RIVER POLLUTION.
This subject is possibly most interesting to Cincinnati, because of
its direct application to our source. River water is next to the most
suspicious of waters, and the character is the bone of contention
among scientists. Just how far and how much sewage may be admitted,
and what influences are exerted to destroy it, are interesting
discussions, part of which we have quoted.
The Rivers Pollution Commission of Great Britain arrived at the
conclusion “that there is no river in the United Kingdom long enough
to effect the destruction of sewage by oxidation.” And a direct
contradiction of the statement by the eminent physician, Dr. Letheby,
medical officer to corporation of London, “that if sewage matter be
mixed with twenty times its bulk of ordinary river water, and flow a
dozen miles, there is not a particle of that sewage to be discovered
by chemical means.”
The experiments of this commission show “that scarcely two-thirds of
the sewage was destroyed in a flow of 168 miles, at the rate of one
mile per hour, or after the lapse of a week.”
Investigations of the Rivers Pollution Commission on Sewage Pollution
are as follows:
REDUCTION BY OXIDATION IN RUNNING WATER.
--------+--------------+-----------+---------------------------------
| | | PERCENTAGE OF REDUCTION OF
NAME OF |LENGTH OF FLOW|TEMPERATURE| ORGANIC ELEMENT.
RIVER. | IN MILES. |CENTIGRADE.+---------------+-----------------
| | |IN ORG. CARBON.|IN ORG. NITROGEN.
--------+--------------+-----------+---------------+-----------------
Irwell | 11 | 6 to 8 | 4.5 | 0
“ | 11 |12 | 0 | 11.8
“ | 11 |17 | 29.6 | 0
Mersey | 13 | 4 to 4.8| 20.8 | 17.9
Darwin | 13 | 6.8 to 10 | 0 | 13.2.
--------+--------------+-----------+---------------+-----------------
REDUCTION OF SEWAGE BY AERATION.
One volume of filtered London sewage mixed with nine volumes of
water, the mixture contained .267 organic carbon and .081 organic
nitrogen. After agitation and freely exposed to the air and light
every day, and being syphoned, in a slender stream, from one vessel
to another, the result, after 96 hours, was .250 organic carbon, and
.058 organic nitrogen; and, after 196 hours’ test, was .2 organic
carbon, and .054 organic nitrogen. Temperature, 20° centigrade.
The above results would correspond to a flow of 96 miles, at rate
of one mile per hour, with a reduction in per cent of 6.4 organic
carbon, and 28.4 organic nitrogen; or a flow of 192 miles, at rate
of one mile per hour, with a reduction in per cent of 25.1 organic
carbon, and 33.3 organic nitrogen.
Test of a mixture of fresh sewage with Thames water, and enclosed
in stopped bottles, and opened to air at following intervals, with
results opposite the respective periods:
PER CENT OF SEWAGE DESTROYED.
1. Period of 24 hours 6.8
2. Period of 24 hours 8.9
3. Period of 48 hours 14.3
4. Period of 24 hours 5.4
5. Period of 24 hours 5.8
6. Period of 24 hours 2.1
----
Total 43.3
Dissolved oxygen contained in the enclosed water was determined by
boiling off the dissolved gases.
REDUCTION OF URINE BY AERATION
Urine, in proportion of one gallon (imperial) to 3,077 gallons of
water, exposed to the air and briskly agitated:
PARTS IN 100,000 PARTS.
DATE. ORGANIC CARBON. ORGANIC NITROGEN.
Feb. 17, 1874, .282 .243
“ 18, “ .298 .251
“ 19, “ .244 .255
“ 24, “ .225 .253
“ 25, “ .214 .259
“ 28, “ .214 .276
Results show that fresh urine with a large volume of water is, under
atmospheric influences, more permanent and indestructible than sewage.
The agents of destruction of sewage are:
Infusorial animals.
Aquatic plants.
Fish.
Chemical Oxidation.
Dilution.
Deposition.
Sir Benjamin Brodie, in his evidence before a former River Pollution
Commission, stated: “That it was simply impossible that the oxidizing
power acting on sewage running in mixture with water over a distance
of any length is sufficient to remove its noxious quality; that
the oxygen in the water and on its surface does not exercise any
rapidly oxidizing power on organic matter.” He believed “that an
infinitesimally small quantity of decayed matter is able to produce
an injurious effect upon health; that if a large proportion of
organic matter were removed by oxidation, the quantity left might be
sufficient to be injurious to health. To destroy organic matter the
most powerful oxidizing agents are required. We must boil it with
nitric acid and chloric acid and the most perfect chemical agents. To
think to get rid of organic matter by exposure to the air for a short
time is absurd.”
