From Red Ink to Profits Air Lift Plus Oil Engine Greatly Improves Finances of Galva, Ill., Water-Works By John Oliphant NVESTIGATION a year or so ago revealed that the city of Galva, Ill., was annually running into debt because of conditions at the water-works plant. The administration sought to find a means of remedying this trouble, with the result that the old steam plant, consisting of four boilers supplying steam at 100 pounds pressure to a steam-driven air compressor, was discarded. The compressor brought the water to the surface whence it was forced into the stand-pipe by means of an ordinary duplex steam pump. The coal delivered at the plant cost from $5.50 to $6 per ton. The problem to be solved was the raising of the water from the well and delivering it to the stand-pipe, or direct to the mains under pressure, at a minimum cost. The stand-pipe is 97 feet high. air-line, which is connected outside the water discharge, is 21⁄2 inches in diameter. The air-lift discharges from the well into a surface reservoir, and the centrifugal pump is used as a booster to lift the water from the reservoir to the elevated tank or to discharge it into the main. Cooling water for the compressor and engine are supplied by a closed system consisting of coils of 2-inch pipe laid in the bottom of the surface reservoir so that it is always submerged in cold water from $300 Loss Becomes $500 Profit "The new water-works installation Mayor Mellow, in the "Galva Daily New Equipment Installed In January, 1922, a 100-horse-power Fairbanks-Morse Type Y oil engine, direct-connected with a flexible coupling to a Sullivan Type WJ-3 angle compound compressor operating at 263 r.p.m., was installed. A 36-inch by 8-foot vertical steel air receiver and a 3-inch Fairbanks-Morse single-stage centrifugal pump were also installed. The new equipment further included a 12,000gallon fuel oil storage tank, 8 feet in diameter by 31 feet 10 inches long, which assures an adequate fuel oil supply at all times. At the well were installed a Sullivan standard foot piece with 41⁄2-inch discharge and a 21⁄2-inch air-line; and a Sullivan standard well-head, flanged to a 15-inch casing, a 5-inch water discharge, and a 21⁄2-inch air connection and regulating valve and umbrella deflector. The water discharge line is 41⁄2 inches in diameter, expanding to 5 inches. The the well. The water is drawn through these coils and discharged into a small overhead supply tank by means of a 5- by 5-inch Fairbanks Morse Typhoon circulating pump. This is beltdriven from the engine shaft extension between the outboard bearing and the compressor. The compressor is of the Sullivan angle compound type, equipped with plate valves, with the high- and low-pressure members accurately balanced and with all working parts completely enclosed and lubricated by a combination positive and gravity automatic oiling system. As shown by the illustration, the installation is exceedingly compact and occupies but little floor space. Tests were made on the well to determine the exact size of piping and depth calculated to give the best operating efficiency. The action of the air-lift footpiece employed provides a very thorough emulsion of the compressed air and inflowing water, so that the flow from the well is in a constant stream with very low factors of slippage and leakage. Water is supplied by one well 1,500 feet deep, 12 inches in diameter below the surface casing. The static level is 293 feet. and the water drops 46 feet when the pump INTERIOR OF GALVA, ILLINOIS, PUMPING STATION AS REMODELED ing load is on. The surface reservoir is 5 feet above the collar of the well, making a total lift of 344 feet. The foot-piece is placed so as to have 201 feet, or a 37 per cent, submergence, giving a total length of 545 feet of vertical discharge. The plant operates under a normal load at 107 pounds air pressure, and 247 gallons per minute are pumped at a compressor speed of 263 revolutions per minute. The compressor delivers 375 cubic feet actual free air against the above pressure, or 1.52 cubic feet of actual air per gallon of water pumped. Measurements taken at the plant with the centrifugal pump shut down showed a consumption for air-lift purposes only of 6 gallons of oil per hour. This oil is purchased at 6 cents per gallon, and the pumping day is 16 hours, making an output of 237,120 gallons per day at a total fuel cost of $5.76, or 2.429 cents per 1,000 gallons for air-lift work. The following table shows the operating operating costs. Pure Drinking Water in New York State According to the Division of Sanitation of the New York State Department of Health, 9,182,000 of the 10,651,000 people who live in the state of New York are now supplied with drinking water from public water-supplies, and 7,796,000 drink water that has been sterilized. 239 Park Lighting in St. Louis-Po By J. A. Hooke and Ralf Toensfeldt Director of Public Utilities and Chief Electrical Engineer, respectively, St. Louis T HE city of St. Louis has standard ized on its park lighting equipment, having now, installed and in service, 3,616 concrete standards, manufactured by the city, on which are mounted ornamental fittings with upright ornamental refractors. The 100- to 600-candle-power lamps, burning on a street series system, are mounted on these posts 15 feet above the surface of the street. Care is taken to entirely enclose the lamp as nearly as it is possible, in order to avoid the accumulation of dust on the inner glass and on the lamp. These standards are spaced approximately 140 feet apart on the average, which gives a minimum illumination of about 0.02 foot-candles. The ratio of minimum to maximum illumination is slightly over 4. The Holophane glassware which has been adopted places approximately 50 per cent more of the total light from the lamp on the street surface, where it is useful, than other methods which have been tried, thus making possible a system of comparatively uniform illumination which we feel is highly desirable. Further, the glassware is pleasing in appearance, both when illuminated and when dark. Although we have found the first costs are somewhat higher than those of other types of glassware, the maintenance cost is low. Based on two