Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-31

Trump, chief engineer"
nACTEHoLooIsTs REPORT.
The bacterologist's report follows:
December 80, 1919.
''Mr. s. N YanTrump. Chief Engineer,
Water Department, Wilmington,
Delaware.
Dear Sir: In regard 10 our coDyer-
sation this morning concerning several
cases Of stomach disorder and which is
thought 70 have been caused by excess
chlorine in the water, / wish n explain
some facts pertaining To chlorine and
chlorides in water There IL rarely found
water that does not contain chlorine
m Some form and, most generally 1t ~ IN
combination as the chlorides Of certain
mineral deposits, and also az common
sait Many mineral waters on The market
which contain large amounts Of chiOrdes
are sold for aton0ch disorders.
The raw Brandy1ginc creek water
contains from > - 10 parts per million of
chlorine and filtration will not remove this
element The silver nitratc test il the
usual method for determining the rhlorideg
in water and ~ | understand this method
has been used recently by Some physicians
IN testing for cxcess free chlorine IN aur
supply
The amount Of chlorine added Al nur
filter plants, l-5 to - part per- million &
90 small That 10 ran not be drDctfd hy
the silver nitrate trgt Therefore. whrr
silver nitrate is uaed 10 detect cxctsa frfs
chlorine, the result obtained IS not cx,sss
chlorine, but the natural chloride cnuteI'.
The proper test for excfse frcC chlorine
the TOlidn fcst and is aeusitlvc ~ arc
bundrcdth Of part pr million Our
numerous daily tfsts show that the water
supply Is of good quality and safe n usc
for All domestic purpose Respectfully
submitted Montgomery Alexander
Bactcriologi7t
DIsTRTBUTToN EvGiNEERs RKPoET
"Mr. S. " Van Trump. chief engineer.
water department Wilmington Della
ware Dear sir. Monday morning JUst
before noon reocived 4 personal trle-
phone call from you III regard r. q rom
plaint Of taste and od0r in our dstrjbu-
sion system IN the northern soction n he
city. This complaint wae Investigated
and the taste and utor could not he de-
tectod. Also m excess ~ chlorine WAS not
found ! reported to you by phone NV
findings Tueaday, several extra teets
were made on the high, low and extrs ne
hugh services il yarious SECTIONS 81 sfr
CITY for taste, odOr and excessive free
chlorine In every instance n tSgt the
5agtc and oeior WAS absent and the free
chlorine lesss than the amount recnu-
mcnded by conwllting bactoriolgglsts and
water work engineers III our leading citjes
In regar ~ our chlorine treatment
We wish to state that last Reck the de-
pavtment delivered 70 the city l02 68f 100
gallons Of water, ~ 745. 900 gallons pasa-
ing the { tier and 5 l23 600 Gallons beng
taken from storage At CDol Spring rfecr-
voir As the "a, as ,OOO gallons left our
liter plant, We added to this quantity
only 50 pounds IF chlorine ~ an average
rate "a 10 ounces per hour This ls IL
the rate ~ less than i-5 part per million,
which u equal To i.5 pounds per million
gallons Or 0i05 grams per gallon. As one
pound contains 7 900 grams and il takes
is ordinary drinking glasses 70 contain
one gallon Or l-3 pounds the small
amount II chlorine added II the water n
certainly readily realized Frnm thrae
figures ard allowing that the chlorine
did not react with the organic matter 0f
the water and remain free the amount II
free chlorine IN 3 glass 81 w-Rtcr would
be COOS grain Always. some ~ the
chlorine added combines with the organic
matter ana does not remain free d the
water
II OrrleF u EpT AHT E3cCer1@t efE4cIFfCy
from the chlorine ID IS Gecf=8arv to a-1d
sufficient chlorine n unite WITH he
organic matter and have = slight exce@s
as were term .05 parts hv The Tolid!n test.
Tins slight excess is stall further reduced
as the water passes through he distrlou-
ton system The free chlorine tcer IS
made several tlTnes every Gav, depending
On the change Of tlterlng rate aad coldI-
ton Of the raw water. In our experience
checking chlorine rates we find that the
chlorine pipes co~rode and diminish he
supply of chlorine -athe- than increase il
The reports II rhvsica, operations aade
bacterial results clock iiais and meter
charts sent 70 your Office daily from ne
filter plant wiil verify our gallons ~
water delivered, our chemical treatment
aad the extreme cage t8ken to -cduce
the number q complaints 70 3 minimum
THAT the quality of our cIty water
supply Is up 70 me standard Is shown
BY the iact that We are satisfying the
meteorological Standards for Drinking
Y ater ot the ! nlted States tUbliC Heath
Service used in our laboratory. also our
water WIS passed As favorable by the
recent he3itb survey IF Dr. Terry
Respectfully submitted. Y Compton
wills. Assistant Engineer Of Distri-
ton