The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-03-04
PLANT OPERATES
LIKE CLOCKWORK
ENTIRE WATER PURIFlCATIoN
WORKS AT TOLEDO A GOOD
PATTERN FOR FARGO.

Toledo Daily Blade: Working
smoothly as if it had been running for
months, the Toledo water publication
plant, sending $4,000, 900 gallons of good
water into the city every day, presented
an interesting sight yesterday. The
entire works, from the intake to the
great aqueduct that carries the clear
water to the city pumping station, was
operating smoothly The great gas pro-
ducers that generate gas, the big gas
engines that run the centrifugal pumps
and motors, the saturators, settling
basins, filter beds and all worked like
clockwork.
Still there are doubters in the city.
There are citizens who can remember
when the water was as clear as it is
now. For their benefit Supt. J. M.
Wisler has had the plant open at all
times for visitors. There is much work
yet to be done before the works will
assume its Sunday appearance, as the
making of good water was begun before
the ornaments were put in place.
Soft Water For Washing.
1t takes an inspection of the works
in operation to get a proper idea of
it's operation. Between the city of To-
ledo and disease the plant stands as
an almost impossible barrier. Men on
duty day and night watch for the first
sign of germs in the water. The result
of their work is best seen in the filter
house. The Toledo plant is q combina-
ton of a publication and filter. The old
slow sand filtration plants. engineers
are learning, are not adapted to mod
ern needs. They will clarity water, but
viii not treat it to suit all conditions.
A single filter will not deliver soft
water to the homes, If there is any de-
gree of hardness. The water will be
clear, but in the homes the need of
some agent for softening will be neces-
sary. Any housewife who does family
washing knows what this means on
wash day. The Toledo works can de-
liver soft water to every home in the
city. BY Monday. the next general wash
day, housewives will notice a differ
ence.
A view of the filter beds, when they
are being washed, gives an idea of the
filthy condition of Maumee river water.
When the air current is turned on and
the wash water sent up through the
sand filters then the dirt shows. The
bubbling, boiling mass is dirty yellow,
with the ugly bubbles on the surface
that show so often in dirty water.
The filter house is an interesting
part of the plant. Here d. H. Good
willie, the chemist in charge, is on al
most constant duty during the day.
With his hands on little levers he is
the man between disease and health
of Toledoans. Somewhere inside the
filter house bell rings. 1t gives no
tice that filter has become clogged
with sand and mud. Instantly Mr..
Goodwille goes to one of the twenty
filter beds and works q series of levers.
One turns off the treated water that
flows over the sand surface. Them an
other turns on a current of air, then
another turns on clear wash water.
In minute the operation of washing
bed has started and the bubbling
mass of dirt begins to wash out of the
sand, carrying with it any disease
germs that may be in the filter. These
run through a sewer into the river.
In ten or fifteen minutes the operation
is completed and only needs be re-
peated once or twice in twenty -four
hours. At present all the filter beds
are in use, though only 100000 gal
Ions of water is being filtered daily.
OF this amount about 100000 gallons