The first filters for a public water-supply were built by James Simpson, engineer of the Chelsea Water Company at London in 1829. They were apparently intended to remove dirt from the water in imitation of natural processes, and without any very clear conception of either the exact extent of purification or the way in which it was to be accomplished. The removal of turbidity was the most obvious result, and a clear effluent was the single test of the efficiency of filtration, as it remains the legal criterion of the work of the London filters even to-day, notwithstanding the discovery and use of other and more delicate tests.

The invention and use of methods for determining the organic matters in water by Wanklyn and Frankland, about 1870, led to the discovery that the proportion of organic matters removed by filtration was disappointingly low, and as, at the time, and for many years afterward, an exaggerated importance was given to the mere quantities of organic matters in water, it was concluded that filtration had only a limited influence upon the healthfulness of the filtered water, and that practically as much care must be given to securing an unpolluted water as would be the case if it were delivered direct without filtration. This theory, although not confirmed by more recent investigation, undoubtedly has had a good influence upon the English works by causing the selection of raw waters free from excessive pollutions, and, in cases like the London supplies, drawn from the Thames and the Lea, in stimulating a most jealous care of the watersheds and the purification of sewage by the towns upon them.

It was only after the discovery of the bacteria in water and their relations to health that the hygenic significance of filtration commenced to be really understood. Investigations of the bacteria in the waters before and after filtration were carried out at Berlin by Plagge and Proskauer, at London by Dr. Percy Frankland, and also at Zürich, Altona, and on a smaller scale at other places. These investigations showed that the bacteria were mainly removed by filtration, the numbers in the effluents rarely exceeding two or three per cent of those in the raw water. This gave a new aspect to the problem.

It was further observed, especially at Berlin and Zürich, that the numbers of bacteria in effluents were apparently quite independent of the numbers in the raw water, and the theory was formed that all of the bacteria were stopped by the filters, and that those found in the effluents were the result of contamination from the air and of growths in the underdrains. The logical conclusion from this theory was that filtered water was quite suitable for drinking regardless of the pollution of its source.

It was, however, found that the numbers of bacteria in the effluents were higher immediately after scraping than at other times, and it was concluded that before the formation of the sediment layer some bacteria were able to pass the sand, and it was therefore recommended that the first water filtered after scraping should be rejected.

Piefke at Berlin gave the subject careful study, and came to the conclusion that it was almost entirely the sediment layer which stopped the bacteria, and that the bacteria themselves in the sediment layer formed a slimy mass which completely intercepted those in the passing water. When this layer was removed by scraping, the action was stopped until a new crop of bacteria had accumulated. In support of this idea he stated that he had taken ordinary good filter-sand and killed the bacteria in it by heating it, and that on passing water through, no purification was effected—in fact, the effluent contained more bacteria than the raw water. After a little, bacteria established themselves in the sand, and then the usual purification was obtained. Piefke concluded that the action of the filter was a biological one; that simple straining was quite inadequate to produce the results obtained; that the action of the filter was mainly confined to the sediment layer, and that the depth of sand beyond the slight depth necessary for the support of this layer had no appreciable influence upon the results. The effect of this theory is still seen in the shallow sand layers used at Berlin and some other German works, although at London the tendency is rather toward thicker sand layers.

Piefke’s deductions, however, are not entirely supported by his data as we understand them in the light of more recent investigation. The experiment with sterilized sand has been repeatedly tried at the Lawrence Experiment Station with results which quite agree with Piefke’s, but it has also been found that the high numbers, often many times as high as in the raw water, do not represent bacteria which pass in the ordinary course of filtration, but instead enormous growths of bacteria throughout the sand supported by the cooked organic matter in it. It has been repeatedly found that ordinary sand quite incapable of supporting bacterial growths, after heating to a temperature capable of killing the bacteria will afterwards furnish the food for most extraordinary numbers. A filter of such sand may stop the bacteria of the passing water quite as effectually as any other filter, but if so, the fact cannot be determined without recourse to special methods, on account of the enormous numbers of bacteria in the sand, a small part of which are carried forward by the passing water, and completely mask the normal action of the filter.

The theory that all or practically all of the bacteria are intercepted by the sediment layer, and that those in the effluent are the result of growths in the sand or underdrains, received two hard blows in 1889 and 1891, when mild epidemics of typhoid fever followed unusually high numbers of bacteria in the effluents at Altona and at Stralau in Berlin, with good evidence in each case that the fever was directly due to the water. Both of these cases came during, and as the result of, severe winter weather with open filters and under conditions which are now recognized as extremely unfavorable for good filtration.

As a result of the first of these epidemics a series of experiments were made at Stralau by Fränkel and Piefke in 1890. Small filters were constructed, and water passed exactly as in the ordinary filters. Bacteria of special kinds not existing in the raw water or effluents were then applied, and the presence of a very small fraction of them in the effluents demonstrated beyond a doubt that they had passed through the filters under the ordinary conditions of filtration. These experiments were afterwards repeated by Piefke alone under somewhat different conditions with similar results. The numbers of bacteria passing, although large enough to establish the point that some do pass, were nevertheless in general but a small fraction of one per cent of the many thousands applied.

