Decatur Daily Democrat, Volume 59, Number 172, Decatur, Adams County, 24 July 1961 — Page 2

PAGE TWO

Desalting Os Sea Water Is Underway

(EDITOR’S NOTE: What President Kennedy called a dream of mankind could come true if a special U.B. project, now getting underway, succeeds. The sea ean be made to tire up fresh water. This country has started the first Mc-Ume test of desalt. Inf techniques. Here is a special report on its meaning to a thirsty world.) Hr KYLE THOMPSON and TRAVIS HUGHS United Press International FREEPORT, Tex. (UPD-Three-fifths of the earth's surface is water and yet much of mankind thirsts. "Water, water everywhere, “Nor any drop to drink” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner once was a riddle of the universe* In 1930 Dutch engineers began converting sea water to fresh water on the island of Aruba in the Netherlands Antilles 15 miles off the coast of Venezuela. Now the island operates a 312 million plant that supplies water to ail parts of the island — producing 2.8 million galons a day at a cost of about *1.75 per 1,000 gallons. Here in Freeport, a steamy industrial town on the shore of the Gulf of Mexico, in a building on

WHY PAY MORE LADIES' LADIES 1 PLAIN MISSES, SKIRTS, SUITS ft COATS BLOUSES* SWEATERS < MEN’S MEN’S SUITS, TOPCOATS TROUSERS, SWEATERS ft OVERCOATS ft SPORT SHIRTS “T /LQc — OQc PRESSED Jf PRESSED jf MEN'S HATS - CLEANED ft BLOCKED SHIRTS LAUNDERED -20 c EACH QYC 2ZZZZZ CABH <nd carry zzzzzz MYERS CLEANERS Comer Madison ft Second Sts.

an acre of land hard by a seawater canal, scientists and engineers have recently converted salt water into drinking water in the first operating plant of its kind in the United States. Water gushes pure and sweet from a 2*4-inch pipe. It is neither very hard nor very soft. It comes from the sea, a million gallons a day. It comes at the right time. In a world of spectacular- population expansion and industrial development, the ancient cry for water has never been so loud and Ufr gent. This is the seawater conversion demonstration plant dedicated by President Kennedy last month with the flip of a bronze telegraph key in Washington. It is the first of five big plants that will be in operation by the end of 1962, demonstrating five desalting methods. “I am sure that before this decade is out.” said the President, *we will see more and more of man's ability at an economic rate to secure fresh water from salt water. And when that day comes we will literally see the desert bloom." In the arid Southwest of the United States, these are magical hopes. So are they in the industrialized centers of the nation

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where huge factories and plants suck is fresh water by the billions of gallons and where a city like New York only a few years ago began worrying that its vast watersheds would not provide its needs for long. Kennedy l promised that the know-how of converting see water to fresh would be available to "all people." In the bone-dry Middle East — in ancient times a fertile Eden — these are welcome words. In thirsty Asia and hot North Africa, they were a benediction. Yet the conversion of salt water to fresh still remains in the experimental stage. Water, like every commodity on earth, costs money. And converted water still is too expensive. The average cost in the United States of . fresh water for city and residential use is 35 cents per 1,000 gallons for fresh water. (In some areas it is higher, even as much as 75 cents.) Water from the Freeport plant costs around $1 per 1,000 gallons to produce. Plant manager Harold Singleton is not belittling the achievement at Freeport when he says, "We’re not out of the woods yet.” It is too expensive. It provides only a drop in the bucket In terms of what the United States alone needs, much less the rest of the world. But new techniques are being

AND wooria -iio Ingenuity ***** s Ingenuity is characteristically American — but, R appears that Wilbur hasn't caught its meaning yet. Among those who have, however, are Air Force Reservists in the Recovery program. They know that our ability to recover and repeatedly strike back against an aggressor will determine our survival. This is an enormous task — and calls for a high degree of ingenuity. The men and women who man Air Force Reserve Recovery units and the resources they need to do the job must be working products of community spirit in action. From the community must come the Reservists and die resources. In a real sense, community cooperation and ingenuity become a mission involving directly the defense of the United States.jdMMRNtfiaMssMaNNgMMMMBHNMM FORCE RESERVE