Prof. Frankland, one of the Rivers Pollution Commission of 1874,
says:
“That I should rely upon dilution quite as much and more than upon
the destruction of injurious matter; that the flow of a river has
a most natural influence in the removal of subsidence of a large
proportion of the suspended impurities both organic and mineral,
_especially if the flow be sluggish in places_.”
Prof. Brodie stated:
“There are causes operating, as we all know, to destroy the sewage
which, to a certain extent, will effect that end; but the question,
as I understand it, is, whether those causes are really adequate
to destroy the sewage, not partially but absolutely and entirely,
during a given course of the river? _I do not think, in the present
state of our knowledge, to pronounce an absolute opinion upon that
point._ But if you ask whether it is wise to drink water into which
you have put sewage, knowing that you have no means of getting that
sewage out of it, that is a question which any one can answer for
himself, assuming always the injurious character of sewage.”
The fifth annual report of the Board of Health of Massachusetts
(1875), contains the following, on the effects of oxidation,
dilution, and deposition:
“_Oxidation._--Although it is not practical, in the case of a
running stream like the Merrimack, to trace the progress of the
destruction of the organic material by oxidation, yet there is
no doubt that a certain amount is so destroyed. The presence of
nitrogen in the form of nitrites and nitrates is mainly due to the
oxidation of nitrogenous organic material. In the last report of
the Board, the reasons are given which lead to the belief that the
effects of oxidation have been overrated, although they are not, on
the other hand, to be depreciated.
“_Deposition._--Much waste material, thrown into rivers, is made up
wholly or in part of substances insoluble in water. A portion, and
a very considerable portion, even in a running stream is deposited
upon the bottom or stranded upon the banks. At the time of spring
freshets much that during the summer may have been deposited at
one part of the stream, in the bed or on the banks, is washed up
again, and mingling with the earthy materials, held in suspension,
is swept onward to the sea or enveloped in the earthy matter,
especially if this be of a clayey nature, is deposited lower down
the stream. These spring freshets are relied upon for cleansing
banks used for infiltration.
“_Dilution._--By far the most important reason of the apparent
disappearance of sewage and other waste material, is the fact that
the amount of solid matter is so small compared with the volume of
water into which it is thrown, that it is disseminated through the
mass and thus lost to observation, and in many cases to chemical
test.
“Analyses of water, below and above Lawrence and Lowell, showed no
increase in chlorine. The substance can not escape from the water
in gaseous form, nor does it deposit in insoluble combination, yet
first inspection would lead to a conclusion that no real increase
existed. The facts are that the reduction was due to dilution, and
not to any destruction or decomposition. Much depends of course
upon the size of the stream into which the refuse is thrown. Thus,
while into the Merrimack at Lowell, even during the minimum summer
flow of 2,100 cubic feet per second, it would be necessary to throw
more than 100 tons of solid matter daily in order to increase the
amount in the water by one grain to the gallon; another and smaller
stream might be hopelessly fouled by a single factory.”
The effects of dilution are shown in the analysis of the Schuylkill
River--there being less sewage at Fairmount Dam, the nearest to
the outlet, than any point above. It is estimated that 300,000
inhabitants, exclusive of those in Philadelphia, live within the
water-shed of this river, less than 150 miles above Philadelphia,
the undiluted sewage from these persons amounting annually to
150,000 tons. In addition to this pollution 15,000,000 gallons daily
flow from 115 establishments located on the banks, not considering
the 57 collieries and 76 anthracite furnaces. Yet with all this
contamination the water at Fairmount, chemically considered, is as
pure as most sources. The chemists in their report say: “Having now
shown that the Schuylkill water is about as good a water as we might
wish to find for a large city in its mineral and organic content.
“Since the present water is good enough, we may keep it so, and even
improve it by a system of sewage gradually extended up both sides of
the river, especially the left bank, above the influence of Monayunk,
and by procuring sufficient legislative power to control the escape
of sewage or possibly injurious manufacturing residue. The long line
of many miles would tend greatly to the purification of the water by
aeration, deposition, or abstraction of possibly injurious substances
from the water by the time it reached within using distance of the
city.”
