Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1897-08-05

00s.Nl Proessdiags Of Lase Nighs's Uoun-
oal uaotn9.

O0ss0I Proesodiags Of Lest Nights Ooun-
| eai Assthg.
| City Council Room, Rock Island
Aug. A. The Council met in adjourned
! session at $3.50 p. m, Mayor Medill
| presiding and all the aldermen pres.
| ent. A re cess was taken until D. NJ.
for the pu rpose of attending an exhi
bition drill of the Fire Department.
I On reasse tubling Mayor Medill sab.
mitted the fo flowing report of the tour
of inspection of waterworks reese rvoirs
and recommel ,dation as to the propos.
ed reservoir Il q Rock Island
Gentlemen: Your committee, con.
sisting of the Mayor. Aldermen Win.
ter, Surman ami johnson, of the Wat.
srworks Csmmi' ttee. Alderman .Dau-
Der. John A. N urrin, Superintendent
of Waterworks, nd DIR. J. P. Comegys,
Commissioner of Health, instructed by
your honorable body to investigate
tbs reservoirs of cur neighboring cit
les, would respectively report, viz:
We visited the cities of Peoria, East
st Louis, ST. Louis, Quincy, ST. Joe,
Council Bluffs and Or naha, and inspect
ed the reservoirs at the several places.
OF the cities visited, we found that
st. Louis alone owned the waterworks,
| the others all being owned by private
parties and corporations. We also
found that Quincy alone used a sys-
tenn of filters. The other cities with
the exception of Peoria. using Mis-
souri, river water, depended solely on
settling basins TO clearly the water.
The city of Peoria draws her waite r
| supply from a large well sunk in a
gravel bed, which thus affords a rat
| ural filter.
The reservoir at Peoria is situated
| on the bluff at an elevation of 200 feet
above the city datum. 1t he's a capac-
ity of 100000 gallons. This reser-
voir is what is known as a single re-
| servoir, and is constructed by excavat-
ing the earth to the size needed and
the building up of the walls with
| double layer of bcick and cement
| floor
In the city of Quincy we found
reservoir of 100000 gallon capacity,
much like the one at Peoria, and used
for storage purposes.
The Water Co. at Quincy have IA
Jewel filters. with which they filtered
| the water for the city, but within
year they constructed near - the
pumping station a small settling re-
servoir into which they first pump the
| water, and allow it to settle before
conveying it to the filters. By this
| system they remove over IS per cent
L e Al
before it reaches the filters and are
| now using but three filters where it
previously took fourteen
In East st Louis, st. Louis and ST.
Joe the settling basins are used mere
| ly to allow the mud to precipitate and
they draw the water from the top of
| the reservoir. In Omaha we found
what we considered the most practi-
cal AMI economical plan of settling the
water. They have there system of
seven reservoirs placed in a continuous
line, pumping the water in the first
basin, which water gradually flows
| over a wall into the second basin. and
so on into the third, fourth, fifth.
| sixth and seventh from which the
| supply for the city is taken. The
theory being that the mud or sediment
| which is held in suspension, will have
all precipitated before reaching the
last basin. Upon examination we
found it to be substantially correct.
The system also afforded many fea-
| lures which we will recommend in the
construction of our own reservoir.
The seven reservoirs at Omaha have
a hi Of
Ions. They vary somewhat in size and
depth. We noted particularly that
they differed in construction materi-
ally from the basins previously in
spected. Instead of the walls being
| lined with brick, they were, after be-
ing puddled, covered with six inches
| of concrete, and then plastered with a
| heavy coat of German or English Port
land cement.
This system of construction seems
to give satisfactory results and great
| ly lessons the cost.
The committee. after observing the
several reservoirs, mentioned. and af-
| ter coaversingt with parties familiar
with their use and construction. would
recommend that the city of Rock ISL
/ anu cOUSUTuct Il TeSeTVOlr upon the
bluff. consisting OF three compart-
ments, and to remove the present fl
| ter plant to the site of the reservoir.
BY this means we believe the CITY will
| derive all the advantages shown in the
| waterworks plants visited and will
embrace the movement. aeriation, VEN
tillation, settlement and filtration of
water.
1t seems very plain and it is evil
denced in the q uincy case, that it is
! much cheaper to settle the water by
| means of the reservoir than to estab-
lish a complete filter plant. necessary
to filter the city's demands, and at
the same time maintain a reserve in |
the reservoir.
Respectfully submitted. (signeD
T. J. Medill, Jr., Mayor: B. Winter. |
G. a. johnson, J. c. Surman. Commit |
tee on Waterworks; ]. A. Murrin. Su- |