Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1899-12-06
RIPON'S sew AGEPLANT
The Only Land Treatment Proc
ess in the West.
BACTERIA WILL. "EAT,' IT UP.

Run Onto Land Beds The Eh1uent
Flows into Creek--Coid Weather Has
Made Trouble sand the Plant Not Sci
entificaiiy Managed, but IL Can Give OF
an Efiuent as Pure AS W.fer.
Madison, Dec. 5.--There are many
ways of disposng Of the sewage quot
the g;irbaget OF a community. On
the farm there is no sewage. Sewage
implies running water. The sink and
water closet are the chief house anu
office contributors to sewer pipes, to
which must be added the manholes
Ia the streets which may run the sur
plus water away.
Most communities have Il lake or a
river to care for its sewage Some
communities resort to chemical plants.
Madison has one: and so 10 the county
institutions at Wauwatosa. near Mil
waukee. Ripon gets rid of its sewage
by running it onto and-intermittent
filtration, it is called 1t is the only
plant of the kind in the state, and
was Informed the only plant of its
AlAtt III litt Wei. ~ 10,
worth knowing about | visited 1t re-
Gently and talke,l with Ripon people
wh0 know aEc.t it,
The Filth OF 5000 People.
Ripou is sixteen miles west of Fond
du Lac 1t is II college town and has
about 5000 people. Its geography is
favorable for sewerage pipes to carry
by gravity and no pumping is re-
quired Perhaps two-thirds Of the city
area is piped.
About nine years ago city water
WIS introduced. 1t is pumped from
two enormous wells into q stand pipe
whicl; furnishes the force for house
Use and fire protection. Four years
ago the city laid sewer pipes, and the
sewage of the city was for the first
time gathered in one stream and led
into the creek, which trails in and
about the city. 1t is n little stream.
in some places not wider than a
room, hut withal flow of considerable
power. for it runs mill. Green lake
is five or six miles away and into
this the stream empties. Goodhue,
the Milwaukee expert. said the creek
would care for Ripon's sewage all
right But experts are not infallible.
The creek became vile. Farmers and
stock raisers who lived along its banks
and watered their stock in the creek,
objected. In the spring and when the
flow was vigorous ii was not bad, but
sometimes the water dried up and the
sewage flow was the main object ON
the landscape. One farmer reported
that some of his horses died; he
would not say that the bad water
killed them, but they died. The health
authorities objected to further dump
ing of sewage into the lake.
Ripon Leads the Way.
Finally, after a protracted discus
sion, in which all sorts of advice was
given, and many articles appeared in
the local papers, signed "Vox Populi''
and 'Objector," it was agreed to dis
pose of the sewage by land treatment.
About mile from the heart of the city
some $50 acres of good farm land was
bought. This was a year ago last
summer. The land cost 5000 an acre,
so about $4,000 was the price 1t
lies out in the country, with even the
farm houses comfortably removed, and
about 1000 feet from the highway.
One sees the mound leading to a neat
white building-the buried main sewer
and the terminus.
A German lives ON the farm and en-
joys the house and use of the land i'm
return for caring for the filtration
beds. SO there are no operating ex-
penses beyond fuel for the stove to
keep the tank house warm; repairs on
the beds when frozen or other cause
breaks the drain-tile, or necessitates
''filling" in of filtration material, and
interest on the money invested. The
plant itself apart from the land cost
some 5000. Cole of Milwaukee was
the consulting engineer, under whose
plans the plant was established. Pro
fessor Chandler of the college, and
his son NOW professor in the Uni
versity of North Dakota) have both
been city engineer and had hand in
installing or operating the plant, as
have others. They have had their
share of ridicule and opposition, as has
Mr.. Sickle, the present efficient head
of public works, and all others of a
scientific and serious cast of mind
There is nothing that opens the food
gate of suggestion, censure and scorn
like an attempt to deal with sanitary
conditions in community. Oblivious
of the fact that something must be
done with the sewage of city, the
crowd continues to boot at every hon
est effort to put it somewhere or il
any way to get rid of it.
The sewage Flows into a Building.
The tank house at Ripon is one room
One sees the 24-inch pipe emptying its
small, steady stream of impurity into
n tank of masonry, perhaps 10 fee
long by q wide and deep. Over this
is a substantial iron grating which
catches the drift matter, mainly pa
per, now and then a stick, etc, but
by the time sewage makes it's journey
of mile and more it is very thorough
ly disintegrated into dirty, thick
stream. BY gravity the heavier mat
terrier sinks to the bottom of the tank
The top waters flow over little dan
at the extreme end of the tank, into
Il large pipe, passing out of the build
ing, under ground to the three filter
beds. 100 feet and more away. The
heavier lower part of the tanks con
tents (sludge) are every day or so lee
away in another direction, also under
ground. to small "bed"-more like
n huge grave Here it is partially alb
sorbed, aided with sand, applied al
needed, and dries. When dried it il
fit for fertilizer, and the farmer takes
out a few wheel barrows every weel
and applies it to-his crops. In appear
ance when dried, the sludge is gray
faky stuff.
But the main flow of sewage is tt
the three "beds.' These resemble
huge croquet or tennis grounds. They
are not set in masonry, as are the lin
tied areas in the Madison beds, mol
are they regular in shape. They are
"made," however, by excavation, an6
surrounded by clay embankments. per
haps four or five feet high, and "tillet
in with sand.
Madison Abandoned Land Treatment.
Ripon soil is we'll adapted to thi:
sort of thing. When Il Madison com
mission was appointed to find lane
suitable for land treatment, it report
ed that suitable land was not in abund
ance. They did report three or foul
acres but neglected to bring out clear
~ that such land could be made,
though at considerable expense. Mem
bers of this commission have since
said their report was not properly in
terpreted. some of them thinking theT
and now that land treatment is feas
ible for Madison. But at all events
the report was popularity construed a:
meaning that Madison must look t.
some other method OF sewage dis