The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1908-02-06
READS HIS REPORT.
Engineer AIvord Gives City Coun-
1 Gil His Views in Regard To
Cleaning Kenosha River
SUGGESTS FOUR REMEDIES
Plans for Building Intercepting Sewer
Which Would Gather Up All of
Refuse Now Being Placed
in the River.

in the River.
Engineer John Alvord of Chicago
who has been at work for several
weeks planning some way to cleanse
the Kenosha River appeared at the
meeting of the Common Council on
Monday evening and rendered his re-
port in regard to the conditions and the
methods Of relief The report was a
decidedly interesting one and showed
that the engineer haG entered into
every phase Of the question and his re-
port which was voluminous brought
many new ideas to the Council, for con-
federation. No final action was taken
in REGARD to the report but it was
Iplaced on file. The report showed that
the publication of the waters of the
Kenosha river will be an expensive
proposition and the four propositions
offered by the engineer will all demand
| the large expenditure Of money. It is
pretty certain that the cost of cleaning
the river will be in the neighborhood
of a hundred thousand dollars. Of
course some of this must be paid by
the city and some by the tannery, the
gas company and other companies whose
sewers enter into the harbor. The re-
port Of the engineer provides for the
building of septic tanks and the flush
ing to the river. In regard to these
things the most pertinent points to the
report are as follows:
Flushing.
The problem of providing circulation
in the harbor is solved at Milwaukee
| by flushing tunnels and pumping sta
tions which pump fresh water from the
lake into the upper parts of the har-
Dor at rate of 20 or 30 gallons of
clean water for each gallon Of pollu-
tion.' AS the lift is small this is not so
expensive as it might seem. Obviously
this is somewhat extensive improve
ment for a small city like Kenosha to
make, as capacity for about 80 million
gallons OF fresh water day would be
required. / have not, therefore, att
tempted to estimate the cost Of flush
ing plant Of this capacity, as believe
it would be out of reach of the pres
ent financial resources, and also as I
believe, better projects present them
selves. There is the objection, think,
at present to the adoption of such
project, that the location of the water
inlet is such that it would not do to
rapidly discharge the water of the
harbor directly into the lake through
the harbor mouth, as it might under
favorable conditions of winds and tides
reach the water supply.
Dissolving or Septic Tanks
Any method of relief discussed in
this report should include the use of
sedimentation or septic tanks for the
tannery wastes, and large catchbasin
for the gas house drain. The tank for
the tannery should be capable of re-
ceiving six to eight hours flow, or a
capacity OF not more than 100000 GAL
Ions. Care should be used in it's de-
sign so that all solids would be inters
cepted, settled or dissolved before
passing into the intercepting sewer or
harbor. Such tanks have been very
successful in preventing the most OBJ
lJectlonable part of the resulting pollu-
ton, and in reducing the impurities
| by about one-half. They will not com
pletely purify the liquid or remove the
color without a secondary treatment by
filtration. No head or fall is REQUIRED
to operate such tanks, and they NAV
be constructed below the level of the
lake and covered over. They will re-
quire cleaning with sludge pump
| three or four times year. The re-
sulting ef1uent from them will be
found to be largely free from floating
matter or solids, but will not be en-
1 tirely pure, and must be further cared
for, as follows PIP,
lst: Either by pumping up to I'll
ters especially constructed
End: or by being led away to the
southern limits of the city in the in
tercepting sewer hereafter discussed.
or
| 3rd by being pumped up into the
present sewer system at the corner
Of Ashland and York streets.
The drainage of the tannery should
be collected together at the site of the
tank by a collector drain, and the over
flow of the tank should not be allowed
to empty into the harbor unless some
plan of flushing the harbor is adopted
which will entirely change the water
above Main street not less than once
in three days.
Gas House Catchbasin.
/ Any Of the plans for the improve
ment of the harbor hereafter discussed
will require that suitable catch bit
or basin properly baffied be provided
at the outlet of the gas work drain.
so that the residual oils and tar NAV
be frequently cleaned out and removed
| by that Company without passing into
the intercepting sewers, a publication
7,Ian+ ap tho barhnr