The increase of solid matter in the Schuylkill has been as follows:
1842, 4,421 grains in 1,000 gallons.
1854, 6,109 grains in 1,000 gallons.
1862, 7,040 grains in 1,000 gallons.
1875, 8,139 grains in 1,000 gallons.
The recent analysis by Prof. Stuntz of the Ohio River, also shows the
effects of dilution. (The results express the number of pounds of
sewage in one million gallons.)
GENERAL WORST GENERAL
CONDITION CONDITION AVERAGE
LBS. LBS. LBS.
At pumping works, 1.81 11.39 4.18
At mouth Eggleston Avenue sewer, 4.41 17.91 11.16
At Storrs and Lower River, 1.96 10.00 5.94
Although increased by the whole sewage of the city in addition to
Licking River, Covington, and steamboat contamination, the proportion
of sewage at Storrs in its worst condition is chemically shown to be
little better than at the pumping works.
THAMES RIVER.
Although the water of the Thames has been submitted to analyses by
different chemists, on many hundred occasions, no constituent which
could be pronounced noxious, has been detected; but the history of
the water traced in the inorganic constituents above referred to,
always reveals that which is, indeed, well known to be the fact--its
previous contamination with sewage or animal matters--(Rivers
Pollution Commission, 1874.)
The area of water-shed drainage of the Thames above pumping station
is 3,675 square miles, the minimum summer flow of 350 millions of
gallons daily. There are one million persons above the intakes of
pumping works. The whole river and its principal tributaries are
under strictest sanitary regulation, which the government is able to
enforce, notwithstanding a great mass of sewage is poured into the
stream.
The Rivers Pollution Commission, of 1874, sum up their investigation
of the Thames and Lea Rivers as follows:
“1st. That the river receives the sewage from a large number
of towns and other inhabited places, the washings of a large
cultivated land, and the filthy discharge from many industrial
processes and manufactures.
“2d. That the water is used for bathing, washing of sheep and
cattle, and dirty linen and putrid carcasses of animals float upon
its surface.
“3d. That it is the common water way for a large amount of
dangerous polluting matter, etc.
“4th. That in time of flood a large proportion, both of the
suspended and dissolved filth, is conveyed down to the intakes, and
in ordinary weather considerable portion of soluble organic matter
makes its way to the pumping works, and is still present in the
water distributed _to the consumers_.
“5th. That the water is, nevertheless, when efficiently filtered,
free from any offensive taste or odor.
“6th. That, notwithstanding the application of partial remedies,
for sewage pollution, at Banbury, Eton, and Windsor, and the
great care exercised by most of the companies in the storage and
filtration of the water, the organic pollution contained in the
Thames water delivered in London, though subject to fluctuations
from the greater or less prevalence of floods, does not diminish.
The proportion of organic impurity present in Thames water, as
delivered in London, was:
“In 1868, 1,000
In 1869, 1,016
In 1870, 795
In 1871, 928
In 1872, 1,243
In 1873, 917
“7th. That there is no hope of this disgusting state of the river
being so far remedied as to preclude the presence of animal and
other offensive matters, even in the filtered Thames water as
delivered in the metropolis.
“8th. That the Thames should, therefore, as early as possible, be
abandoned as a source of water for domestic use.
“9th. That the temperature of the water drawn from the company’s
mains is liable to excessive fluctuations, being near the
freezing point in winter and so warm in summer as to be vapid and
unpalatable.”
The Lea River is also condemned as a source of water supply.
Prof. Chandler, of New York, quotes the authority of eminent
scientists, who say the Thames, a short distance above London, is
wholesome, palatable, and agreeable, and safe for domestic use,
notwithstanding the large amount of sewage (the number of grains per
gallon being three times that of the Schuylkill), although controlled
by strict governmental laws.
QUALITY OF POLLUTION.
Scientists tell us that it is not so much the quantity as the quality
of the sewage:
“It is true a large amount of refuse material is of such character
as to be, except in excessive quantities, of no appreciable
influence on the human system; the addition of the inorganic
compounds of lime, soda, potash, etc., would have no deleterious
effect; in fact, although the lime compounds increase the hardness
of water, and make it less desirable for washing, the presence of a
moderate amount of mineral substance makes the water more palatable
and very probably more wholesome.
