Sewickley Herald

              Herald
The Sewickley Valley's Home-News Weekly
SEWICKLEY, PA., FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 1936
Price 5 Cents
Umprovuis  Cfc^ewortl) Water System
COVERING OPEN RESERVOIRS
Installing Water Softening System,
The Edgeworth Vater* Company is
making a number, of improvements in
its system this summer. Starting last
Thursday, employees of Walter S.
Rao, general contractor, of Pittsburgh,
began placing a now process dqmo over
the open reservoirs. The lower reservoir, which is 52 feet in diameter and
20 foot deep, was" drained and cleaned
and filled to the brim with scaffolding.
On tho top of tho' framework, a form
is being built with the edges ,of the top
timbers curvod.
Plywood will bo nailed on; reinforcing rods laid; 160 anchors tied: }n. to .
four luigo rings insido of tho portion
of the reservoir wall projecting above
tho ground and..then .c&npfoto will bo
spread by moans of coinprossod air
equipment. Tho coiicroto mix comes
through tho hoso dry and is mixod with
water at the noEzlo and is shot out under sumeiont prossuro .to pack it so
tightly .that it is.,water proof, The
process is called "shot-crcto,"-and'no
center boaitts or other means pf.'surj-
A view of the open concrete reservoirs of the Edgeworth Water Company, located on.
the hillside near Chestnut Road, Edgeworth, showing leaves and twigs on the surface of
the water. That condition, along with the growth of algae, is being corrected, as concrete
covers are being placed on the reservoirs.
port are necessary. The dome will be
about two and a half inches thick at
the top, where it will be covered with
copper wire screening. The dome will
be thicker at the edges.
It will take about a week to properly
cure the concrete, with a sprinkler keeping it damp, and it is expected that tho
lower reservoir will bo in service within
two weeks, after being thoroughly
cleaned again. Then tho workmen will
start work on tho upper roservdir, 'which
,is 60 foot in diameter and' 20 foot
deep. Both reservoirs hold .approximately 675,000 gallons of watcri A
12-inch outlet main has been laid from
tho reservoirs, which are filled'through
two mains, one six inches in diameter
' and tho other ten inches, from. tho
pumping station.
Tho wovk at the reservoirs will result in botter water for tho consumers,
as the growth of nlgao in the summer is
duo to sunlight and will bo eliminated.
Leaves and other surface .Utter 'Will'
also bo eliminated and connections aro
being made so that the water will come
" in at the top and go Out thQ bottom of
tho reservoirs, keeping the water in
constant motion. Another feature that
will improve the water will be tho
elimination of the present oxidation of
the chlorine by manganese, which will
■ bo removed in the now softening plant,
thus insuring residual chlorine in the
water in the reservoirs and mains.
Staining of clothos and enamel ware
will be a thing of tho past Onco tho
new  softening plant;  now  being constructed at the pumping .station, is in
Operation for from four to six months,
long enough to clear out all the mains.
The complex system of piping has boon
installed,  tho  concrete  forms for  the
^filter bods have been poured and tho
v stool framework of the now wing to
tho pumping station is being erected.
There will bo two zeolito bods, a bed
to filter Crchothrix, a form of nlgao,
from tho water and two rapids and manganese removing beds.   Manganese will
Ijo taken from all tho water, but it will
not all bo softened in tho zeolite filters,
as it certain degree of hardness must
% bo maintained;   Eighty-five to 00 parts
'"in a million will probably bo sufficient.
Although the contract has not yet
been let,  a hundred thousand  gallon
tank is planned, to be built in the present water tower structure on tho Singer
estate, at the top of Chestnut Street
hill, in order to provide botter pressure and better fire protection for the
estates in that vicinity. Six-inch pipe
is ready to bo laid from tho proposed
now automatic booster station, equipped with threo pumps, on tho reservoir
property, to tho new tank.
A two-inch line, laid Only two feet
deep, along Edgeworth Lane', is being
replaced with a line tieing in the 12-
inch main on Beaver Road with a four-
inch main,that ends at the fire plug on
Edgeworth Lane,..near Meadow Lane.
Tho two-inch line' was buried in such
a shallow ditch that discolored water
was blamed on" partial freezing and
thawing of water, breaking rust off the
pipe. The water company employees
usually get ashowor bath-when they
cut the two-inch lines, as" tlioy. were laid
about 50 years ago .and. no one knows
where .the water 'can bo sltttt off. While
all largor cast iron mains are in good
conditioiij With tho tar intact, most of
the smaller mains are in. bad condition
and must eventually be replaced.
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