Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-12-14
THE CITY'S W AFTER.
Col Elliott Convinced That Filter
Works Are Needed.
THE QUESTION OF WASTE
Where He Thinks Money Should Be Ex-
pended-Increasing the Supply, Improving
the Reservoir and Providing Filtration
works-Capt. Lusk's Views.

Ordinarily the citizen does not think much
! about the water lie drinks, but when he looks
ut his goblet and instead Of beholding the
sparkling beverage celebrated in various
temperance songs sees brown, murky. muddy
mixture, he is apt to cogitate somewhat on the
general subject of water. The appearance
OF the water is against it, but Col. Geo.
ii. Elliot, the engineer in charge Of
the Washington aqueduct, and Mr.. Clifford
Richardson, the Distric: chemist, both recon-
mend 1t highly as healthful drink. The
| CLOUD In the water carries a mans thoughts
| back through the service pipes, the miles and
miles OF great water mains. the big
reservoirs west Of Georgetown. the con-
duit to Great Falls, the dam across
the river ana finally the upper Potomac
and its rocky bed, and one wonders where the
fault lies. At Col. Elliots office this morning
was reported II. This was the record
| made by gauge used to test the condition of
water as to ciearness at the dam at the FALLS
| just AS it enters the conduit.
his by no means meant clear water, but it
was considerable improvement over last week.
The sediment in the water comes with it. uc-
cordins to Col. Elliot, from the river and
| ID not impaired to it in the reser-
volr on account of any local conditions
there. Col. Elliot told STAR reporter good
X.
some important conclusions he had reached
| respecting future expenditures &c perfect the
| water supply.
One OF the most important things Col. FL
hot mas decided upon as desirable, if not
urgent. is that some system of filtration must
be adopted in addition to the i'm
proyements he has recommended at the
upper reservoir to make that reservoir
| an effective settling basin. He has concluded
also that money must be expended at the Great
al In m
the conduit in order to provide for the greatly
increased and increasing consumption. and in
addition tC that means must be taken TO d.
minish the waste in the city
WHY THE WATER Is MUDDY.
''The muddy condition of the water is easily
explained" said Col Elliot in reply to ques-
ton by The STAR reporter. "You know about
two weeks ago we had unusually cold weather.
The record one day showed that it WAS
| as cold as any day last winter All along the
Potomac the ground vas frozen the frost ex-
pandiuS and disintegrating the soil and putting
| 1t In such d condition that when a heavy rain
came Immediately after the cold spell the earth
was washed into .he stream. and the result was
the river had an unusually muddy appearance
The appearance Of the water il against it. but
it is not unhealthfu]. 1t is good water even in
its muddy condition 1 saw n statement the
other day by Prof. Richardson on the subject
and | immediately wrote tc him, as agreed
with him perfectly
Here Col Elliot opened his letter book and
showed copy of his letter to Prof. Clifford
| Richardson, Ill which lie said about the water:
1T Is certainly exceptionally muddy and it
is doubtless mainly owing to the fact that the
first rain OF the season of any conse-
Iuence failing upon the land along
the upper Potomac loosened up by freeZ-
| ing and then thawed was such AN I'M
usually heavy one. bnt quite agree with YOU
that In spite Of its appearance the water is per-
fecty healthful and is one of the best unfiltered
| waters in the country Hope Congress will soon
grant the money to improve the upper reservoir
as repeatedly recommended in annual reports
This reservoir is now useless tor reasons stated
| In these reports. and until it can be
made an alternative storage basin be-
yond the heads OF the mains (Which are
at the lower-the distributing reseryOir) but
little can be done to improve the appearance of
| the water before 1t passes into the MAINS
NOW IN FAVOR OF FILTRATION.
"Are you still, " asked The STAR reporter,
'of the same opinion you held when in your
report year ago you proposed improvements
ut the receiving reservoir as a means of keep
ing the water clear?''
Il still believe that measure important and
necessary, but go further. believe now that
We must come to filtration. Capt. Symons in
| report made in 1856 treated the subject of
hlters exhaustively. Some plan, such
as he discussed, believe must
be adopted if the city is to
have perfect water supply These filter works
would be located at the distributing reservoir
| Just where the water enters the mains that
bringsit into the city. The water then would
be absolutely c!ear-as clear as crystal free
not only from muddy sediment. but free from
bacteria OF which you hear so much"
THE WASTE oF WATER.
1T has been suggested" remarked The STAR
reporter, that one cause OF the muddiness of
the water is the waste, SO much water being
drawn constantly from the reservoir that there
is no time for it to SETTLE
There is undoubtedly truth in that" said
Col Elliot. The consumption of water
In washington Ii enormous. The figures or
dinsrily used do not give clear idea
every man. woman and child, white
and colored the infant in arms, every
one, uses nearly five barrels of water a
day one can get some understanding of it.
That Ii the consumption of water in this
city, according to statistics. OF course
this means vast amount of waste
Water Is so cheap i'll Washington that ordinarily
people think it does not make much difference
how much they use What we want to do is to
enforce the law of Congress about meters
is being wasted meters should be
put in to check the waste. This would not in
crease the cost of water to the ordinary water
| taker The rates would be so fixed that an
ample allowance could be made for every house
! at cost not exceeding the present water tax
One trouble is that people let the water run
all day in closets with the foolish idea that
| they are flushing and cleansing the pipes or
| let it run all night to keep it from freezing.
| In houses where the plumbing is
| good this latter expedient Is useless.
| In all properly plumbed houses there is a
spigot. by means Of which the pipes in the
houses can be emptied and thus all danger of
| freezing avoided
Il should discourage the great expense of
| meters except to reduce the waste in tue city,"
| lis not much Of the waste due to extrava-
CANT use of the water by the government in
| the departments and to supply fountains?'
| asked The STAR reporter
No." said Col Elliot. that is not the case
The consumption Of water here per capita Is
| twice as great as in other large cities-as in
New York, for instance-and those cities
have fountains, and make use Of
water for public purposes quite as
extensively as is the case here. That will not
account FOR the enormous consumption of water
here. In advocating filters l should think it
| would be imperative to check the waste in
| water by adopting the meter system, because
the cost Of tiltering i've barrels of water o day
for every man, woman and child would be too
great" -.
''In case of the introduction OF filters you
| still think the improvements at the upper res
| ervoir should be made:" said the reporter
| 'Yes, because it is desirable to settle the
water as much as possible before it gets into
| the filter"
WHERE MONEY SHOULD BE SPENT.