The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1920-12-09


surface of the walls and floor was
then painted with two coats of BIZ
luminous paint. The walls were made
watertight by this method, but test
in October, after such waterproofing,
showed that a leakage of 10000 gal
Ions per day was taking place through
the floor. failure to obtain a water
proof floor was due to difficulty in
drying out the moisture in the bottom
and securing a bond between the con-
crete and waterproofing material. A
test made month later showed that
the cracks in the bottom had been
sealed up from the sediment and silt
in the water to such an extent that
the leakage was reduced from $4,000
gallons per day to 84O0 gallons per
day. At this rate of decrease in the
leakage, it will be a matter Of only a
few months until the cracks are en-.
tirely sealed from such sediment and
silt and the reservoir made water
tight without any further repair.
Sewerage System.
Next, | want to give you some facts
and information in regard to the sew
erage system of the city. The first
sewers were constructed in 1906,
there being only about two miles Of
pipe included IN this first installation.
Since that time the mileage of sani-
tary sewers in the city has gradually
increased until there is now about 25
miles of sanitary sewers. The original
system was designed to take care of
only the sanitary sewage, but large
number of catch basins were connect
ed to the original system and first ex-
tensions and the sanitary system was
made to take care Of a large amount
of street drainage, thus making it do
the service Of combined system. AS
the sanitary sewers were being over
taxed on account of the street drain
age and anticipating that a sewage
disposal plant would have to be con-
structed within few years, about
not to provide for further street
drainage by the use of the sanitary
system for this purpose. Storm sew
ers have been constructed in every
section of the city to provide for street
drainage and with the storm sewer
work now under contract, it will be
possible to disconnect nearly all of
the catch basins from the sanitary
system. --
/ In view of the fact that the city
is now constructing sewage disposal
plant, the city is fortunate in having
adopted separate system of sewer
age. In case combined system of
sewerage had been adopted, it would
have required that the storm water be
carried to the same points as the out
falls of the sanitary system, with
large and expensive trunk lines, and
it would have meant that very much
larger sewage disposal plant would
have to be constructed or the construc-
tion of a separate storm sewer sys-
tenn after having gone to the expense
of providing for the storm water with
combined system. In the case of
storm water drainage, small systems
with different outfalls have been con-
structed, thus eliminating large trunk
lines. Minot is one of the few cities
of the state which have adopted the
separate system of sewerage and some
of the larger cities Of the state which
have adopted the combined system will
be confronted with great problems in
case they are required to construct
disposal plants:
In order to guard against the en-
trance Of the ground water into the
sewer, all of the sanitary sewers and
service line connections in the lower
portions of the city where ground wat
er is likely to occur, have for the past
several years, been constructed with
watertight asphalt joints. The pre-
vention of infltration of ground water
into the sewers is of primary import
ance as the entrance of such ground
water will require pipe lines of great
er carrying capacities, will increase
the cost, of pumping and necesstate
the construction of disposal plant
of increased size. Whenever it is pos
sble to do so, roof drains are connect
ed to the storm sewers rather than to
the sanitary sewers. In the case of
combined system, the cost of main
tenance is much greater owing to the
large quantities of solid matter car
ried in the sewer 1t will thus be seen
that different construction features of
the sewerage pipe line system bear a
close relation to the design and con-
struction Of sewage disposal plant:
At different times, doubts have been
expressed by some as to whether the
sanitary sewer pipe lilies are ol Sui
ficient size to provide for the future
growth of the city. In all instances
these doubts are expressed because of
comparison Of the size Of our sanitary
sewer lines with the size of pipe used
in combined system in some other
city. The carrying capacity of our
trunk lines is sufficiently large that
no one need to be alarmed that they
will not adequately take care Of any
possible future growth Of the city.
AS articles describing the several
structures Of the sewage disposal
plant and explaining the method of
disposal have appeared in the press
from time to time and Geo. w. Kem-
per, our Rotarian contractor, has ex-
planned to you in regard to the con-
struction features and the magnitude
Of the work, will pass over this sub
ject with only stating that the plant
as designed and being constructed is
of the same general type as world
wide experiments have shown to be
best adapted to the treatment of
sewage under our conditions and that
Il. ~fo& Il