THU DECATUR DAILY DEMOCRAT, DECATUR, INDIANA

mastered. The Westinghouse Company is working on new devices, new approaches to bring down the cost and increase the volume. Relatively soon, there will be other big demonstration plants at San Diego, Calif., Wrightsville Beach, N.C., and in such inland places as Roswel, N.M., AN$ Webster, S.D. These plants, along with the one at Freeport, will cost around 86 million. Those at Roswell and Webster will purify and sweeten brackish water. Those on the shore will use the sea, which has a much heavier salt concentration. Different techniques and converters will be used. The basic process for three plants will be distillation. A fourth plant will get pure water by freezing it — when water crystallzes it leaves the salt behind. The fifth will use a method called electrodialysis, which uses an electric current to make the positive and negative particles of the salt drive themselves through porous membranes, leaving clean water. The Freeport plant uses a method known as long tube vertical distillation. The acre-sized building on a five-acre plot looks like a whisky distillery. Just as heat from the sun can evaporate water to get ptfrewater vapbf and leave salt ciystals, f so heat performs the job of

drawing off the pure water from the brine and mineaals at this plant. Freeport, a city of 11,000, pays 30 cents per 1,000 gallons for the ; water. Dow pays 40 cents for the same quantity. The government I absorbs the difference in product' tion costs. The goal, says Interior Secretary Stewart L. Udal is a cheapl er, faster method, capable of producing more water. The schedule calls for the opening of the second demonstration plant in September. This is the $482,000 electrodyalisis converter which will purify brackish water at Webster, S.D. It is designed to produce 250,000 gallons a day at a cost of $1 per 1,000. This type of conversion, using electrical power, is an economically efficient method for brackish water, which is present in vast quantities underground in inland areas in this country. It is being used in several commercial plants. One in South Africa is reported to be producing 3 million gallons a day. In chemistry, water is acid or alkaline in varying degrees. To measure this, chemists use a yardstick called the “PH value” of water. A PH value of 7 is neutral. Neither alkaline nor acid. This means it is neither hard nor soft. The water from the Freeport plant has a PH value of between 7.2 and 7.8. It is safe, mineral-free water. The slight alkalinity is well within the limits of public health standards. The Dow Chemical Company uses the fresh water extracted from the sea to feed its boilers, which require the purest possible water for maximum efficiency. Drink a glass of Freeport water. It tastes just like pure, sweet water; there is no distinctive flavor. Officials do not expect the Freeport plant to provide the entire answer to the problem of converting the sea to fresh water uses. Udall reports that it will take great improvement in design and equipment. The goal, as reported by Westinghouse, is to drive down the cost to the average 35 cents per 1,000 gallons for fresh water. Further, the goal is to produce it in great quantity; a sea of fresh water drawn from the inexhaustible oceans. The political significance is not lost on the United States. Nothing is more basic than water. Communist, capitalist, or neutral, a man thirsts. The government’s opinion is that people, particularly those in less advanced countries, can more appreciate fresh water from the sea than the lofting of a satellite into space. You can’t quench thirst with a Sputnik. Chicago Produce CHICAGO (UPD— Produce: Live poultry roasters 19-21; special fed White Rock fryers Cheese single daisies 39(4-42; longhorns 39(4-42; processed loaf 37(4-40; Swiss Grade A 51-54; B 49-51; C unquoted. Butter steady; 93 score 60; 92

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"THEY ALSO SERVE .. ."—Mrs. Virgil Grissom and the wives of three other Mercury astronauts are shown outside the Grissom home in Newport News, Va. Captain Grissom’s ; rocket ride had just been postponed for the second time. From left to right are: Jo J Schirra, Rene Carpenter, Mrs. Grissom and Marge Slayton.

