Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-10-10
A POLLUTED RIVER.
COST OF BOLSTERINC UpA r.-
SYSTEM OF SEWERAGE
1t is Far Cheaper to Purify aovae,
Before 1t Reaches Running
Streams Than to race
Epider,ics.


Cleveland, OHIO, Letter: Tho ~,
explosions which recently wrecked tho
two cribs OF the waterworks tDnrl
here cost the lives Of II men. In tho
first catastrophe at crib two miles Of
Cleveland harbor, fire broke out, then
then the boiler burst; five men were
burned to death, four drowned and
three suffocated. A week later erin >
claimed five victims, two men in Inc
explosion being blown 40 feet and saw
ell by the air lock closing in the nick o,
time. Few people who read Of this
knew, perhaps, that this great water
system with its alleged triumph Of
modern engineering is made necessary
by the false system Of sewerage adopt
ed in connection with it
This is the situatio' The sewage
of the city is carried down to tie lake
by the Cuyahoga river, and flows out
by the famous. or infamous, "riscula-
tory system of sewerag into the
clear blue waters of Lake Erie From
a tug on the route CT this horrid "circu-
ldlipu Gu tt.ii ST NiiC dEau IdiN anu
pieces of cabbage left floating on the
water to mark the course of the sew
age outflow Then you may go over
towards the waterworks intake
through which the water supply of tie
city is drawn aud pumped TO the reser-
voirs in the high portions of the city.
and from the flows to the houses Of the
residents and back through the houses
and the sewers into the lake again
along with the cats and the cabbage.
The city of Cleveland has the monop-
oily of this gruesome circulatory mon
strosity in Cuyahoga county. The
smaller towns of the county must dis
pose of refuse some other way. One
of these is Chenille Between the
Lake Shore railroad and the Short Line
OF the Paine vile Electric road. Glen
vile built a plant on the chemical pre-
cipitation and filtration plan, John 2.
Force. formerly Of Cleveland, now OF
Columbus, was the engineer.
The problem Of disposing OF the
solids in the sewage as IL comes from
the houses is solved in this plant by
mixing lime with the sewage as il
stands in big tank. The lime causes
the solids to be precipitated to the bot
tom of the tank. Then the cleared por-
ton of the sewage is run into filter beds
of Stag. coke, gravel and sand, passing
through one after the other, and the
impurities are strained out The beds
were allowed to rest" q certain por-
ton of the time, and during this time
bacteria destroy the impurities from
the sewage. This process. which is
simply that of nature, also goes on
while the sewage is passing through
the beds, ard the outflow is as clear as
crystal and free from offense.
Comment is needless-except that 1t
would seem Cleveland ought to be to do
on large scale what Chenille does q
few miles away in the same country, o.
small scale. Perhaps the sewage Of
Cleveland does not greatly contaminate
as large a body OF water as Ike Erie
and ii may be that the sewage is puri-
fed by the waters OF the lake by one
of natures own chemical processes.
Another case in point may throw
some light on this. Monthly records
were kept. for one year Of the river pol
luton las shown by excess Of chlorinel
at Harrisburgh, The normal chlorine
of the Susquehanna at this point is
somewhat less than one-tenth part in
every 100, 600; or l to 1000 600. Pure
water at Harrlsbugh averages about
that on analysis. In July. 1909, the
city tap yielded chlorine sev-n-tenths
to the 900 600; there was a irouth and
the river had not been so low in 100
years. The current was sluggish and
filthy pools and ponds were formed at
,,lo oil he
During the year these observations
We're taken Harrisburgh had rs cases
OF typhoid, II of them fatal-s TYPHOID
death rate Of "a per 10000 OF Popula-
ton. The typhoid rate In New YORK Is
Just one daily-1.7 to the 10000 The
fact of the matter is that the smau
towns must be aroused TO follow ne
example Of Chenille. One or two I've
offcials--or public spirited private ctu-
Zens-can start the work. Let them n
sist on a fair sum OF money paid lEt0
the treasury from certain seekers aitai
valuable franchises; take this money
and start a plant on the Chenille plan
Let them call on the people 10 nss
hold: demand economical public eI-
penditures in other directions 50 as 10
save money. 10 save the lives OF me
people and the peoples children from
Ieeiless epidemics through bad TsitT
and polluted land and poisoned har4ss
The larger cities will learn thus how
the new science OF prevention vo-ks-
the science that is 10 be the glory g
the new century The big cities Wit
follow suit Keep up the agitation
That Is right II j. an exact s-e1sr-
II ie for tho y~e-ta- gcoT--u0t ~ great
er NUN ber--but Of all. IL will ~
.