The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1899-12-08
RIPON'S SEW ACEPLANT
The Only Land Treatment Proc
ess in the West.
BACTERIA WILL "EAT" 1T UP.

Flows into n Creek-Cold Weather Has
| Made Trouble and the Plant Not Sci
entifically Managed, but 1t Can Give OF
| an Eff1uent as Pure as Water.
Madison, Dec. 5.-There are many
ways of dispOsing Of the sewage mot
| the garbage) Of a community. On
| the farm there is no sewage. Sewage
| implies running water The sink and
| water closet are the chief house and
| office contributors to sewer pipes, to
which must be added the manholes
! in the streets which may run the sur
| plus water away.
| Most communities have a lake or
| river to care for it's sewage. Some
| communities resort to chemical plants.
| Madison has one; and so do the county
! institutions at WauWatOSa, near Mil
| waukee. Ripon gets rid of it's sewage
by running it onto land-intermittent
filtration, it is called. 1t is the only
! plant of the kind in the state, and
was Informed the only plant Of it's
kind in the west. 1T is, therefore,
worth knowing about. l visited it re-
Gently and talked with Ripon people
who know about it.
The Filth of 5000 People
Ripon is sixteen miles west of Fond
du Lac. 1t is a college town and has
about 5000 people. It's 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
was introduced. It is pumped from
| two enormous wells into a stand pipe
which 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 u little stream,
! in some places not wider than a
room but withal a flow of considerable
power, for it runs a 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 it's banks
and watered their stock in the creek,
| objected. In the spring and when the
/ flow was vigorous it 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 a 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 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 in
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 $4,000. Cole Of Milwaukee was
the consulting engineer, under whose
plans the plant was established. Pro-
fessor Chandler of the college, and
his son (now q professor in the Uni
versity Of North Dakota) have both
been city engineer and had a 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 a community. Oblivious
of the fact that something must be
done with the sewage of a city, the
crowd continues to boot at every hon
est effort to put it somewhere or in
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 it's
small, steady stream of impurity into
tank of masonry, perhaps 10 feet
long by 6 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 a dirty, thick
stream. By gravity the heavier mat
terrier sinks to the bottom of the tank.
The top waters flow over little dam
at the extreme end of the tank, into
a 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 led
away in another direction, also under
ground, to a small 'bed'-more like
huge grave. Here it is partially alb
sorbed. aided with sand, applied as
needed, and dries. When dried it is
fit for fertilizer, and the farmer takes