Recycled Irrigation Water for Sale
Probably one of the earliest
examples of recycling is told in
the Egyptian myth about the
phoenix-the lonely bird living in
the Arabian desert-that renewed
itself from its own ashes every
500 or 600 years.
Some sort of parallel can be
made between that bird and the
modern city of Phoenix that will
soon be renewing its “used”
water for use as irrigation.
The city will be utilizing
Yes It's The New One
HESS’S SILAGE MAKER
It's Different too because. . .
1. Silage Maker is designed to control and stimulate
fermentation during the first 72 hours after ensiling.
2. Silage Maker has given some outstanding results on
various types of materials.
3. Silage Maker is economically priced; compare its
costs and you will agree you can afford NOT to use it.
For more information on Hess's Silage Maker and
Hess’s Livestock Conditioners call
717-354-7935 0 r 717-656-7905
Leon W. Hess Crist Stoltzfus
RD2 New Holland, Pa. 17557 RDI, Leola, Pa. 17540
SOLAIR BARNS
FEATURING OUR SECURITY FREE STALL
We make a high Security Free Stall from high grade
boiler type steel that will last and last. A bedding board
is installed and the stall is elevated above the scrape
area. Extra floor space is given to each animal and a
maximum drinking area is provided. A step along the
feed trough allows easy access to the feed but prevents
manure from falling into the trough.
• VAN DALE, INC.
• MADISON SILOS
CALEB M. WENGER, Inc.
R. D. 1 DRUMORE CENTER, QUARRYVILLE, PA.
methods researched since 1967 by
U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) scientists on ,a pilot
project dubbed Flushing
Meadows. USDA’s Agricultural
Research Service (ARS) set up
the research project in
cooperation with the Salt River
Project--the main local irrigation
district-the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) and
the city of Phoenix.
One of the great things about
DISTRIBUTORS FOR:
the Phoenix Wastewater
Reclamation Project is that the
water will not only be safe for
irrigation but will meet
requirements for unrestricted
recreation use as well.
Predictions on a national scale
are that multiple reuse of water
will be necessary by 1980 when
water consumption for all uses in
this country will equal or exceed
the recoverable streamflow and
ground water supply. Phoenix is
getting ready.
The EPA-financed treatment
facility may also serve as a
model for other cities with
sewage disposal and water
shortage problems.
The Roosevelt Irrigation
District (RID) near the city will
buy the Phoenix reclaimed water
at about half the price of RlD’s
present operating costs which are
about $5.00 per acre foot. The
District already is in a sort of
bind since it “mines” its water
from dwindling underground
supplies. The overworked pumps
operate on a rotation cycle of 21
days to pump nearly 153,000 acre
feet of water annually to supply
some 38,000 acres. The restricted
cycle sometimes leaves a con
siderable acreage without water
during the peak of the irrigation
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• VAUGHAN • PAMLINE
• MECHANIZED FEED LOT SYSTEMS
Security Stall
'Extra scraper
All welded joints*""
‘2''x6'" Header board
23j" Boiler tube
ister Farming. Saturday. September 8.1973
season.
By this time next year, Phoenix
expects to have 20,000 acre-feet a
year of the reclaimed water
coming off a 40-acre land in
filtration site downstream from
its sewage treatment plant. If
that works out, there are 80 ad
ditional acres that can be used for
other infiltration basins.
While the 20,000 acre-feet is
only about a seventh of the an
nual usage of RID, it is enough to
ease the pressure on the pumps
and even bring on more intensive
cultivation of crops in the
District.
At Flushing Meadows, on the
Walt River flats, it was learned
that under favorable soil and
hydrogeologic conditions, in
filtration basins can cleanse 300
acre-feet or more of secondary
sewage effluent per year per acre
of filter for unrestricted
irrigation, recreation or other
uses. Secondary effluent is the
final product of most present day
sewage treatment plants.
One of the key men in the
reclamation project is Dr.
Herman Bouwer, ARS hydraulic
engineer who heads the U.S.
Water Conservation Laboratory
at Phoenix. It was he and his
fellow scientists who developed
the Flushing Meadows studies
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PHONE 548-2116
and from that work Dr. Bouwer
drew complete plans for the
Phoenix project.
Infiltration basins use nature’s
methods of reclaiming waters.
The filters are grass covered or
bare soil shallow basins that
when flooded allow the soil,
percolating deep beneath the
surface to the underground water
supply The plants, soil, soil
microorganisms (bacteria) and
length and time of underground
travel all aid in removing
nitrates, phosphorous, fecal
bacteria, virus and organic waste
matter from the water and by the
time it is pumped from the
ground it has become sparkling
clear renovated water
The 40-acre Phoenix
Reclamation Project site will be
divided into four 10-acre plots by
earthen dikes. In the center dike
of the project will be several
large wells. The basins will be
innundated with effluent which
will filter down about 50 feet
beneath the surface and then
travel horizontally from 10 to 500
feet to the wells in the center. The
water will then be pumped into
RID irrigation canals for use on
crops. Total underground time
will be about three weeks.
When all the wells are
operating, it is expected that then
20,000 acre-feet will be coming
from the project each year
Dr Bouwer estimates that a
plant-soil filter system of about
1.000 acres could handle all of the
secondary effluent from Phoenix
and adjacent cities--a projected
300.000 acre-feet annually by the
year 2000. What’s more, the
reclaimed water is less costly
than most water purchased or
pumped by irrigation districts.
Cost of chemical treatment to
produce renovated water of
similar quality would be at least
$5O per acre-foot.
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WITH
MADISON SILOS
Div Chromalloy American Corp
1070SteinmetzRd.
Ephrata, Penna 17522
Ph. 733-1206
LOCAL DEALERS
Frank Snyder
Akron
Caleb Wenger
Quarryville
Landis Bros Inc
Lancaster
Carl L. Shirk
Lebanon
Sollenberger Farm Supply
Centerport, Pa
Ph 215-926-7671
7
859-2688
548-2116
393-3906
867-3741