The Birmingham age-herald. [volume], June 18, 1913, SECTION D, Image 55

About The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950

Image provided by: University of Alabama Libraries, Tuscaloosa, AL

                
THE BIRMINGHAM AGE-HERALD_
VOLUME XXXNIII BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 18, 1913 NUMBER 4J
PURE WATER IS
RESPONSIBLE FOR
HEALTH OF CITY
18,000,000 Gallons Are Used
in District Every
Day
SUPPLY IS EQUAL
TO ANY IN COUNTRY
Process of Purification Is Simple But
Effective—Water Is Obtained
From Two F’ine Sources.
Improvements Made
Birmingham’s water works and the
J8.000,000 gallons supply of water that
flows through the conduits daily into
the homes, factories and stores is a
water supply in which any city mlglu
take just pride, and would he even par
doned for bragging a bit about.
Analyses of the water supply that is
sol ved Birmingham have demonstrated
time and again that the purity of the
water is unequalled in any of the neigh
boring cities of the south and is sur
passed by none in the United States.
The best evidence of the purity of
Birmingham's water supply is summed
up in tlie statement of a great indus
trial chemist, who, after having made
tests of the water for more than three
months at intervals, said:
“Its sparkling appearance, its soft
ness, its general suitability from the
standpoint of household and boiler use
and its unquestioned wholesomeness arc
unsurpassed in any public water works
conducted in the country and are un
equalled in by far the majority of much
larg-er cities throughout the land.”
The people and corporations served
with water in Birmingham and vi
cinity use 18,000,000 gallons of water
every day. The capacity of the present
filter and supply plants is more than
20,000,000 gallons daily, hut this capa
city will be raised to 32,000,000 daily
.when the additional filters and mains
now in course of construction are com
pleted.
Free Fse of Water
The increase in capacity is being
made because in proportion t<> its size
Birmingham is Hald to use more water
than any other city in the country. In
order to he prepared for the greater
amount of water consumed the com
pany is putting in 10 new filters ai
the Five Mile creek source, eacli one
with a capacity of 500,000 gallons a day.
and at the Shades mountain plant 30
more filters of 500,000 gallons capacity
are being added along with eight more
of 1,000,000 capacity each.
It's a mighty interesting process that
the Birmingham “water-we-drink" goes
through on its way from the founts to
the faucet in the homes and factories
of the consumers.
The supply conies from two sources.
One is at Five Mile creek, from which
between 5,000,000 and 0,000,000 gallons
are piped each day to the North Bir
mingham filter plant and the other
source is the Cahaba river, the station
at which purnps daily 13,000,000 gallons
of water up to the filtering plant, on
Shades mountain and hence on down
to the city mains.
In bringing the water from the larg
( at source the company pumps, It from
tin* river with the aid of several huge
pumps up through 24-inch pipes to the
reservoir and filter plants at the top
of Shades mountain. 100 feet above
the surface of the river. There it is
stored in two reservoirs having each
a capacity of 10 days’ supply and then
flows out to a smaller reservoir where
it is treated with a chemical solution
which causes the grosser particles of
impurity to settle, This small reservoir
is of three days’ capacity. From it the
water is piped into the top of the great
filter units, where it undergoes its final
purification, t
A Simple Process
The filtration of water is really a
remarkably simple process. The water
passes from the conduits into the up
per portion of ill© filter which consists
of a three foo* layer of selected sea
sand. Below this it percolates through
another layer of gravel and thus thor
oughly cleansed by nature’s own pro
cess of purifying all running water it
finally sweeps out of the filters into
the storage basin that holds 3,000,000
gallons at one time. From this basin
it descends in huge iron pipes by tiie
gravity system, piercing Red mountain
to the north end of the tunnel, where
it /lows into a half hundred different
joining mains that carry it into every,
street In the city from East Rake to!
Ensley. As it leaves the reservoir for ;
its descent to the town the water
travels through two great 30-inch pipes.
As it meets other mains it flows
through pipes ranging from 36 to 42
inches in diameter and then of course
through the smaller 12 and 15 inch
mains.
