The Daily Banner, Greencastle, Putnam County, 27 March 1964 — Page 7

* --7"'-

THE DAfLY BANNER

GREENCASTLE, INDIANA

FRI., MARCH 27, 1964. Page 7

GREENCASTLE WATER SUPPLY

V/C!t<

9'jrces:

Fccfs

Figures

From ti

se time that life be-

tps two and one-half

hnifrvn via

rJ - s ago, water . has

been of u

tir.os!, importance, for

ex: ' nee has depend-

p -i linftYl

t> availability of it.

If a doV

-and-cents value could

be put

n a’ 1 of the mineral

resourses

u ed by man, ground

water wot lict

ild probably head the

Water

s .applied by many

: e ns in different re-

gions of t

lie United States. For

instance,

in the Chicago area

the Writer

is taken from Lake

Michigan

and then purified.

However

in the Greencastle

mo *■ of the US, the

water mu

st be taken from the

ground. Manv n

■eople have a miscon-

ception

of the term ground

water: w

here it conies from,

and the it

leans of procuring it.

It must

be understood that

water, spe

Lineally in the Green-

castle are

a. does not come di-

rectly fro

m Big Walnut Creek.

For mi

lions of years, this

section w

as covered with

swamps e

md water with fish

swimming

around, and a wide

variety of

strange looking ani-

mals lur

king about on the

land. As

the years passed on

these anin

nals died and the wat-

ers recl .

d leaving many layers

og limestc

me. Then, about forty

or fifty

thousand years ago.

ushed about sixty feet

of crushec

rocks and sand over

the entire

area.

The rr

min aquifer for the

Greeneast

e water supply is an

ancient s

jeam valley which

carried th

e melt-water of these

glaciers:

Much of this water

eroded aw

r ay the valleys which

ere now

Big Walnut Creek,

Sugar Cr<

sek, etc. The ground

below the

surface, being filled

with the r

ocks, sand and gravel

makes an

excellent filter for

water soe

ping down from the

surface. Thus, gi

•ound water might be

defined as

all uncombined sub-

surface w

ater in the pores of

the rocks

and sand below the

water tab

le. There' is ground

water at

some depth almost

everywher

j on the earth. The

water tabl

e might be defined as

the top le

vel all of the water

which is

saturated in the

ground at

>ove the very dense

strata dee

p in the earth where

the water

is not free to flow be-

cause ot

Lhe tremendous pres-

sure. • Ground

water may come from

three d

rent sources: it oc-

Curs as ju 1

senile water from the

center of

Lhe earth; as connate

Water whi

ch is resting in sedi-

mentary r<

x+:s; and as meteoric

water wh

ich is from rain.

Greencastl

e people receive their

water fron

i melted glaciers and

p” rain and snow.

Those peo]

>le who have to have

;vfT —

- G JIZ3 - l V -T j

Howard A. Brackney, superintendent and general manager of the Water Works discusses the chlorine situation with Robert Butts, the plant operator. The large pump in the center of the picture, draws water from a storage cistern under the pump house and sends it to stand pipes such as the one near Robe-Ann Para. The pump shown in the pictures draw at the rate of 900 gallons per minute. At the right of the pump is a diesel engine which can run the pump in the event that Greencastle electricity should be turned off.

Well number one of the Greencastle Water Works is about to be checked by Leon Phillips, distribution foreman. This is one of the six working pumping wells used to supply Greencastle with its daily water needs of about 1,340,000 gallons. The well is located on the Big Walnut Creek north of town where the water is pumped to a storage cistern under me main pump house and then on to the standpipe at high points in the city. From there it is distributed to the various homes, the University and industrial plants. The pumps at the wells are three feet above the highest water mark in Greencastle's history thus offering a most reliable water supply.

wells dug and live outside of system is designed for growth alarmed,

the city, get their water from for twenty years,

the limestone formations which lie under all of this region.

pumps in the pump house costs sures. from $700 to $1000 a month. Plus we have to pay for

wells, manage

City Water

by state law. However, local

The water which the city pumps from the glacial sluiceway below Walnut Creek is pumped out for our use at the rate of 1,340.000 gallons per

Many people are very con-

Greencastle s water is some- cerne d with "high" water bills maintainence, what hard having 380 parts of j n Greencastle. However, one ment, etc.

insoluables per million. Calcium might become confused by ad- Brack also stated that the management requires that mecarbonate makes up the largest ding water and sewage bills as bacteria content of the water ters be at least within 11 ^^> amount with 320. Water which one . Where, in actuality, this drawn from the watershed is and that this not be over the conUins 200 ppm is considered city has one of the most efficient negligible. But, the Indiana actual amount flowing, hard. However, as the water is water systems in the United State Board of Health requires Remember also, that a small drawn from the rocks which states for the size of the popu- a minimum of 3 ppm of chlorine leak of one-sixteenth inch will are made up mostly of calcium lation. The cost to run the in the water for safety mea- run 29,100 gallons of water per

carbonate, this must be expected. Also present are .8 ppm of iron. This is not as high as many water systems, and is generally higher in private wells. This does, nevertheless, necessitate a “wash-out” of the main lines about twice a year. This is accomplished by open-

month; so wasting water

wasting money.

