Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-28

| dlphthcria. cholera, or any oth't ""'V,
| borne disease can live after b~ing sun
| iected 10 the boiling cnurnine I""s VI
| nine miles. and that the water, AFTER
| ,c.ching polnt opposite the pump
| house. Is. with the exception OF me muu'
! absolutely pure.
Scientists tell us this. and we snau
mortals are compelled 90 accept what they
eay. and what they demonstrate, II hevu
by. 10 be true. As one of the small nortd's
! believe the statement Is true ana lnat
| a kind providence gave us the nine Hl'eS
~ n falling. rushing river that we might
| have pure water. free from germ
| bearing disease Nature mas zone th's
for us. and man has ignored the great
| blessing. and let's the river with us pure
water run bv. unused, and fills our rcser-
voir and supplies our people with water
| from the canal. which. compared cWlth
the river Is half-stagnant stream
! without the slightest power OF purify
| Ing the water It contains, but. on the
contrary. receives for nine miles the
! sewerage from barn-yards. granite quar-
ries. closets. etc, etc, ad hd"-
| seam II the city water supply was
| taken from the river this canal would
Doe valuable in catching the sewerage Tor
nine miles on one side and preventing its
| getting into the river. a distinguished
/ engineer OF Richmond told me several
J years ago. that the necessary changes
! at our pump-wOrks 70 get river IN plact
OF canal water could be made for So'Wo
! 20 $1,000 i think this change should ne
! made. and TO save one life is worth the
| money spent, but in my opinion II VIII
save dozens Of lives every year.
Three plans have been proposed to set
rid of tho mud: at least, have seen put
three suggosted-one by Artesian wells
! one by sedimentatiOn, and the last Dy III
traton We have always known geoios'-
cally that II is impossible to expect to get
a flowing or true Artesian well In the
James-Rivcr Valley, the granite in TINS
! region being so near the surface Dut MA
| jor Lewis Ginter. who in so many ways
has done so much for Richmond, demon
strated at great cost 10 himsef us I'M
practicability. lie had one well Gored
m his home. Westbrook. and three others
at or near Sherwood, and still another at
the Hotel Jefferson. All of these WellS
were some hundreds OF feet deep-one l'ZUO
feet. In every case he secured some water,
some deep well water" and pumps are
necessary to get the water above the level
Of the earth. / understand that the Unlled
States Government sunk well at Fort
Monroe 1000 feet. and got no water. Re-
Gently the owners Of the Chambcrlin Ho-
/ tel liltQ one at Olu II bAiil cl'iN ifhiiN's 49,
are familiar with the history of Norfolk,
about her water supply She has one well
now COO feet deep and no water, but Nor
folk is really not in the region under pres
cnt discussion. Indeed, so far / can learn
Of no Artesian well successfully sunk in
the James-River Valley. There are at
least two flowing wells in Southampton
county but this properly is not in the
James-River Valley. Along the Kappa
hammock, the PamunlIey, York. and some
other localities, a different formation eN-
lists, and any number of flowing wells
have been secured.
do not think. with all the light before
us. that we have the money 70 throw
away on further attempts at getting Arte-
sian water.
A word about sedimentation: We are
told that in settling basin the
water in from twelve TO sixteen days
would be tolerably clear. and that sort
OF milk and water or lemonade like IL
quid could be furnished the city Tor drink
ing and washing. / confess | have a
horror Of the proposed stagnant settling
BASIN" particularly in our climate. i be-
lieve that James-river water. under such
| circumstances, in July and August, would
stink with bacteria; that both nose and
palate would revolt at II, and that money
spcnt I'm this way would be lost. All ma
ture abhors st3gnation. The ocean itself
oxcept for its tides and wind ana waves
and fierce currents that keep it in eterna
3 motion. would become putrid and rotten
All lakes have currents and fresh springs
, in motion unceasiug motion. The salt OF
the Dead Sea would save ii from rotten
ness, but ii also is in motion.
The most perfect and cheapest way e
= get the water clear Of mud will be to filter
III. If London, Berlin, Hamburg and othe
, large cities have their water supply filter
cd. surely Richmond can do the same.
is said that the James-river water Is pc
cCliar. and an exception TO most othe
rivers. and that IL cannot be mechanically
- filtered. ] know this is not true. AT thu
Virginia Hospital and St Luke's Hom
the dirty canal water is filtered. and is
clear sparkling water; when the mud i
removed as clear and beautiful as sprini
water. This as in many other places il
s our city, shows what can be done on
4 small scale, and, / have no doubt, can b.
| accomplished on a scale large enough 4
supply the city
First. let US have pure river and no
t canal water Then get rid Of the mud b.
Z filtration, and we Will not only add TO on
, own comfort, but in an important wa.
add to our city's attractiveness Il
70 strangers. HUNTER INQUIRE.
What Or. Mcclure says regarding tn
! purifying process James-river water un
i dergoes in running the falls reach can
9 not be successfully challenged. But whe
8 Their we are to continue TO take the waite
from the canal, or shall determine {
pump il directly from the river, the NOR
ID immediate problem still presses for solu
ID tion-that of clearing the water. As [
this we are left TO choose between tw
systems. one is sedmentation, natura
p or accelerated by chemicals; the other
filtration. 1t has heretofore been state
i'm these columns that DR.. Mcguire anita
gonizad natural sedimentation. His pos
~ ton On that point is vigorously empha
sized i'm his letter Professor Mallet, j
the letter we published from that gentle
man last Thursday, not only uttered
warning against the use of chemicals /
fastening sedimentation, but showed tina
certain processes Of filtration. in additio
TO clearing the water, have been know
to remove from $50 to 99.5 per cent. of tn
70 bacterial and other microbes present
~ the water before filtration. Therefore
while not undertaking ourselves to decid
between the filtration and the sedimenta
ton systems, seeing that the latter ma
" have suppOrt that has not vet been Do