The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-08-08
MT. VERNON FILTERS
How a lively Young City
Is Dealing With the
Pure and Palatable
Water Question.
80 PER CENT. BACTERIA REMOVED
Reservoirs, Filters and Cascades
For a Supply of 100000
Gallons a Day.

[Ffom the Mount Vernon IN Ko Ne,cs of
august Al
Pure wholesome water is essential to the
health as well as the material prosperity of
any city, and hence is one of the most inn
portant problems a community has to deal
with.
1t is a well known fact that the water sup
ply of our city during the last eigh. years,
while it never has been absolutely unwhole-
some at any time las is evidenced by our low
death rate during this period, nevertheless
been more or less impure and unclean at
times. While some of these Impurities have
been due to accidental contamination along
the water sheds, a goodly portion has been
due to an impure reservoir bed ana absence
of a proper filter.
The present management of the water
company realizing the necessity OF furnish
ing pure water for our growing community
and also being impressed by the tact that
the company was not living up to its CON
tract, namely to furnish US with pure whole
some water at all seasons, determined TO
remedy this condition of affairs by building
in its Pelhamville reservoir one OF the finest
aeration and filtration systems IN existence
in this country.
In order that our readers may get an ade-
auate idea of what has been recently accom-
pushed IN this direction a brief description
of the water sheds. reservoirs, plant and fl
tiers may not be amlss.
There are two reservoirs at New Rochelle,
a small one or receiving basin, so to speak,
which is connected by a thirty-slx inch main
to the larger one. The latter contains "a 2-lO
acres and has a total capacity OF 91sOOO,00U
gallons. while the Hutchinson river reservoir
at Pelhamville has a capacity of 14,O00,O0O.
The water from the larger reservoir Is con-
Quoted to the plant at PelhamYille through a
sixteen inch main into the old reservoir,
which has now been turned into a filter.
There is a storage reservoir above the inter
reservoir which gathers the water from the
Hutchinson river. 1t will thus be seen that
our water supply is made up o two distinct
sources, namely, the sources at New Rochelle,
and the Hutchison river water sheds. 1t is
intended to draw the whole water supply to
be used under ordinary circumstances from
the New Rochelle reservoir and to use the
Hutchinson river as an additional or reserve
supply.
As mentioned before, the water is con-
Quoted by espionage through a sixteen
inch pipe to Pelhamville. the elevation of
the former place being tifty-six feet above
the latter. At felhamyille the water issues
from the pipe into a well of solid rock some
ten or twelve feet in diameter, five or six
feet deep at the head of what is technically
known as the cascade" this latter being at
an elevation of thirty feet above the filters,
The cascade is a rough, sloping rock
about twenty feet wide with a longitudinal
exposure of 104 feet over which the water
continually flows, thus being exposed to the
air, and this process Is known as a~eratlon.
The water having passed over the cascade IS
which there are three, each about
one acre square. The filter it,
self is composed of sand and gravel, and is
arranged in rows. These rows are quad
rangular in shape, fifteen feet wide with an
angle at top and at bottom and about four
feet deep: at the lower angle running
parallel with the individual filter is a cypress
wood pipe, with an opening on its under sur
face: above this are arranged four layers OF
gravel of about three inches in thickness
each; the lower layer containing gravel to
2 inches, the I'd = to l inch, Sd a to inch,
4th u to 4 inch. Above this is a layer of
about two feet of clean selected sand of the
proper quality: these individual sand filters
are placed in rows extending across the filter
bed. All the four inch cypress wood pipes
at the bottom of each individual filter
are connected with a larger twelve inch
cypress wood pipe running at right angles,
which connects with the well or final in
take" from whence the water is pumped to
stand pipe and city. AS stated before, the
top of each filter comes to an angle. for this
reason, that were it fat and the water al
lowed to pour on to a fat surface the air
would be imprisoned and proper filtration
would not take place; but with this shape of
filter the water percolates in at the sides
QONu Iut SIOplnS WdA4S, duU HCAS pAC
cypress wood pipe while the air Is driven out
at the top.
The well or intake which receives the
water after it is filtered is twelve feet deep.
. It is possible to filter seven million gallons
per day; the daily consumption of the city
of Mount Vernon is l ,730.U0 gallons per
day. There are three supplies to these
filters: one from the cascade which is the
only one used under ordinary circumstances;
a second from the main from New Ro-
chelle, taken a short distance above the
cascade, which is allowed to run directly
into the filter; the latter is only used
when the cascade is shut off, when it is
necessary to clean the filter into which the
cascade directly emptles: the third IS from
the Hutchinson River reservoir, and is only
to be used under extraordinary circum-
stances, such as accident TO the main from
New Rochelle. 1t will thus be seen that
water used ordinarily in Mount Vernon will
be aerated and filtered and under no circum-
stances can any water be used which has
not been filtered. There are also drainage
cutters at top of walls of filters SO that no
surface waste can drain on filters. When
the filters become soiled the water is shut off,
and a layer of sand removed and replenished
with fresh sand.
This system is pronounced by experts as
the most perfect thus far invented, the
a~eration scheme admitting of oxidizlng
chlorides and ammonia, and the filters re-
moving all other impurities. 1t is estimated
that W 2-lO per cent. OF the DdcJorla are fe-
moved by this system. While this system
has been extensively used abroad there are
very few of its kind in this country. Law
renee. Mass, has the filter system without
the cascade.
This important work was commenced on
the 18th of January last, and was completed
about the middle of July; the constructing
engineer in charge was j. N. Chester, with
A. II. Kneen, assistant constructing en-
gineer, and j. M. Howells, consulting en-
gineer.
An idea of the Importance, magnitude and
expense of this work may be gathered from
the fact that contractor Il. j. Reilly has had
a force of $50 men working on the construc-
ton night and day for six months past. The
work is excellently laid out and splendidly
executed, no expense having been spared.
and reflects great credit upon the manage
ment for its execution and upon the en-
gineers and contractors in charge for the
plans and actual construction.
The company, realizing the Importance of
the new departure, extended an invitation
to our citizens to visit and inspect the plant
on Wednesday afternoon last when the new
system was put into operation. According
" several hundred of our citizens, a num-
Der of them, accompanied by their ladies,
repaired to P~elhamville. About four O'clock,
Mr.. Mahaney, representing the company,
made afew appropriate remarks and intro
duced Mayor Brush. The Mayor after