Water meters, in case you

think yours is cheating you, Country Water

must be within 1% % accurate

over 2.000,000 gallon a day. This water is carried through about thirty-three miles of main lines under the city to

3,000 customers.

The water is pumped from

six wells, the largest being 42 ing hydrants at various times, inches in diameter and pump- When the water rushes from ing at the rate of 1115 gallons these large pipes with such per minute. Howard Brackney force, it frees the iron which of the Water Department stat- has collected in the pipes, and ed that Greencastle could triple the water which you receive at its water supply and that no home will have a red tinge to it noticeable difference would be for a few hours. This is per-

fectly natural, not harmful, and

made on the water table. He has also stated that

the there is no reason to become

. : . :v ^

■

iip .

sc ■■ I

mm

A/

A

.Mil ' V-: V / r ' ■ .

'

/,

above represents a hypothetical ground water table and horizon ibe Greencastle area. The well at the top of the hill has been r lime tone and draws its water from the saturated rock, '.v 60 gallons per hour through a six inch pipe and would probint the ground. The creek at the right with underlying glacK ^ Walnut Creek. Greencastle draws its water from this • vei nd rocks. This is called a watershed. Six large pumps ■b > inches in diameter draw about one and one-half million tills glacial sluice-way.

The water problem for those who do not tap the city lines have a somewhat different problem. Every land owner is confronted with the problem of finding his supply. Consequently, he must usually hire a drill-

er.

The man with the well drilling rig also has his problems, for he must find the appropriate spot. Water Witchers are still in existence, and the ironical part of the matter is that even you can water witch, because no matter w r here you drill water will eventually be found .. maybe at 1500 feet. However, a local w r ell drilling outfit reported that only about one in ten holes drilled is not productive enough to be pumped. Well drilling usually proceeds at the rate of four feet per hour after sliding through the top soil. Water can usually be found in the stream valleys, because the water table generally follows the horizon, and the ground water flows in the direction of gravity pull. Water is found in the limestone below us because the porosity is at least twenty percent and the permeability is good. Some holes will yield more water than others for several reasons:the drill may have hit a large pocket or underground cave filled with water, the water table may be lower

than usual, or the rock might not be very permeable. Generally these ground water wells can be pumped of forty gallons per hour to two hundred gallons per minute. The average well is about 115 feet

deep.

The life of “country wells’* can be anywhere from one year to a life time. The water table fluctuates over the years but generally maintaines a somewhat steady level as long as wells are not drilled to close together. Water Quality Almost as important as the abundance of a supply of ground water is its quality. Only distilled water comes close to being pure H20, and all ground water contains measurable quantities of dissolved mineral matter and gases. In some cases these impurities are present in amounts great enough to make the supply of water useless for many purposes. Such contaminated ground-wa-ter sources can only be utilized after special treatments are devised. One of the most harmful minerals that may contaminate ground water is common salt. It cannot be removed economically, but slightly brackish waters can be used for some purposes. Most live stock can tolerate water which is far too salty for human consumption, but water with only half the concentration of sea water will support no land plant or ani-

mal.

Ground water in its movement through the earth normally dissolves the more soluable constituents of the material through which it is moving. For this reason, it often contains calcium and magnesium carbonate in solution. If there is more than 200 ppm of these minerals, the water is said to be “hard.” Such water is perfectly good to drink but is very wasteful of soap when used for washing. It will also precipitate calcite or “boiler scale” when it is heated, a property that makes it unfit for industrial uses. Because this kind of hardness is easy to correct by boiling. it is called temporary hardness. Water-softening treatments using lime water and soda are used to precipitate calcium and magnesium carbonate, leaving more soluable salts in their place that wall not form scale when the water is heated. A domestic water-softening treatment utilizes a mineral substance called a “zeolite.’* Hard water that is filtered through this mineral is subjected to an interchange of the metallic ion which is in solution. Calcium ion is absorbed by the zeolite which gives up to two sodium ions to take its place in the water. Sodium carbonate which remains in solution will neither form boiler scale nor have a serious effect on the use of soap. Some waters contain harmful quantities of calcium and magnesium as sulfates or chlorides or in other forms so soluable that boiling will not cause precipitation. Such waters are said to have “permanent hardness” because the condition can be corrected only by complex and expensive treatment.

Above, a Toney well drilling rig is cutting through a limestone formation in search of water. The rig. which is being run by Darrell Toney and Don Bassett, works with a cam assembly raising and dropping a heavy steel bit into the stone below. (See insert) The three-foot-long bit. which is at its crushing point, is raised up and down with a steel cable lubricated with water. After the bit has crushed rock, the drill is withdrawn and the water and gravel are removed every two or three feet. After going through the till and loose, soil, the drilling process proceeds at about four and one-half feet per hour. Drilling costs run from three to five dollars per foot, with the average well taking about two days to dig.

Underground caves, such as the one pictured above, although not as picturesque, are common in the limestone in the Greencastle area. Such caves often contain large amounts of water, and when drillers “hit” such a deposit, they may often be pumped at the rate of 200 gallons per minute. The caves often attract underground flow, and seldom run dyy if pumped conservatively.