This method of testing the efficiency of filters had already been used quite independently by Prof. Sedgwick at the Lawrence Experiment Station in connection with the purification of sewage, and has since been extensively used there for experiments with water-filtration.

Kümmel also found at Altona that while in the regular samples for bacterial examination, all taken at the same time in the day, there was no apparent connection between the numbers of bacteria in the raw water and effluents, by taking samples at frequent intervals throughout the twenty-four hours, as has been done in a more recent series of experiments, and allowing for the time required for the water to pass the filters, a well-marked connection was found to exist between the numbers of bacteria in the raw water and in the effluents.

The subject has more recently been studied in much detail at the Lawrence Experiment Station, and it now appears that the bacteria in the effluent from a filter are from two sources: directly from the filtered water, and from the lower layers of the filter and underdrains. Thus we may say:

Bacteria in effluent = Bacteria from underdrains + ^a⁄₁₀₀ × bacteria in raw water,

where a is the per cent of bacteria actually passing the filter.

Both of these terms depend upon a whole series of complex and but imperfectly understood conditions. In general the bacteria from the underdrains are low in cold winter weather, often almost nil, while at Lawrence with water temperatures of 70 to 75 degrees, and over, in July and August, the numbers from this source may reach 200 or 300, but for the other ten months of the year rarely exceed 50 under normal conditions. In summer especially it seems to be greater at low than at high rates of filtration (although a high rate for a short time only increases it), and so varies in the opposite way from the numbers actually passing the filters. This subject is by no means clearly understood; it is difficult, almost impossible, to separate the numbers of bacteria into the two parts—those which come directly through and may be dangerous, and those which have other origins and are harmless. The sketch, Fig. 14, is drawn to represent my idea of the way they may be divided. It has no statistical basis whatever. The light unshaded section shows the percentage number of bacteria which I conceive to be coming through a filter under given conditions at various rates of filtration, while the shaded section above represents the bacteria from other sources, and the upper line represents the sum of the two, or the total number of bacteria in the effluent. The relative importance of the two parts would probably vary widely with various conditions. With the conditions indicated by the sketch the number of bacteria in the effluent is almost constant: for a variation of only from 1.4 to 2.5 per cent of the number applied for the whole range is not a wide fluctuation for bacterial results, but the number in the lower and dangerous section is always rapidly increasing with increasing rate.

This theory of filtration accounts for many otherwise perplexing facts. The conclusion reached at Zürich and elsewhere that the efficiency of filtration is independent of rate may be explained in this way. This is especially probable at Zürich, where the number of bacteria in the raw water was only about 200, and an extremely large proportion relatively would have to pass to make a well-marked impression upon the total number in the effluent.

These underdrain bacteria are, so far as we know, entirely harmless; we are only interested in them to determine how far they are capable of decreasing the apparent efficiency of filtration below the actual efficiency, or the per cent of bacteria really removed by the filter.

This efficiency is dependent upon a large number of conditions many of which have already been discussed in connection with grain-size of filter sand, underdrains, rate of filtration, loss of head, etc., and a mere reference to them here will suffice. Perhaps the most important single condition is the rate, the numbers of bacteria passing increase rapidly with it. Next, fine sand and in moderately deep layers tends to give high efficiency. The influence of the loss of head, often mentioned, is not shown to be important by the Lawrence results, nor can I find satisfactory European results in support of it. Uniformity in the rate of filtration on all parts of the filtering area and a constant rate throughout the twenty-four hours are regarded as essential conditions for the best results. Severe winter weather has indirectly, by disturbing the regular action of open filters, an injurious influence, and has been the cause of most of the cases where filtered waters have been known to injure the health of those who have drunk them. This action is excluded in filters covered with masonry arches and soil, and such construction is apparently necessary for the best results in places subject to cold winters.

The efficiency of filtration under various conditions has been studied by a most elaborate series of experiments at Lawrence with small filters to which water has been applied containing a bacterium (B. prodigiosus) which does not occur naturally in this country and is not capable of growing in the filter, so that the results should represent only the bacteria coming through the filter and not include any additions from the underdrains. These results, which have been published in full in the reports of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, especially for the years 1892 and 1893, show that the number of bacteria passing increases rapidly with increasing rate, and slowly with decreasing sand thickness and increased size of sand-grain.

Assuming that the number of bacteria passing is expressed by the formula

1  [(rate)² × effective size of sand]
Per cent bacteria passing =  —  —————————————
2  √thickness of the sand in inches

where the rate is expressed in million gallons per acre daily, and calculating by it the numbers of bacteria for the seventy-three months for which satisfactory data are available from 11 filters in 1892 and 1893, we find that

In 14 cases the numbers observed were 4 to 9 times as great as the calculated numbers;

In 6 cases they were 2 to 3 times as great;

In 35 cases they were between ¹⁄₂ and 2 times the calculated numbers.

In 17 cases they were ¹⁄₂ to ¹⁄₃ of them.

