Washington Methods.—In Washington, it is stated that the filters are still cleaned by the old‑fashioned method of scraping with shovels, throwing the sand into piles, and afterward removing it with a movable ejector. Between scrapings there is also an occasional mid‑period action of raking the unwatered sand surface, for the purpose of stirring up the dirty film. This process does not remove any of the clogging material from the bed, but it is said that no injurious effects are produced, and that it is economical. It is stated that the so‑called "Brooklyn method," of stirring the surface of the sand while the water is on the bed, has been tried at Washington, but with unsatisfactory results. It seems to have been advocated with greater fervor in some other places.
The method of dry raking does not remove the dirty material, but loosens up the pores of the surface, and through this porosity permits clogging to penetrate deeper into the filter. The method of raking with water on the bed, although it removes some of the organic dirt, also permits deeper penetration of the remainder. The latest devised system of washing the sand in place, by upward spraying with water, called the "Blaisdell method," thoroughly destroys the Schmutzdecke above, and, at the same time, must permit the formation of a subsidiary one below. In the Nichols method, the material removed by shovel scraping is conveyed by an ejector to a portable separator, where it receives a single washing; the dirty water overflows to the sewer, while the washed sand is discharged through a hose and deposited on the recently scraped surface. As the latter is partly impregnated with impurities, there is, by this process, a tendency toward sub‑surface clogging.
All these processes are marked and serious departures from the well‑tried method of cleaning slow sand filters, which, it is well known, will operate successfully to purify polluted river waters and make them safe to drink. In all there is the danger that they have not been sufficiently and carefully tried, under scientific observation, as to results and possible effects on the public health, to be sure that the bacterial efficiency can long continue to be satisfactory, with the application of specifically infected waters. It is dangerous, and may even jeopardize the safety of human lives, to experiment on water which is furnished for drinking purposes. There is also the added danger, well known from past experience, that in a few years (it may be more or less, depending on the extent and intensity of the new workings) the filters will need renovation, partly, if not wholly, throughout the entire bed. Thus, considering the total cost during a long term of years, the apparently cheaper method may become the most expensive.
There is also an interesting query in regard to the Washington method of replacing sand in the filters, and it is worthy of most careful thought and attention. If the process described can be carried on with success and safety, it will prove to be a long and progressive step in the methods of operation. The difficulty, however, is in determining from any short‑term runs whether such a process can be continued permanently without impairing the efficiency of the sand bed. Apparently good conditions may change, after a few years' trial, and be followed by unsafe results and predicaments. This replacing of sand with whatever dirt and detritus may travel with it in the carrying water is certainly not equivalent to the care with which it has been understood that sand should be deposited in filters. It is not comparable with the care with which it is placed, when wheeled from a washer, where dirty water overflows the lip, or where it is placed by a machine restorer in the filter, where the transporting water also overflows the weir and is carried to the sewer.
These cheap and rapid methods of doing the work, advanced in the interests of economy, and the idea that sand filters, receiving polluting waters, can operate at higher rates than those which we have demonstrated, and, therefore, have been led to believe are safe, is a speeding up of the whole organization and of operating conditions. It is like speeding up a machine for the purpose of getting a greater output, with the usual result that fast running means quicker wearing out of both man and machine. Quicker operations generally mean carelessness in doing the work, especially in municipal service. Carelessness is engendered by the thought that such work can be handled in a rough and rapid way, and, further, by the ridicule of all these things, which we have learned to be careful about, as old‑fogyish, out‑of‑fashion, and archaic. Carelessness in operation breeds contempt for the art. Some of the less efficient filter plants, from the standpoint of effect on the public health, may reflect such ill‑considered methods.
Economy with Efficiency in Operation.—It is particularly important to find out whether one can secure the desired economy, and, at the same time, the required efficiency. The development of efficiency in every line of human endeavor is receiving much attention at present, and not the least cause for this is the growing recognition of the demand for a high standard of service for the expense caused. One of the first requirements is to have well‑defined ideals and standards. When one knows how to secure a good and safe result, it is unwise to depart therefrom for a mere whim, or to secure a supposedly lessened expense, unless other facts be also determined favorably. The desire for economy must be tempered by good sense, which means that one should be willing to change a method only when the wisdom of such has been clearly demonstrated. Efficient service can only be secured by strict discipline, accompanied by fair dealing. This means employing no more men than are actually necessary, paying them on the basis of the standard of service and output produced, taking an interest in the working conditions, and providing for their health and welfare.
About twelve years ago, the writer made some investigations of the efficiency of laboring gangs in scraping and handling sand at filter beds, [1] and found that ten men was the most economical number to use in scraping the surface of the Lawrence filter, as then built and operated. This result was determined by numerous studies of the output per man per minute, with different numbers of men working under different conditions. This same sort of study has been carried further by adepts in the art, in reference to shop and similar management, but one fails to find corresponding development along this line in municipal organization except by a few of the scattered Bureaus of Municipal Research. These results, also, have related to a few of the more common and general factors, such as determining the cost per mile, or per square yard, of street cleaned, or per million gallons of water pumped.
[1 Transactions, Am. Soc. C. E., Vol. XLVI, p. 291.]
The cost of the management of water‑works, one of the largest factors of public enterprise, has never been investigated extensively and thoroughly. There is much possibility in planning for greater efficiency and in determining what can be accomplished under economical administration. Every one is aware of the multiplicity of men in municipal service. Some of these are entirely incompetent, others partly so; the recent appointees may be more efficient, but the majority of them gradually deteriorate under the subtle influence of the prevailing atmosphere, and each new incoming administration places more and more men on the work, without reason or necessity. All these tendencies have made the cost and maintenance of public work greater and greater, and, at the same time, have resulted in frequently and steadily decreasing the output and efficiency per employee.
The Washington situation, however, presents an admirable contrast to this, because of the methods of administration of the public works of the District of Columbia and their freedom from petty political influence. The limited number of employees has tended toward economy, and rendered this plant the envy of all who have desired to obtain good management. Its cost items have been looked on as a result long hoped for, but seldom obtained. It is to be regretted, therefore, that such an abrupt change in methods of removing clogging material and replacing sand has taken place without years of experimental trial on filters not furnishing drinking water to the public, and without an attempt, under such excellent conditions, to maintain the efficiency by a better labor output and by improved working and machine methods in the performance of the older and established order of doing things.