The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-06-27
WATER PUR.lFICATION
EXPERT VISITS CITY
And Praises the Work of the
Local Water Works and
Sewerage Board.

Charles p Hoover. noted chemist in
charge of tho Columbus, o., water puri-
ticatiOn works and an expert bacter-
iologist and author. is n business Wis
itor in the city and is spending some
time with local water works officials.
After Il study Of the local purihca-
ton works Mr.. Hoover spoke enter
tainingly Of the rapid sand process OF
filtration installed at Columbus,
Clarksburg and elsewhere throughout
the country. as follows:
There exists much misunderstand-
Ing. prejudice and mystery concerning
the art Of water publication. shall
describe briefly the operation of tho
Columbus. o., water publication plant,
and show that the chemically purified
water is not "doped" with chemicals
as Ia sometimes stated by those who
do not understand the changes which
take place in the chemical treatment
OF a public water supply.
Few cities have had so difficult a
public water supply problem to solve
as did the city Of Columbus, o., for
years prior to the installation OF the
present plant. sewage polluted water
from Alum creek and the Olentangy
anu SriOto rivers was pumped into the
distributing system Of the city.
The water polluted with sewage was
at times extremely muddy and as the
watersheds OF the above mentioned
streams are underlaid with limestone
and rock the water passing over and
through this limestone was very hard.
The hardness was 80 excessive that the
water was not satisfactory for domes-
tic or commercial uses. II would not
lather freely with soap and when used
for boiler feed purposes was very in
furious to the boilers due to the large
amount Of scale deposited on the boil
or tubes. Tho water was so impure
that severe epidemics Of typhoid fever
were OF frequent occurrence, and Col
umbus was recognized as having per-
haps as high typhoid fever death
rate as any large city in the United
States. In 1908, Just a year previous
to the time work was started on the
improved water supply, the typhoid
fever death rate was 139 per 100000,
a disgrace to any American city.
After heavy rains the water was so
turbid or muddy that II was almost
impossible to use II for domestic or
other purposes. The reader will per-
haps realize how muddy the water
really was by knowing that now after
heavy rains as much as 250.0OO pounds
Of mud are removed from a single
days supply Of water.
when the Columbus plant
was plaecd in service con-
sumers felt that tho uso Of
chemicals for tho softening and purI-
tying process would not be desirable,
and consequently had some hesitancy
in using the chemically treated water.
,hiS prejudice has now been almost
entirely overcome and the citizens OF
Columbus are beginning To realize
that the water is not doped with chem
icRls but that there Is less min
eral matter or chemicals in
the softened and purified water
thai there Is IN the raw river water.
The chemicals which are added In or
der to soften and purify the water
combine with the soluble mineral salts
already present In the raw water and
new compounds are formed. These
now chemical compounds which are
formed. are different fr0I these orig
ina'ly present and are also different
from the chemicals added in that the
chemical added to the water and the
mineral salts present in the raw water
are soluble, whereas. these new COM
pounds which are formed are not SOL
uble and consequently are easily re-
moved from the treated water. The
chemicals added as well as the min-
eral salts already present are removed
BY the publication process and. there