Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-15
CHEMIST TO TRACE
D. c. WATER TASTE
Will Visit Railway Tie Creo-
soting Plant as Result of
Complaints Received.

With the Potomac River at the lowest
stage in its history, complaints of the
taste of the water in Washington have
been so persistent that Carl ]. Lauter,
chief chemist at the filtration plant at
Dalecarlia, will leave today for Green
Spring, w. Va, to run down reports
that the taste is being caused by the
creosote from the Baltimore & OHIO
Railroad tie treating plant at that place.
Mr.. Lauter said that he had been in
formed by officials of the Hagerstown
| Nd, water system that the presence
of creosote in their water supply system
had been traced to the Green Spring
plant. MFR. Lauter said, however, that
he is not satisfied with the report, and
intends 10 make personal investiga-
ton. He will be ready to report in
two or three days after his return Mon
day or Tuesday, he said.
Water Here Pure.
Mr.. Lauter said that the water now
being served to Washington is as pure,
both from chemical and ARCHAEOLOGICAL
standpoint, as any in the city's history.
The sharp taste, which has caused so
many complaints, is due in part to dis
solved carbonic acid gas, he said. Al
though this is not an impurity, it is
difdcult to obliterate it from the supply
by chemical means because the water
now flowing in the river is almost ex-
clusively spring water, owing to the pro-
longed drought. Spring water is charged
with dissolved lime and magnesium
carbonates, and when these come into
contact with the aluminium Sulphate
with which the water is treated at the
filtration plant, a certain amount of
carbonic acid gas is liberated.
The creosote might also cause the
sharp taste, but Mr.. Lauter said that
his researches into this phase of the
subject were not complete, and that
he would have more to say after test
ing the water at Green Spring.
Lime Treatment Reduced.
The practice at the filtration plant is
to place quantities of aluminium sui
phate in the water after it Is drawn
from the settling tanks and before it
flows through the sand filter beds. The
sitting tanks take out the larger par
ticles of mud, which sink to the bot
tom by gravitation, and the aluminium
sulphate solution takes out the rest,
consisting of the finest particles. In
normal times, when rain Is plentiful
the practice is to treat the water also
with lime, so as to decrease the acidity
caused by the sulphate treatment. This
leaves the water almost as soft as nat
ural rainwater. Owing to the drought,
however, the lime treatment is now
greatly reduced or altogether omitted,
depending on daily chemical tests, as
the water now reaching the filtration
plant already carries a high percentage
of lime salts.
These lime salts furnish the familiar
hard water" problem of some water
supply systems. The salts tend to
crystalline out in pipss heated for hot
water, and eventually they will clog old
pipes or so restrict the flow as to cause
leakageS where there is heating under
high pressures, as in steam boilers.
Deposits Found in Furnaces.
Numerous tests have shown the
presence of these lime carbonate de-
posits in pipes in Washington furnaces.
Through the cooperation of A. r. Nc
CONCEAL, District plumbing inspector,
sections of pipe where leaks have de-
veloped are transmitted to the chemical
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