score 60; 90 score 58; 89 score 56. Eggs steady; white large extras 34; mixed large extras 34; mediums 31; standards 31. Chicago Livestock CHICAGO (UPD—Livestock: Hogs 6,500; strong to 25 higher; mixed No 1-2 200-230 lb 18.25-18.50; 20 head No 1 215 lb 18.60; bulk mixed No 1-3 and 2-3 190-240 lb 17.75- No 2-3 240-270 lb 17.5018.00; mixed No 1-3 170-190 lb 17.00-18.00. Cattle 18,000, calves 25; slaughter steers under 1300 lb steady to 25 higher, heavier steady; heifers steady: loadlots choice and prime 900-1300 lb steers 21.75-23.50; few loads mostly prime 1250-1320 lb 23.75- few loads choice and mixed choice and prime 1300-1450 lb 21.50-22.25; good 900-1300 lb 21.00-22.25; mixed good and choice 21.75- few mixed choice and prime heifers 23.00; choice 21.7522.75; good 19.75-21.00; mixed good and choice 21.25-22.00; few good vealers 22.00. Sheep 500; prime.spring lambs absent; choice steady; good and below weak to 1.00 lower; slaughter sheep weak to 50 lower; good and choice spring lambs 16.00-18.00. Indianapolis Livestock INDIANAPOLIS (UPD — Livestock: Hogs 6,200; steady to strong; ”,00-250 lb 18.50-18.75; some 18.85; some 19.00; bulks 190-260 lb 18.2518.50; some down to 18.15; 260-280 lb 17.50-18.00 ; 280-330 lb 17.00-17.50; 170-190 lb 17.00-18.25; 150-170 lb 15.00-17.00; sows 25 higher; 300-400 lb 14.75-16.50 ; 270-300 lb 16.75; 400-600 lb 14.00-14.75. Cattle 2,800; calves 125; limited early sales steady to strong; choice steers 23.00; other choice 22.25; good and mixed good and

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SHADY CHARACTER—CIutching to shade j himself against the broiling sun over Montpellier, French I cyclist Andre Darrigade rolls alongside his countryman, I Jacques. They were competing in the Tour De France race, f

choice 21.00-22.50; good and choice yearlings 22.50; choice mixed yearlings 22.50-22.75; good and choice heifers 20.75-22.50; cows unevenly steady; instances strong to 50 higher; cutter, utility and commercial 12.50-14.50; few 15.00; canners down to 12.00; bulls about steady; utility and commercial 17.00-18.50; veal e r s unevenly strong to 50, instances LOO higher; choice and prime 27.00-27.50; good and choice 24.50-26.50; standard and low good 21.00-24.00. Sheep 700; steady; choice and prime lambs 17.50; good and choice 15.00-17.00. Youth's Body Is Taken From Creek SULLIVAN, IND. <UPD — The body of John H. Monberg, 19, Hammond, was pulled from Sugar Creek in the Shakamak State Park near here Saturday afternoon, about two minutes after he had entered the water; Sullivan county Coroner John Alexander said he planned an inquest and possibly an autopsy to determine the cause of Monberg’s death. He said appearently the youth did not drown, but either may have suffered a heart attack or hit his head on the bottom. Trade in a good town ~ Decatur.

ASSOCIATE BSC DEGREES Hmm A-1354 Fort Woyna, Ind. Septemlfer 18 * Business Administration & Finance 1 * Secretariat Science > I D kJ * Professional Accounting ' J ■•DnlVIe

MONDAY, JULY 24, 1961 ”

New York Stock Exchanae Prices MIDDAT PRICES A. T. & T., 119%; Central Soya 29%; DuPont 217%; Ford 87%; General Electric, 62%; General Motors, 46%; Gulf Oil 36%; Standard Oil Ind., 50; Standard Oil N. J. 43%; U. S. SUel 81%, V- ! If you have something to sell or trade — use the Democrat Want Ads! They get Big results.

Quality Photo Finishings All Work Left Before 8:00 p. m. Monday Ready Wednesday at 10 a. m. Holthouse Drug Co.