It has been found after years and
years of experiment that the simplest
method ever devised to purify water
is the most successful one. No other
way has been invented to turn “raw”
water into pure water better than the
plain plan of sifting it through filters
of sand and gravel.
Impurities Left Behind
Starting at the top of the filter us
•raw” water it leaves its impurities
on tiie top and in the sand and gravel
as it seeps through the successive
layers and finally, when it reaches the
pipes at tiie bottom it represents about
as near th© maximum of purity as
water can attain.
After water has been flowing til rough
WHERE WATER SUPPLY IS STORED |
This picture gives a good idea of the sanitary surroundings of the Birmingham water supply. There are two
large plants, either of which has a supply sufficient for a city of more than 150,000 persons.
them for 24 hours the filters naturally
have accumulated a great amount of
impure matter which has been left as
a residue on (he top. Then the filters
themselves are filtered by the simple
method of passing* great quantities of
already filtered water through them in
the reverse direction from which the
raw water came. The result Is that all
the impurities are taken up in the
deluge ol' this new stream and are car
ried off through other pipes to the
sewer so that the filter is in perfect
working condition again.
But the Birmingham company lias
gone even further than this in its pro
tection of its clients against impurities.
At the North Birmingham station,
where is received the water from the
Five Mile creek, it has erected a steril
izing plant where the 11.2-0 is put
through the hypochlorite solution
whenever it is found necessary. That
makes certain that the water will go
through the pipes with as few impuri
ties clinging to it as lias the famous
Pasteurized milk.
The operation of both filtration
plants is under the direction of a well
equipped laboratory at the company’s
SOUTH RAISES MORE THAN
ENTIRE U. S. 20 YEARS AGO
According to estimated reports of t lie
United States government officials the ag
ricultural products of the south are now
greater every year than were the entire
annual crops of the country previous to
and including 1K90.
Here are the figures:
Output of the entire United States in'
1890, $2,460,000,0011: output of the south
alone in 1912, $3,000,000,000.
It is also estimated that the Increase
of crops in Dixie xx ill exceed Increase In
other sections of the country in the fu
ture. It seems us though the south is
destined to lead the country in tills par
ticular for many years to conic.
office where constant tests are made
to make sure that the purity ot' the
water is maintained at its high per
centage. Tlie tests made in this plant
under an expert chemist and water ex
pert establish the fact that the water
I served to ilirminghani users is purer,
more- sparkling and generally of bet
ter quality and efficiency than that ob
tained by any Other city in the south.
A series of comparative tests have
developed the further fact that no city
in Hie United States can boast of a more
complete or purer water supply* than
the Magic City. The additions to the
plant will have been completed this
summer or by early tall, when, with
the added filter capacity the local com
pany will have a plant that is un
equalled by any city of twice its size
in the United States.
At Hate of $1000 Per Acre
.\ profit of mor« than $20n annually on
one-fifth ot' an acre is the record that a
Madison county farmer makes in the cul
ture of tomatoes. Me rotates his crop j
so that he can supply the demands of his
customers throughout the entire season,
and as a result his investment has
brought a line yearly dividend.
TELEPHONE GREAT FACTOR
IN PRESENT-DAY BUSINESS
Local and Long Distance Services Are Both Indispensable,
Some of the Factors In Up to-Date Service
No more marked pi ogress has been
made in any line of endeavor during j
the past quarter of a century than that
of the development of the teiephon *.
and no other one tiling has done so
much to further business interests and
social pleasure as the small instru
ments connected by a strand of wire.
The telephone hus taken the place of
the slow plodding messenger bo> . it
has put new life into businc s. carries
the affairs of the social world, and in
the last few months has worked in con
junction With the telegraph to such an
extent to almost revolutionize that
business.
And yet the telephone is now only
in its infancy. New discoveries and |
inventions are being made every day.
many of which in time will be turned
to practical use. It lias been less than
a year since the first cable telephone
was placed into operation Tin lin<
extends under the English channel
from England to France, and, while it
is as yet but in its experimental stage,
it is believed that it will prove a sat
isfactory institution. In time to come
this means that one may In* able t<» sit
in his office and talk to himself clear
around the world, should ho care to ex
perience the novelty of it.
