and di-
supply. This has been the
usual course until supplementary sup.
plies have become indispensable; rs may
be seen, for instance, at Columbus, D.
tendency quite sure, is to in
creasing impuri.y. The sand not only
becomes more solidly packed by pres.
sure, but it also fills up, deeper and
deeper, on the riverward surface, with
The extremely fine slit OF organic depos.
It's, creating ultimately the foulest.sniell-
Ing macs known tothe senses, and soon-
er or later, practically stopping tho per-
collation.; precisely Gs was the case in
he filterinc beds at Pouchkeepsie.
According to the IT port Of the super
ntendenl, Mr.. Charles Z. Fowler, the
nteratices OF the bed had become
packed with the river muck, through
aud through, in dense mass like COM
pact clay, and about as imperrious TO
water. For q. long period the water had
passed through very elowly, and had
leisure for the most intimate commun.
ion forall the types OF Ias.iness that
rivers receive and deposit in their
courses, raised TO their highest power
,of stench) by chronic ferment." This,
Notwithstanding that tho iouled surface
If the sand had been frequently scraped
,ir and renewed; nothing OF which, Of
could be done in the case Of the
natural sub.tluvial filter galleries. The
lndisturbed mass OF the bed became, by
Insensib!o degrees, penetrated and
packed with impurities too extremely
line 10 be stopped near the surface. Ex.
lctly such must be the result at length
throughout the immoval and inaccps.
,iblo mass Of q subteranean gallery. 81.
er, and there is no possible remedy, I'll
IS absolutely certain that the entire fail.
ITO and disuse OF such a filter is but a
question OF time. III the experiment Mt
Newark, N. j., il proved but OF short
ime, having some years since ceased to
De either tolerable or practicable, and
became a total loss. 4 similar expert.
.ncs was that had at Eas! Liverpool,
ohio.
There is an Illusion that the gallery
liter is equivalent to natures filter
beds; from which, however, it differs
n three essentials. Ia the first place,
lature's filters have no such concentra.
ion OF dirty water to endure; and il per.
.hanco human slovenliness does concen.
rate unusual filth upon them, they fail
8 filters, VIGOROUSLY; Just as artificial
ilters OF every kind had always done un.
ii the art OF daily cleansing was made
PRACTICAL by Mr.. Hyatt. 1
In tho second place, the subsoil sand
n nature, that catches tho impurities OF
he percolating rain, ia searched by the
cots OF plants that suck up tho organ
c matter arrested, and keeps the filter
lean, under normal conditions. Neither
he gallery filter nor the bed filter can
lave any such cleansing attachment:
nd il they had. 1t would be useless, as
8 it is in nature, against tho enormous
verdosc Of filth.
The third essential OF Natures pure.
'ater works that il impossible to any
rlilicial bed or gallery Ia nnn withnnt