“Then, in case of many waste liquors, which appear to be
very offensive, the matter which really could be regarded as
injurious is comparatively small in amount. If we consider the
character of the substances discharged by different manufacturing
establishments, we shall find them very different. Some of them are
such as to be universally regarded as unfit to admit to any stream;
those, for instance, containing lead, arsenic, etc.; others, such
as salts of iron, are scarcely regarded as injurious; thus, the
discharge of sulphate of iron (copperas) into a stream already
polluted with sewage matter, might, within certain limits, be of
positive advantage. Again, in the case of some of the vegetable
dye-stuffs, the weak-spent dye liquors, although they communicate a
very foul appearance to the water for some distance, yet contain a
comparatively small amount of solid matter, and, if discharged into
a stream of considerable size, as soon as disseminated through it,
are diluted to a very great extent.
“Different in character, however, from much of the refuse of
manufacturing establishments is the sewage coming from dwellings,
or the sewage (in its more restricted sense of excremental matter
from animal sources) which comes from our manufactories. In fact,
this foul material, coming from establishments employing a large
number of operators, is likely, in many cases, to have a more
injurious effect upon the stream into which it is thrown than
refuse from the manufacturing operations. There are, however, some
branches of industry which discharge refuse material offensive and
dangerous to health. Such material is discharged from tanneries,
wool-pulling and hide-dressing establishments, slaughter-houses
and rendering-houses. ‘Too much stress can not be laid upon the
importance of preventing the discharge of such refuse.’”--(Prof.
Nichols, in Fifth Annual Report of Massachusetts State Board of
Health.)
“The discharge of gas works is known to kill fish and destroy lower
forms of animal life, which are important agents in preserving the
purity of fresh water.
“One would not assert that the drainage of a single house would
contaminate the water of a large river like the Merrimack so
as to make it unfit for domestic use, yet we must beware how
we depreciate the effect of sewage matter, even in a large
stream.”--(Prof. Nichols, in Fifth Annual Report of Massachusetts
State Board of Health, 1875.)
“With small amount of sewage the chances are favorable for the
action of atmospheric influences, and particles of undecomposed
material-propagating disease are rendered proportionally small,
owing to the great dilution.
“A minute quantity may do much harm, because it is now generally
believed, that it may hold the specific thing that propagates
specific diseases.
“Rice water evacuations, of a cholera patient, however much
diluted, still remains in liquid, although chemical test fails to
detect it.
“The carcass of a dead animal, thrown into a river or pond, and
confined there, so as not to be borne off bodily, gradually wastes
away, and, in a longer or shorter time, the main part of the
carcass has disappeared. What has become of it? A part has been
converted into gaseous products of decomposition, as the offensive
odors observed during the decay will testify; but another portion
has been carried off by the stream as soluble nitrogenous organic
matter. This nitrogenous matter would be detected a short distance
away, with greater or less ease, according to the volume of water
present; but in a stream of large size, or in a lake at no very
great distance from the source of contamination, it would be
impossible to discover any offensive matter. There is a limit to
the delicacy of our tests: there is a point beyond which, at the
present, we are not able to go. At the present time, a chemical
analysis alone is not sufficient to determine the desirability of
a given water-supply.”--(Rivers Pollution Commission, 1874.)
“The action of a float, upon or near the surface of the water, is
no indication of the movement, back and forth, of the sewage in
suspension. Portions of fresh sewage, it is true, will float, but
after maceration the sewage has a specific gravity of about 1.325,
and will sink, in still water, or very slow currents, at the rate
of one foot per minute; but in a current of 170 feet a minute, it
will not sink, but remain in suspension.”--(J. W. Adams, C. E.,
Water Supply Commission of Philadelphia, 1874.)
“This evidence, taken in connection with our own investigations,
appear to us, conclusively, to prove:
“1st. That there is, at certain times, in human excreta, some
material capable of producing disease, of a very fatal character,
in human subjects.
“2d. That this morbific matter can be detected only by its specific
action upon human subject, and can not be distinguished, either
by chemical or microscopical analysis, even in the concentrated
excreta, much less in water mixed with the excreta.