Wireless telegraphy is already here
to stay and has become so perfected
as to be one of the most valuable
inventions the world has ever seen.
Wireless telephones have been inveiHe.I
and experimented with for years. Inn
have not yet been brought to that point
of perfection whfcre they are a commer
cial success. This, however, will doubt
less come.
Changes in ltirininghuin
Had an early pioneer of Birmingham
been told that by the year J913 mop:
than half tin* business of a city of near
ly 200,000 persons would be carried on
by 1 lie use of the telephone (then large
ly regarded as a fad) lie would probably
have regarded such a statement as the
wild fancy of a dreamer. Vet today
12,000 or more telephones are daily in
use throughout the Birmingham district
and is with them that the wheel
of business and commerce are driven.
The pioneer of three decades ago
would probably have smiled softl> to
himself had he been told that the busi
ness man of 1913 would sit in his Bir
mingham office and talk to associate
and customers in New Orleans, Cincin
nati, Chicago or Philadelphia. Three
decades have made a wonderful cluing,
in the business methods of this coun
try, and practically all of it is due to
the great progress of the system for
local and long distance conversation.
A prominent business man of Bir
mingham sat in his office not so long
ago and talked to a newspaper reporter.
“Who, Iti your estimation, is tin* most
important and indispensable person in
Birmingham?” asked the newspaper
man.
Tire business man looked out of the
window for a moment and puffed his
eigav <r$ jlectively. Winn he dually madu
his reply, he said: #
VThf jjtefephone operator!”
"• * irl at the S wit oil board
lhd toil ever stop to consider that
not only the dnancial and civic welfare
of Birmingham, but your very life is at
all tinges practically in the hands of and
at the disposal of the little miss who
is not yet out of her teens? Strange
as it may seem, that is absolutely true.
Tlw> life. sal'ct.\ and welfare of nearly
200,000 people in Birmingham rests in
the cup of the hands of the brave little
woman at the switchboard for prac
tically 2 1 hours out of a day!
The life of a telephone operator has
in it more dramatic possibilities today
than that of almost any other person.
It was not until recent years that this
fact dawned with its full fore© upon
the public and in the last 12 months two
popular plays and no less than 50 fic
tional stories which were widely read
had as the central figure the lady of
fhe wires. In two of the moat sensa
tional news stories that have been
printed recently, the'telephone operator
has been the heroine. Both concerned
the Hoods, one being the bursting of a
great dam in Pennsylvania when the
courageous little operator stuck to her
post -ami saved thousands of lives in
a life and death race between the wires
"f her switchboard ami the terrific wall
oi wafer which was crashing down fhe
valley.
There is never a day passes that some
momentous problem is not decided i-y
the brains and wit of the telephone
girl who never stops to realize that sho
has done anything out of the ordinary.
That is her duty. A faulty connection
in a long distance may bankrupt a
hank! A moment's delay In getting a
hospital number may cost a life!
Thus docs the weight «*f the world
I rest upon a woman’s shoulders!
Wires (he Nerves of City
There is probably no other one thing
upon which depends to sucli a great ex
tent the progress of the city as an ef
ficient telephone service. The telephone
wires a re the nerves of u city and
when those ref list! to work there is
paralysis in every working organism.
When the service is defective there is
sluggish transaction of business.
The rapid strides with which Bir
mingham has gone ahead of In r sister
cities is dun largely to the excellent
service which has been had over since
(tontinned on rage Four)
The Birmingham Water Works Company
Furnishes
LAKE. PURDY.
“The introduction of filtration has been one of
the greatest blessings that ever befell the community
or the waterworks profession.”—Sedgwick.
INTERIOR OF SHADES MOUNTAIN FILTER PLANT
“Filtration affords the safest protec
tion of surface waters against water
borne disease.”—Whipple.
CORNER OF CONTROL LABORATORY
CAIHABA PUMPING STATION
Sparkling, Clear
Wholesome
Always
NORTH BIRMINGHAM PUMPING STATION