The Falls City tribune., 1909-08-13
WATER UNDOUBTEDLY Good
Its THE PIPES" SEEMS TO BE
THE GENERAL VERDICT
The Question Discussed, But the
Street Corner Kicker Was
Not In Evidence.

The call for mass meeting to
talk over the water question, issued
by Mayor Keeling was rewarded by
a fair sized crowd at the cGr,t house
Tuesday evening.
Harry Pence was appointed chair
man of the meeting by the mayor,
and A. E. Can't was elected secre-
tary by aeclamation. Mr.. Pence de-
clared the meeting open for popular
discussion and the following account
is synopsis of the result.
That the water, as it comes from
the WELLS good,pure and wholesome
there is no doubt, as was proven by
the testimony of several who were
present, armed with their personal
experiments with it.
Louie Wirth said that his expert
ence, as plummer, proved to him
conclusively that the trouble lay in
the pipes and not in the water. He
declared that in his opinion the pres
ent water was far superior to that of
the old wells. His reason for that
belief is that in their work as plum
mers they have been called upon to
repair meters, time and again, and
that invariably the brass cogs had
been corroded and eaten up by the
effects of the hard water of the old
wells. He said further, that after re-
placing old and rusty surface pipes
with new ones, at his residence, that
the present water, which was before
very bad, has now become excellent.
He told of getting sample of water
from other new pipes in the north
part of the city, and of Ward Knight
testing the same with a developing
powder, the result being that the
water could be used in Mr. knights
work as a photographer without fear
of bad results in developing. The
water from the faucets in the gallery
is not fit for the same use. On a
whole, Mr.. Wirth's opinion was, that
the trouble now being experienced is
caused by the action of the new water
upon the rust and accumulation left
in the pipes and mains by the old
water.
DR.. Burchard was present, prepar-
ed to give a test He had with him
a sample of the water taken from the
well, sample from the faucet in his
office and sample from the W. C.
T. U. fountain, at the court house.
His test was with tannic acid, the ac-
tion of which, on water containing
iron, is to turn it almost black He
added some of the acid to the water
taken from the wells and the result
was that it remained as clear as a
crystal. He did the same thing with
the water taken from the faucet in
his office, the result being that it
turned dark, very dark. The same
test was made with the water from
the W.C.T.U. fountain on the Stone
street main, and still the water re-
manned clear. DR.. Burchard's test
bic is in the pipes, not with the wat
er, and that in this case it was in the
surface pipes leading from the main
to his office.
Martin Ceiling said that he had
sent a sample of the water, taken
from the faucet at the brewery, to a
brewery chemist in Chicago and that
the chemist analyzed it for organic
substances, saying that it was free
from those and that it was in his
opinion, first-class water Mr..
Gehling said further, that his exper-
ience with the old water was that it
was hard and left crust upon his
boilers at the brewery, causing him
to clean them very often; that since
using the water from the new well its
action upon the pipes was to clear off
the accumulation, and that it is not
necessary for him to give the boiler
as much attention as before.
w. H. Putnam, of the bottling
works, said that when the water trou.
Bile first made it's appearance, he sent
a jug of the water to the bottler's as
sociation chemist in Chicago. The
chemist reported to him that the wat
er was good and that he would run
no risk in using it in the making of
his pops, etc. The bottling business
requires an extra good water and the
fact that the present water meets the
requirements of that business, proves
that the water is all right-the trouble
is in the pipes.
Water Commissioner Van Wrinkle
was called to the floor and piled with
few questions. Some present had
the opinion that drainage conditions al
the wells were of such a nature as