Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1918-03-14

wants good pure spring water. Be-
fore the cities of Centralia and Grand
Rapids were united, Centralia sup
Piled herself with water taken from
! the Wisconsin river through a small
but poor filtering system, consequent
| " they never had good water. Many
Of the citizens Of the city Of Grand
Rapids had excellent spring water that
they piped from the base of the sand
] hill. This was excellent spring water
and was perfectly satisfactory TO those
who had it. The city then purchased
certain property along the base Of this
bluff and sunk many small wells, which
were used as reservoirs and were con-
nected up and through one large pipe
| the water was carried to one large
reservoir located on the east bank of
the Wisconsin river below the North
western R. R. bridge When the two
cities were consolidated, the two wa
ter systems were connected by laying
pipe in the bed of the Wisconsin
river connecting the same, since then,
the city of Grand Rapids has been
having the spring water and the west
side pumping station has been lying
idle. AS the city grew in population,
and in dry seasons a shortage of water
occurred.
To give an added supply, large
well was sunk on the east side of the
river which was thought to be suffi-
cient to make the supply of spring
water adequate for all wants. But
this winter it appears that the sup
ply of water is again short.
| At the last meeting Of the common
Council, Mayor Ellis, brought the mat
ter of water supply up before the
members of the Council for action,
and suggested three different methods
that might be adopted.
The most permanent supply Of water
is the Wisconsin river. It looks reas-
enable that from this source we must
expect our permanent supply, but as
this stream is polluted by many meth
DDS, the question arises, how can it
be prevented?
First, the State authorities must
prevent the paper mills from dump
ing their waste pulp, sulphite and sui
phate substances, that are now dump
ed in the Wisconsin river all along its
course, from doing so any longer We
are informed that the sulphate is the
worst of the three, as this cannot be
eradicated by liberation. When this
is corrected, we are informed by our
City Engineer, A. 7. Thompson, that
it is his judgment, from his investi-
cation of the water supply for Grand
, Rapids, that our city can secure pure
water at a very small expense, by the
erection of pump house down near
the present station on the east side
of the river taking the idle pump,
which is now located on the west side
moving it to the new pump house to
be erected, and pumping the Wisconsin
river water to the present sand hill
which is natural fltering bed and
after liberation carrying the water
to the present reservoir, ready to be
pumped into the water mains and car
ried to all parts of the city.
We believe this is the proper solu-
ton of the water supply, beyond what
we already have, if the sulphate and
other impurities can be removed and
not permitted to pollute the Wiscon-
sin river water, and this can be done
by the state authorities. This change
can be made with an expense not to
exceed $1,000. Any other method will
be very. expensive to the city.