Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-06-30
MAYOR MARCHETTl
Interviewed Concerning Our Water
Works.

Inc unusual activity in the water de-
partment lately caused the editor of
this paper TO interview the Mayor as to
the state of the water works and what
was going on and he received the fol-
lowing reply:
When Prof Smith was here last fall
and a section of the pipe was taken out
and saw its condition | was satisfied
that something more than theorizing
had to be done. Before hard winter
set in | had issued orders to give the
system thorough flushing and it was
reported to have been done, but | did
not give it my personal attention. This
spring, as soon as the frost was out,
wrote the following letter to the Supt.
of the water works:
"MAYoR's OFFICE, March %, '03.
HENRY GROSS, Esq,
Snpt. Water Works,
Dear Sir You will as soon as feas-
ibie without delay, cause the water
mains to be thoroughly flushed without
interruption until the whole system has
had cleansing and employ sufficient
men for that purpose, SO that the work
can proceed night after night.
Before flushing a section you will
give at least one days notice to the con-
sumers of your action, to give them a
chance to have supply of water as the
flushing may have the effect of rolling
the water.
Also make a record of every nights
doing under this order and report to
the mayor and the common council of
the city"
Louis MARCHETTI, Mayor
These Instructions were carried out
to my certain knowledge. Later on /
wrote the following letter to him.
"MyYoR's OFFICE, May %, 1903.
HENRY GROSS, Esq,
Supt. Water Works.
Have the manual labor of your en-
ployees so arranged, that beginning on
the first day of June next, they will be
able to begin flushing the water mains
every night without interruption, Civ
ing notice one day ahead of the section
to be flushed, until every one of the
mains have been flushed desire to
be notified also of the section to be
flushed before the actual work begins
Make record and report of every
nights doing, and also keep account of
the amount of water pumped during
the time.
Should the regular crew be INSULT
cient to do that work for some reason,
employ sufficient help"
Respectfully yours,
LOUIS MARCHETTI, Mayor.
But on account of the delay in putting
the new boiler in the place of the two
old ones taken out, the work of flush
ing could not begin at the time set for
it but as soon as the boiler was in place
and tested, it was begun last Monday,
June 2sd, and has been kept up con-
tinuously since and will take at least
four or five days more before the whole
system has been cleansed. At the last
flushing, at the suggestion of the chief
of the fire department, | required the
engineers in charge of the pumping
station to furnish higher pressure and
the result was very satisfactory. The
water has been good all winter and
spring and where it is not rolled by
flushing, it is entirely clear and spark
ling and palatable, in fact it could not
be better. | am determined that the
water shall remain good and whole
some this summer If fl equent flushing
will do it.
The mayor was then asked the fol
lowing questions:
lao eh1 lol ~ 0iiOUhN VI
table growth been removed and will
the flushing be of any permanent bene-
fit ?"
A. ga large amount<of dirt has been
especially by the last flush
ing under high pressure and the quality
of the water to the consumer is better,
but that relief is only temporary; that
is, for a time, but continuous flushing
will result in keeping the water good
@. I'm your judgement is the matter
which comes out, live vegetable growth
or dead matter?"
A. 'It is wholly imr..SS..cc;;;al whether
the dirt removed is alive or dead so
long as the dirt is removed; but mas
much as the plant cannot grow from
the center to the circumference but
must of necessity grow from the circum
ference towards the center aud the sur
face must first be removed before the
next layer under the surface can be re-
moved, it seems to be as plain as day
light that the plant and dirt Surround
ing it is flushed out together. Some
times, especially after a hydrant has
been open for short time, the water
coming out of it seems perfectly
clear but when you take glass
full and look through, it is thick with
W hite flakes which you could see in
every well before we had any water
works. That must be plant life if any
thing. After that is out there fire.
luently comes dark dirt and little
pieces that look like hard crust and
whenever hard crust comes out that
must take everything along which rests
on that hard crust. In any event /
cannot see what else than flushing can
be done"
You will remember that Prof. Smith,
in his opinion, and also in his lecture
said that the ore dissolved in the water
could be reduced to ore and taken out
by filtration. But continued he that
will only prevent the growth of this
plant in the future. The removal OF
what there is now in your mains is an
engineering problem on which | can
not give you any advice.
1T is plain enough that that matter
has to be removed and it is also plain
that it can be removed only by force,
and it is wholly immaterial how that
force is to be applied to the dirt in the
mains. 1t seems to me that the cheap
est and best force to apply is a strong
current of water to be rushed through
the mains. 1t will not remove all of
the dirt at once but sfter Systematically
to it, VII lessen the dirt and
remove more than grows"
Q. rs * possible that this flushing
but the dead PARTICLES and tta
by introducing this fresh supply of
water it increases the supply of ,-on and
the GROWTH"
A. | have already answered that
question and can only add tllat if the
growth is so much more rspit by intro
ducing fresh water and CLEANING the
pipes, then the pipes ought to have
grown solidly together in the eighteen
years during which they laid IN the
ground
Q. as there any opposition to the
flushing of the mainss"
A II never heard of any opposition
from anybody except from a quarter
where il was least to be expected"
Q Have any new mains been dug
up which show that the pipes have lost
as high 80 per cent. of their carrying
power and that others have deterio-
rated 10 per cent?"