The objections to these waters were: 1. The hardness; 2. The contamination of richly manured farms; 3. The uncertainty of the availability of the water-sheds. To produce the thirty millions it required the combined area of Clear and Gregory creeks, besides large storage reservoirs for dry seasons. The distance of latter creek is 38 miles from the city, and 15 feet below flow-line of Eden Reservoir.
He considered the waters of the Ohio most preferable providing the water was taken above the city limits. The plan embraced a pumping service with two lifts, to be located in Pendleton, with storage and settling reservoirs and filter-beds. The elevation of reservoir was 200 feet above low water, and would not supply elevations above 175 feet. The estimates were:
| Three settling reservoirs, | $381,436.02 | |
| Two filter-beds, | 514,220.50 | |
| Storage reservoir of 39 acres, | 635,386.50 | |
| Pumping house and foundations for low service works, | 194,822.80 | |
| Pumping house and foundations for high service works, | 77,285.75 | |
| Pumping engines—two for low service and two for high service, 30 millions capacity, | 402,500.00 | |
| Force-main, with river inlets, | 119,979.50 | |
| Forty-two-inch supply main to Third Street Reservoir, | 457,355.00 | |
| Lands and damages, etc., | 105,225.00 | |
| Auxiliary pumping engine and reservoir for Walnut Hills, | 150,000.00 | |
| ————— | ||
| Total, | $3,038,214.07 |
The majority of the committee in recommending the plan stated; “that they regarded the question, as to the source of supply, as definitely settled for all time, that the Ohio River is the only means from whence this city should derive her supply of water. The site is as high up the river as can well be obtained without crossing the Little Miami.” This latter consideration they thought would be demanded fifty or one hundred years hence. The minority report recommended the retaining of the present system, and the construction of a new reservoir in Eden Park,—the minority report was adopted. Had the Eden Reservoir been completed within a reasonable period it would have served the purpose intended, at least for a few years, but before it was ready for use the consumption of water increased from five, to seventeen millions daily.
No. 5.
OHIO RIVER.
The Ohio River above Cincinnati has a water-shed area, estimated by U. S. Census Bureau, of 100,000 square miles, one-tenth of which is of limestone formation. The hardness of the water varies in proportion to the contribution from this formation. The water, at the mouth of the Big Sandy, is .8 of a degree hardness; at Markley Farm, 4½ to 8; at Dayton sand-beach, 7 to 8; at pump-works, 6 to 8; Eden reservoir, 7 to 9; Eggleston Avenue sewer, 7 to 13; wells in the banks of the river at Dayton sand-beach, 32 to 39; and those at Sedamsville 50 to 60 degrees. The well water is upland surface water. In fact, all borings in the banks of the river secure, in more or less degree, this nature of water.
In the south-western part of this State, the river flows over the bedded rocks of the Cincinnati group, its waters alternately impinging on one side of its banks, and depositing its earthy matters, through the influence of sluggish currents and eddies, on the opposite side, and forming what might be termed accidental beds, as in the case of the Dayton sand-beach. The material deposited is an argillaceous substance; and, with the friction and influence of the water, is partly transformed into quicksand. The beds do not form a part of the river in low water, as depicted by the sketch in the last report of the Board of Health.
The sediment in the Mississippi water, at St. Louis, is nearly two per cent. of the bulk of the water; the largest portion (944 in 1,000) depositing itself within 24 hours. The Ohio River water, at this point, is, at times, almost as bad. The sediment forms a tenacious and impervious clay, so susceptible of solidification that conductors of river water are only kept open by a constant flow of water.
The volume of water passing down the Ohio River is an extremely variable one. No special gauging, however, has ever been made to ascertain the quality; but from the surface velocities, measured by the Chief Engineer of the Southern Railway, we can approximately arrive at the figures