The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1903-03-29
SUPPLY is EASILY CLARIFIED,
improvement Would Cost About
One Twentieth the Amount
Required to Build a New
Plant, He Says.


cording to Mr.. Flad. and the only way that
better quality can be procured is by FL
tration. He thinks that it would be FEAST
BILE for the city to exspend sl.5Oo,0o0 in the
construction of a filter. rather than put
twenty or thirty times as much in a new
plant. which does not promise any better
quality of water in its unfiitered state.
In reply TO a paper read by Mr.. r. E. Nc
Grath before the Engineers Club on No
Vember .. Mir. Flad has prepared the fol-
lowing:
TAKES ISSUE WITH PLAN
PROPOSED BY NJ. McGRATH.
The main conclusion reached by Mr. McMath is
that the city should appropriate funds for sur
veys and plans and estimates for a supply of
water from the Valley of the Meramec. This
conclusion follows naturally from the assumption
that the water furnished would be $50 pure
as to require no filtration 10 fit it Tor use" and
the further assumption that mechanical Ultra
r az 4 to u Just its aaop
ton for ST. LOUIS
sumptions is well fou-ded The writer is OF the
opinion that the water to be obta ned from
of large impoundinS reservoirs contemplated.
would be practically clear mes, OF the time.
pericr to unfiltered water from the Mississippi
s RTsr 6ed be very much
prricr to unhltered water from the valley u
The relative density OF the population. or the
comparative number of people per square I'LL niie
under ordinary conditions, fair indication OF
the relative purity Of the waters to be oota,ne1
ii Is proposed to utilize are the Court9is- Huz5a
having in 1890 POPULATION CT Il to the SQUARE ARE
square mile. and the Dry Fork; a population Of
q per square mile Combined, they nave a,en =
incubation of 1854. average or IL peope
to the square mile.
SMALLER PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION
ON MISSOURI RIVER WATERSHED.
These valleys may be 'sparsely populated
hut the population Is almost two times as dense
the population in the valley or the Missou''
The population. both rural and urban. on the the
watershed Of the Missouri RIVER Is 10 or '9 M
the square mile. and that OF the Mississippi,
above the mouth OF the Missouri and esc nH,,,
iation 10 these three acres combined averages
owtnE to Inc location of the intake on tie west
shore OF the river probably % ner cent ,S Se Sc Sc
louis Wsterworiss comes from the Missouri Riv.
err the waters Of which travel along the We,
the Illinois River. which flows along the east
side -.
Of ~, Msiers Tesaed he Before sey the
intake we would be drawing water from -. a
i1ta IKE o sSa the Missouri ey min: 70 the
sssn to the SQUARE mile ron Ssi,ss 9. The
Teaa ss SSr Hi ths
vors fresh and in active forn, and the water,
81 shed ssHs g. a The
while the greater par. Of the SGllutiop !, in the
etsS to eS mo5hs Of
and bacterial notification.
fo- the city of St Louis, from the Mississippi
River the danger from pollution due to the con-
above the intake Is more to be dreaded than an
infinitely larger discharge Of sewage hundreds
QUALITY OF WATER IMPROVED
BY AVOIDING LOCAL. SEWAGE.
In 1885 the intake was removed 10 the Chain
discharging above the former intaks since this
time the water furnished + the 81. Louis Wa;
containing objectionable amounts OF SUSPENDED
% Is not ,S as es as II has has s Sesn ~ I'd
Laboratory tests of water are valuable indica-
tons hut the daily test furnished by the thou
sands Tho drink the water furnishes the best
been seneray agreed upon BY the scient has
world that the typhoid fever death rate is the
of water supply uhe, report of typhoid cases
not considered reliable for the purpose Of
judged BY this standard we ind that the St
Louis water Al in Its u3 3 ed state was better
tnan the water obtained from drainage nreas
AND AND o fs'S er tn ss
water obtained by New York City from, the
s ang Rs nH H9
from 1895 TO 1899 inclusive was az for Boston, 81
louis and Il for New York y Of f s
cities obtain supplies from drainage areas in a
from the valley of the Meramec ~ i>'u''
Mr.. McMath claims that it is dealing in f,,-
like e viii from a assr g.
to, to an pss wassr that they
fculties which New York has encountered in pre-
are we'll known I. IL acknowiedsed 'e By sa tRppss
best entitled TO an opinion that the water from
ing to modern standards.
Many prominent engineers have for years past
recognized the desirabl;y Of fltering the supply
from the Croton.
FILTRATION OF ALL WATER
NECESSARY TO GOOD HEALTH.
As an evidence Of the presence OF this senti-
ment. md in the report OF John R. Freeman.
under date Of March Q, 1900. to the Comptroller
belief that twenty years hence the public win
ard Of purity in Rn6Sf W. aisr supplies S N,h and that
water entering the distribution system.
and proper waste restriction lttrs could be prop
ery dsvsss at Snse foF eSR As.oca
by the Engineering Committee. which consisted
Thomas sns O. Clarke RSaspa Herring
dwsTd North 5 5iss R.B Men r s!%p ssss
DIE Roy Dresser and R. r. Bowker. We find the
I'VE Consider the time, to have arrived when
the surface waters Of the Croton; Bronx and
pleasant taste Of these waters which demand
e cent? 6s bacteria 0S Contained IN them
The evidence on hand i, certain
lated parts of Long Island watersheds. IL now
SO strong that 1t Is no longer questioned.
What better evidence could be asked for G
areas like the Croton will sooner or later re-
auire filtration. is not dealing in futures"
PROJECT WOULD COST ST. LOUIS
MANY MILLIONS OF DOLLARS.
Assuming that further investigation and sur
veys should demonstrate that ali Of the ,ecndi;
tons for abundant supply from the valley Of
the Meramec are as favorable as those who
are now advocating the plan hope to fnd them
preliminary investment by the city q St; Louis
Of SIS seSrang to sco MT @eM ~ sS s est
mate OF the expert commission.
on the other hand we have the proposition
yn alter the sn snnP for M er psn,
elusive Of interest and sinking-fund charges. Of
coagulant used, based on our present average
consumption Of 81, 100000 gallons per day.
su f s ss ey
twenty-five to. thirty. millions in developing the
ssn Rers sn no urser need
or investigations OF the. valley OF the Meramec:
objection is made to the niter plant on secoupt
a strong popular objection to the use Of alum
which is. however. founded largely on pre1udiea
and ignorance.
More than twenty-five cities in America are
using alum for purposes OF watef Qualification.
some of them have been using alum for more
may be mentioned: Kansas City. NO.: East ST.
port. Ia: vincennes. Ind: Atlanta. Ga: Lex
inS.Gn Ss al nssr GIANT sssisn.d TO D-