years' experience, glassware costs have been computed at 16 cents per year, or approximately breakage of 0.8 of one per cent per year. This contrasts very favorably with the 50 per cent breakage which has been experienced by the gas lighting contractors furnishing light for a portion of the city. There has also been great economy in lamp wattage necessary for a given illumination. This creates not only a saving in the cost of lamp renewals, but also a saving in current consumption. The following data give the average costs for installations of this type of lamp as compared to the cost of gas lighting in St. Louis. This tabulation gives in detail the total, as well as the unit, cost of maintenance, figuring 240 THE AMERICAN CITY MAGAZINE for SEPTEMBER, 1923 the average lamp, the candle-power of which in St. Louis is about 106. To this figure must be added the investment charge, amortized over a period of 20 years. This amounts to $12.46, making a total cost per U year of $27.91 per average lamp. The cost for 60-candle-power gas lamps, figured on the same basis, is $29.56, and for 120-candle-power gas lamps, the cost is $43.94. Public Health or Esthetic Problems? P to ten years ago it was not at all disposal a function of the local health department. Although to-day this is usually a responsibility of some other department, health departments are still often concerned with the investigation of complaints regarding uncovered or inadequate garbage receptacles and insanitary conditions of alleys and yards. Undoubtedly such conditions are nuisances which ought to be attended to. There is, however, an unanswered question as to where the public health problem ends and the purely esthetic problem begins. Uncovered garbage cans are unquestionably unsightly, disgusting and odorous and as such are a nuisance which should be abated. In providing a food supply for rats they produce an additional nuisance which in seaport cities forms a distinct public health menace. In breeding flies the nuisance is still further increased and a potential carrier of disease is produced. The fly undoubtedly plays a more important part in the transmission of disease in rural communities, where large numbers of open privies are to be found, than it does in cities, where methods of sewage disposal are more sanitary. Accumulations of refuse, except as a possible home for rats, unless they contain organic material, are chiefly nuisances against our ethetic senses and do not form an important public health problem. Whether or not improper care of garbage constitutes a real public health problem is chiefly a question as to how great a menace the rat is, how many flies breed in garbage and what part the fly plays in the spread of disease. The rat anywhere is a potential source of danger, but in inland cities where plague is not endemic, it seems unlikely that he plays any very important part in the transmission of disease. The rat problem in such communities is chiefly an economic one, the annual losses caused by rats being enormous. Should the Great Lakes cities become trans-Atlantic ports this problem might well be one of public health. We are accustomed to think of garbage as a breeding-place of flies, but, as a matter of fact, how many of them actually do breed there? Manure is, of course, a much more favorable breeding-place than garbage, and in cities where garbage is collected once a week or oftener there should be no fly-breeding provided the collector entirely empties each receptacle. Where collections are regular, any flies which hatch out must have been bred either in the small residue left in the receptacle after collection has been made or in spilled garbage. The passing of the horse and the substitution of the automobile has very greatly reduced the fly problem, especially in the cities. If there were a better observance of the law requiring householders to clean garbage receptacles and more attention given to the disposal of spilled garbage, the number of flies would be decreased still further. Do flies present an important public health problem in the modern city? Frankly, we have not the knowledge to definitely answer the question, but it seems probable that with the decrease in the number of flies and with the great majority of homes properly sewered, there is comparatively little opportunity for the fly to spread communicable disease. There isn't the slighest doubt but that money is well spent on garbage and refuse disposal and their attendant nuisances, but there is a question as to whether or not money should be spent from public health appropriations for these purposes unless they present important health problems. If, for example, a city makes an appropriation of $2 per capita for public health and 70 cents of that $2 is spent on garbage, rat, and refuse complaints, is that city really spending $2 per capita on public health? We are inclined to feel that it is not. -Weekly Health Review, Detroit, Mich. POWER PLANT AND PUMPING STATION OF THE LA CROSSE, WIS., WATER-WORKS impression as to the property is likely to be based upon what he can see. Fundamentally, there is no reason why the water-works station should not present the same attractive appearance as the city hall or any other municipal building. It should be permanent, clean, and as easily kept clean as a modern hospital, for it handles a commodity used in every home. An ornate design justified in a city hall or a court house would be out of place in a pumping-station. Rather, it should represent the masculine in architecture, without undue pretension, should be strong and permanent in its lines and materials and power equipment should be arranged with the idea of expansion. It is usually practicable to build only for a moderate time in the future, but it costs little to lay down the indefinite future additions on paper, and to so locate the building and so arrange the equipment that extensions may be made without destroying the usefulness of important parts of the plant. In the ordinary water-works plant, steamoperated, there is, first, the heart of the plant, so to speak, consisting of the main entrance, offices, and possibly a laboratory, which may be grouped and will need little further expansion. The engine-room and |