Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1902-11-07
SELF PURIFlCA7ION OF RIVER
WATERS.
Changed Ideas Regarding It; Most
Rapid Publication Found to Take
Place Is Still Water, Not in
Rapids. as Formerly Held.
Investigations now Being Conducted
by the United States Geological
Survey in the Mississippi Valley
Which Will Throw Light
on the Process.

The issue between Chicago and St.
Louis. occasioned by the opening Of
the Chicago drainage canal, through
which the sewage CT Chicago is con-
Quoted to the Mississippi river, via
Dts PLANES and Illinois rivers. is based
upon the condition in the minds of the
people of St. Louis that there will arise
effects detrimental to the waters of the
Mississippi river at that city. The
whole dispute c%enters, therefore, about
the old moot question as to how long
a distance it Us necessary for a river
to flow in order to purify itself.
We know from chemical analysis
and physical examination that a vary
ing degree OF publication takes place
in a river. In early days this was
Thought to be due to aeration, and the
tumbling of water down mountain
sides became the basis for poetic typi-
fication of purity. The experiments
eff the Massachusetts, state board of
health have shown that aeration has
little OIL no effect upon the condition
of organicmatter in water-that is,
of organic matter in water-that is,
its oxidation by agitation in the air.
1t wa also found that the highest de-
gree of activity lin oxidation processes
is to be found in %quiescent or stagnant
waters. 1t then beanie clear that
self-purification in a sluggish stream
lis far more effective than in a swift
current, and that dams and other i'm
pediments have a beneficial effect upon
the condition of water in river chan
nels.
The PRONUNCIATION of these facts led
to an entire change in the ideas con-
corning the distance necessary for
stream publication, and it is now I'M.
derstood that no hard and fact rules
can be set for guidance in determining
the purifying power of any water
course. A Royal Commission, APP
pointed to inquire into the conditions
of England's rivers, reporting to the
English Parliament in the early sew
enties, held that no stream in the
United Kingdom was sufficiently long
to effect its own publication. The
familiar and oft-quoted principle is
that a stream purifies itself in 20 miles
but how this distance was AVE. deter
mined or who was responsible for it's
general acceptance is a matter of
doubt; certain it is that the statement
is entirely wrong in the majority of
cases. Petenkoffer. Herring, Stearns,
and Others have given formulate which
r undoubtedly true for the rivers up
on which these gentlemen worked, but
which can in no wise be accepted for
rivers in general, and it remains for
the investigator to determine by ac-
tua experiment the purifying power Of
each stream with which he has to deal.
The work of exaRlination of the sur
face waters of the United States. re-
Gently inaugurated in the division of
hydrography of the United States Geo.
logical Survey, in cooperation with the
various college laboratories through
out the country, will be useful in the
determination of the self-purifying
powers of many of the interstate
rivers. These results will be highly
beneficial to the municipalities and
corporations which may be looking
toward the establishment of sewerage
systems and publication works.
During the coming winter it is ex-
pected that MI. M. o. Leighton, hydro
gltapher of the Geological Survey, will
take up this work upon various rivers
in Indiana and Illinois, and will so far
as possible extend this research to the
streams which at the present time are
of great interest to the inhabitants Of
the Mississippi valley.