Synthetic‐Detergent Pollution in Kansas

DURING January and February 1953 very unusual difficulties were experienced in the operation of the Osawatomie, Kan., municipal water softening plant. Osawatomie, a town of 4,500 persons, is located on the Marais des Cygnes River, from which it obtains its water supply. The raw water is processed in a modern softening plant of conventional design. Treatment consists of rapid mixing, flocculation, settling, single-stage recarbonation, rapid sand filtration, and chlorination. The raw water is used for power plant cooling before treatment, which raises the raw-water temperature approximately 5°F. The treatment plant was constructed in 1939. Although the water demands are approaching those for which the plant was designed 1 mgd all raw-water conditions encountered prior to 1953 were handled by the available facilities with a minimum of operating trouble. The principal city in the Marais des Cygnes River watershed above Osawatomie is Ottawa, Kan., which has a population of 11,000 and is situated 28 river miles upstream. Ottawa also obtains its water supply from an impoundment on the Marais des Cygnes River. Water treatment at Ottawa is similar to that at Osawatomie, except that double flocculation and settling are provided. Ottawa discharges its sewage into the stream, following treatment in a modern, well-designed, and efficiently operated activated-sludge plant. Late in 1952 extensive additions and im-