“3d. That, inasmuch as the organic matters of sewage are oxidized
and destroyed with extreme slowness in running water, there is
great probability that morbific matter will escape destruction and
be conveyed to great distances in rivers and streams.”--(Rivers
Pollution Commission, 1874.)
“Carbonates of calcium and lime produce temporary hardness; while
sulphate of lime and calcium and salts of magnesium produce
permanent hardness.
“Temporary hardness is objectionable for culinary and manufacturing
purposes, and excessive hardness is productive of disease known as
gravel. Magnesium salts are especially objectionable, because they
cause diarrhœa and dyspepsia. Goitre, or swelling of the glands and
cretinism, a kind of insanity, are charged to this impurity.
“Frequently, the water happens to be a little off color, especially
after a heavy storm, and the consumers get an idea that the water
is poisoned, and no amount of re-assuring will prove the reverse.
Such cases occurred in New York City, once or twice, during the
late war with the South. A little investigation will show the
absurdity of such a thing.
“One-sixteenth of a grain of strychnine is necessary to poison
a person. It would, therefore, require three and one-half tons
of strychnine to have poisoned the Croton water effectually--a
quantity not to be had in the world, and to procure it would take
about three years.
“If arsenic was desirable, two grains for each person would be
required, or 114 tons for the whole population of the city at that
time. Living animals, when seen under the microscope, are very
formidable in appearance and frightful in motion, yet they are not
objectionable. They only inhabit very pure water. It sometimes
happens, owing, perhaps, to some peculiarity of the season, that
these little animals multiply to such an extent as to produce
serious annoyance.
“It is stated that one-sixth of the deaths in Iceland are caused
by little animals being taken into the system. Young leeches,
contained in drinking water, sometimes fix themselves on the
pharynx. In Algiers, 400 French soldiers were sick at one time from
this cause.”--(From Prof. Foote’s lecture.)
CONTAMINATION OF WATER SUPPLY.
Boston water has become quite offensive from vegetable fermentation,
some say, although others attribute it to dead fish, eels, and animal
organisms, and, later, to a green moss. The water tastes, at times,
like cucumbers. The present trouble is traced to the new “Sudbury”
supply. The older source, Lake Cochituate, is, however, contaminated
by drainage from the town of Natick, through Pegan Pond.
Croton water (New York supply) has, at times, suffered from dead fish
and decayed leaves.
Hartford, Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, and Albany report the presence of
microscopic plants and animals in their water, and these organisms
indicate stagnation. “Any undue preponderance of animal or vegetable
life lead to the propagation of new forms of life dangerous to
health.”
Springfield (Massachusetts) water tastes, at times, like green corn;
while Cambridge is contaminated by the drainage of meadows.
Mr. G. W. Carpenter, Superintendent of Albany Water-Works, reports:
“There are two distinct causes (each imparting to the water an odor
and taste peculiar to itself) that have affected our reservoirs, at
different periods, during the last few years: the one giving to the
water the odor and taste of fish, the other imparting to it a musty
odor and taste sometimes detected in dead wood. In the former, it
is extremely difficult to satisfy consumers that the impurities
are not due solely to fish in the reservoir, while in the latter
they are equally confident that the reservoirs are little less than
stagnant ponds.”
The latter is sometimes exceedingly offensive and similar to
sulphuretted hydrogen gas. In 1875 he again reports: “That all
impounded waters in this section of the country are liable to become
impure; that while the impurities have been traced to lower forms
of animal organisms, little is known of the condition that favor
their growth; that the germs of the organism probably come from the
atmosphere.”
Chicago will be compelled to move her crib further into the lake, now
two miles from shore, to get beyond the limits of the Chicago River
sewage.
St. Louis, like Cincinnati, has outgrown its water system
(established in 1872 at a cost of five millions,) and is obliged to
drink muddy water.
Cleveland extended its aqueduct in 1872, 1¼ miles into the lake in
order to escape shore water.
Detroit, after considerable discussion, removed their source of
supply three miles above the city, and constructed new works in
preference to expending more money on the old works.
Rochester, N. Y., expended 4½ millions for bringing the water of
Hemlock Lake thirty miles to the city.
Baltimore celebrated only last October the opening of their new
aqueduct, conveying the waters of Gunpowder River 7 miles in
distance, at a cost of over four millions.
Indianapolis has been compelled to erect new works owing to the
contamination of the present source.