The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-18
TO SAVE ON SOAP
New Filtration Plant Means
Saving of 500 Per Day.
Estimate Is Made by Engineer
of Health Board.
WILL Par COST OF CHEMICALS
Plumbing Bills Here win Also
Be Cut Down.
Life win Be Brighter for To-
peka Housewives.
WILL par COST OF CHEMICALS

Topekans will save nearly 500 a
day in soap bills VIXEN the new filtra-
ton plant begins pumping water thru
the mains. The saving from Incl
dental loses-plumbing, boiler and
machinery in industrial plants-Will
be equally large. That is the state
ment of Albert H. Jewell, chief en-
giner for the state board of health.
JEWELS figures are based on -esti-
mated use of three to four million
gallons of water day which is soft
ened by housewives or in industrial
plants thru various softening pro-
cesses. He states that cost of soften
ing this water will be reduced from
the present cost of $S5 a million gal
Ions to SO a million. The saving viii
pay the total expense for chemicals
used at the big city plant he asserts.
Soap values are fixed at five cents
pound.
Life will be a bit brighter and hap
pier for the down-trodden housewife
when the new plant is opened. She
will have real soft water for use in
stead of the present exceptionally hard
city water. 1t means big saving IN
plumbing bills. But most of all it
means that in every household in the
city there will be a material and de-
cided cut in the soap cost. Jewell
estimates this saving at approximately
500 a day.
In a letter to DR.. S. J. Crumbine,
secretary of the state board of health,
Jewell said:
IA number of years ago Professor
George c. Whipple at Harvard uni
versity carried on a number of tests
with reference to hard waters and
the amount of soap consumed He
found that on an average the number
of gallons of water per capita per
day that were completely softened
varied from one to ten, SO that it
would be a conservative estimate to
assume that one gallon per capita is
thus softened. He also found that
the cost of soap increased about $40
per million gallons of water complete
ly softened for every increase of one
part per million of hardness.
1--WE therefore find that the depre-
citation in the value of the water ex-
pressed in dollars per million gallons
would be equal to the hardness di-
vided by ten The city water as OBJ
tanned from wells has a hardness of
approximately $50 so that the depre-
citation of this water would be S35 per
million gallons. With the new city
filtration and softening pant, the city
water ill have a total hardness of
approximately 100 so that the depre-
citation on account of it's hardness will
be about $40 per million gallons, re-
sulting in a difference of about SIS
per million gallons.
Figures Based on Depreciation.
z t"These figures are based on the de-
probation of the value of the water
from the soap consuming power only
and on a basis of soap at five cents
per pound. This means that for every
million gallons of water pumped at
the pumping station, there will be
a saving in soap of about s25 or some
where between $75 and 500 per day
at the present rate of consumption.
These figures are for the saving in
soap alone and do not take into ac-
count the inconvenience and inciden-
tai losses from the use of hard water
in the household which if they could
be estimated in dollars and cents prob
ably would be as large as the saving
in the soap. There are a number of
other savings which have not been
considered here such as plumbing,
boiler water and industrial uses''