Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-03-19
MUNICIPAL MATTERS.

Mayor McConochle presiding. The min
utes OF the last regular meeting were
read and approved.
The Clerk read a report of the condition
of the Rock river bridges as inspected
by G. A. Gould, superintendent of bridges
of the c.. II. L. & p. Railway with view
to adopting them to electric car service.
The report, after specifying conditions by
spans reaches this conclshion:
"My opinion is that all the trusses ex-
cept and could be repaired and placed
in such condition that they could carry
this traffic limited length of time
But in view of the fact that all of these
bridges except / and are old and have
about reached the limit of time they
should be expected to last and in any
case must be replaced with new bridges
in the near future and considering that
it would require quite an expense to
place these old bridges in shape for this
traffic, and that in my judgment and )
cannot be placed in any such shape.
would not consider the proposition advis-
able but would suggest that the money
that would be required for the expense
of placing these old bridges in shape for
electric car traffic would be better ap-
piled if invested i'll new modern bridges"
The report was ordered received and
placed on file, on motion of Alderman
Kennedy.
The Clerk read Il report of the condi-
ton of the water, as inspected by Prof.
i. G. Smith. director of the Beloit SAM
tary Laboratory, as follows:
Gentlemen: / have the honor to
transmit herewith report on the analy-
ses of samples of water received at this
laboratory from your general water sup
ply. In all sixteen samples have been ex-
amined-four of them chemically and
twelve of them bacteriologically. Ten of
these samples were collected and deliv-
cred in person by Mr.. George C. Albee
and six of them were collected by Mr. AL
bee and myself on Saturday, March g.
The first set of samples was received at
this laboratory on the morning of Feb.
% and the examinations commenced at
once; the second set was received on Sat
urday evening, March and the cultures
commenced the same evening.
The details of the treatment of the var
ious samples and the results obtained
will be found on the laboratory reports
hereto attached and may be of interest
to those having to do with this line of
study and investigation. Some general
remarks by way of additional interpreta-
ton of the results may be of value in this
connection.
l. The chemical analyses show that
the river water does not carry an extra
ordinary amount of dissolved matters ut
this time. There is light sediment
for the raw water; this sediment at this
time happens to be rather light but viii
increase with the breakup of the spring.
In fact the river is not in so good shape
today as at the time these samples were
taken. The dissolved matters of organic
origin are of special interest in this con-
nection. While they are not large for
the river water the study of the analyses
indicates that these matters are not Who'll
ly of vegetable origin. / base this on the
of the organic matters as stated
in the terms of the different data and
more specially on the habit and behavior
of the laboratory operations. There is
really very little difference from the
purely chemical stand point between the
four samples, except that the sample
from the Lincoln School appears to have
been sedimented somewhat and is on the
whole tie best of the four. The sample
from the well appears to develop little
more ammonia than the sample from the
river at the intake but whether this is
more than chance with this one sample
| cannot say at this writing. The color
of the water and the sedimenting of the
water is markedly improved between the
river and the shut-off reservoir. The
waters are not very hard just now as
they carry only about 0 grains of solids
per U. S. gallon.
,. The biological results are more in
teresting as they convey some more pos
tive information concerning the quality
of the water. The first fact / would call
your attention to is the large number of
bacteria in the water from the river. The
first set of samples liquefied so rapidly
we could not get 4 count of these or
ganisms But on the samples taken from
the well at the station on Saturday last
the numbers are about $4,000 per cubic
A cubic centimeter contains
about 20 drops of water. So that each
drop of the raw water contained about
1850 of the minute organisms. The wat
er from the slough taken opposite the
station carries about the same number
of organisms also. The sample from the
police station shows little Improvement
as it carried $4,000 in one test and "a 900
in second. Ire remarkable fact in this
connection is that a sample taken from
the filter "round-h house" on the same day
showed but II organisms, and sample
from the regulating house" showed but
45 when treated in exactly the same
manner. I understood that the filters
were not in operation this day but the
samples were taken from the houses and
as one at least had passed the filters and
the other had been protected from the
weather and had stood for some time
quietly the above results are explaina-
BILE.
4 second fact to be learned from these
examinations is that the water from the
intake and from the well carry with them
bacteria of probably distinctly sewagic
origin. In the first sample from the in