In 11 cases they were less than ¹⁄₃ the calculated numbers.

The agreement is only moderately good, and in fact no such formula could be expected to give more than very rough approximations, because it does not take into consideration the numerous other elements, such as uniformity and regularity of filtration, the influence of scraping, the character of the sediment in the raw water, etc., which are known to affect the results. Perhaps the most marked general difference is the tendency of new or freshly-filled filters to give higher, and of old and well-compacted filters to give lower, results than those indicated by the formula.

Comparing this formula with Piefke’s results given in his “Neue Ermittelungen”[28] the formula gives in the first series (0.34 mm. sand, 0.50 m. thick, and rate 100 mm. per hour), 0.25 per cent passing, while the average number of B. violacious reported, excluding the first day of decreased efficiency after scraping, was 0.26 per cent. In the second series, with half as high a rate the numbers checked exactly the calculated 0.06 per cent.

In other experiments,[29] however, in 1893, when the calculated per cent was also 0.25, only 0.03, 0.04, and 0.07 per cent were observed in the effluents.

Comparing the results from the actual filters, (which numbers also include the bacteria from the underdrains and should therefore be somewhat higher) with the numbers calculated as passing through, I find that for the 46 days, Aug. 20 to Oct. 4, 1893, for which detailed results of the Stralau works are given by Piefke, the average calculated number passing is 0.20 per cent, while twice as many were observed in the effluents; although three of the filters gave better effluents than the other eight, and the numbers from them approximated closely the calculated numbers. If we calculate the percentages of bacteria passing a number of filters, using the maximum rate of filtration allowed for the German filters where this is accurately determined, and for the English filters taking the maximum rate at one and one-half times the rate obtained by dividing the daily quantity by the area of filters actually in use, we obtain:

The numbers actually observed are in every case higher than the calculated per cents passing, as indeed they should be on account of those coming from the underdrains, accidental contamination of the samples, etc.

It may be said that filtration now practised in European works under ordinary conditions never allows over 1 or 2 per cent bacteria of the raw water to pass, and ordinarily not over one fourth to one half of one per cent, although exact data cannot be obtained owing to masking effect of the bacteria which come from below and which bear no relation to those of the raw water. By increasing the size of the filters, fineness and depth of sand (as at Hamburg), the efficiency can be materially increased above these figures. At the same time it must be borne in mind that the effectiveness of a filter may be greatly impaired by inadequate underdraining, by fluctuating rates of filtration where these are allowed, by freezing in winter in the case of open filters in cold climates, and by other irregularities, all of which can be prevented by careful attention to the respective points.

The action of a continuous filter throughout is mainly that of an exceedingly fine strainer, and like a strainer is mainly confined to the suspended or insoluble matters in the raw water. The turbidity, sediment, and bacteria of the raw water are largely or entirely removed, while hardness, organic matter, and color, so far as they are in solution, are removed to only a slight extent, if at all. Hardness can be removed by the addition of lime in carefully determined quantity before filtration (Clark’s process), by means of which the excess of carbonic acid in the water is absorbed and the lime added, together with that previously in the water, is precipitated.

Ordinary filtration will remove from one fourth to one third of the yellow-brown color of peaty water. A larger proportion can be removed by the addition of alum, which by decomposing forms an insoluble compound of alumina with the coloring matter, while the acid of the alum goes into the effluent either as free acid, or in combination with the lime or other base in the water, according to their respective quantities. Freshly precipitated alumina can be substituted for the alum at increased expense and trouble, and tends to remove the color without adding acid to the water. These will be discussed more in detail in connection with mechanical filters. Alum is but rarely used in slow sand filtration, the most important works where it is used being in Holland with peaty waters.

After all, the most conclusive test of the efficiency of filtration is the healthfulness of the people who drink the filtered water; and the fact that many European cities take water-supplies from sources which would not be considered fit for use in the United States and, after filtering them, deliver them to populations having death-rates from water-carried diseases which are so low as to be the objects of our admiration, is the best proof of the efficiency of carefully conducted filtration.

It is only necessary to refer to London, drawing its water from the two small and polluted rivers, the Thames and the Lea; to Altona, drawing its water from the Elbe, polluted by the sewage of 6,000,000 people, 700,000 of them within ten miles above the intakes; to Berlin, using the waters of the Havel and the Spree; to Breslau, taking its water from the Oder charged with the sewage of mining districts in Silicia and Galicia, where cholera is so common; to Lawrence, with its greatly decreased death-rate since it has had filtered water, and to the hundred other places which protect themselves from the infectious matters in their raw waters by means of filtration. A few of these cases are described more in detail in Appendices V to IX, and many others in the literature mentioned in Appendix X.

An adequate presentation of even those data which have been already worked up and published would occupy too much space. I think every one who has carefully studied the recent history of water filtration in its relation to disease has been convinced that filtration carefully executed under suitable and normal conditions, even if not an absolute, is at least a very substantial protection against water-carried diseases, and the few apparent failures to remove objectionable qualities have been without exception due to abnormal conditions which are now understood and in future can be prevented.