Water Testing Stations

The development of water purification methods has been accomplished principally with the aid of water-testing stations. An engineer in designing a water purification plant prefers to follow where possible, the indications afforded by the experience of others. Frequently, however, he has no safe guide and recourse is best had to actual tests on a working scale as nearly as possible comparable to real conditions. The critical factors in the design can thus be determined. These may be hydraulic values, such as velocities, settling periods, rates of application; biological values, such as bacterial removal; or physical values, such as the removal of tastes and odors. Briefly, the development of the testing station has been from the general to the specific. The early stations endeavored to formulate fundamental principles which have been applicable to a certain extent to all filtration plants. With these principles established, the testing station has been applied to more detailed and specific problems.