Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-09-02
ALDERMAN BLACKSHEAR
EXPLAINS FILTER TROUBLE

To The Herald:
In answer to your question in to-
days paper, will the water and
light committee again kindly inform
a suffering, unwashed public why
our $4,000 filtration CD plant
turns out diluted mud, instead of
the clear, sparkling water il should
producer"
| will, as chairman of the water
and light committee, be GLAD 10 do
my best to enlighten each and every
number (for Brownsville is one
lEge family and should have no
rets to keep from each other) of
~lmily on the reasons why our
water is sometimes not clear.
Will say that it's my opinion.
after spending many hours both
night and day at the plant, that the
Illtl llSCIl 10 al liShly IhC NdtCA
passing through it under normal
conditions Chat is TO say when the
river is not on a rise and very, very
muddy and receiving the regular
amount of chemicals, comes out
clear. But unfortunately at times
our river begins to rise and carries
at different stages different quaint
ties Of silt or mud. Ordinarily 90
pounds Of chemicals fed into the
tank will be sufficient to cause the
mad to settle, but at times we have
had to increase this as much as 100
pounds a day in order to make the
water throw down the mud. Hence
ii requires a man almost constantly
testing the water and watching this
every changing river water. or in
! short we have a chemical proposi-
ton to deal with all the time.
1t is my opinion that, in all his
experience, Mr.. Greer has never had
any river to deal with that carried
one-tenth as much silt or mud as the
Rio Grande, yet his theory is cor
rect and the water can be made
clear.
| can remember when for years
st. Louis, with hundreds of thou
sands of people could hardly get a
bath when the Mississippi river was
up. Cincinnati was the same way
up TO a few years ago-but the filter
plnnts now give them relief.
AS our river water deposits so
much mud, it is plain that our set
Ting tanks having collected it. mus,
be cleaned out periodically. How
often? Well, that is owing to the
condition of the river and mount Of
mud. Sometimes il can go for weeks
and deposit only a foot or two Of
mud in our settling pools. Again.
in a few days they fill up several.
feet in mud. ow we must cease
pumping water into these settling
pools while we are cleaning OUT this
mud. 20 we first fill our large reser-.
voir, supposed to hold 100000 gall
Ions, with clear, clean water. This
being filled we put six or eight men
to work at about sever o'clock in
the morning TO pushing this mud in
to the resaca. Now unless this 250.-
600 gallons of clear water Will last
until this can be done-or about 10
to - hours-it becomes necessary
to pumr muddy river water into the
pipes and furnish the city with this.
Unfortunately seyerals times Of late
we have had to resort 20 the means
or have no water at all. You can
readily see that this muddy water
deposits more or less mud in our
pipes and il takes a day or two for
the clear water to wash this all out.
hence, cloudy ate comes from your
hydrant until all this mud has been
washed out.
We hope to remedy this trouble
and will do so no doubt. In the
meantime, let us remember that.
Brownsville is having TO 90 through
with experiences that st. Louis. Gin
~cinnati. Louisville and all river
towns have. but | am glad TO say
that % far at a much less cost. u
Il