"We are going to build a water plant here!"

Sitting by the river several miles away from the factory, Shi Yiwen pointed to a piece of land by the river and said to Xu Sicheng.

“Water plant?”

Xu Sicheng asked in confusion.

"Yes, it's the water plant! Now there are thirteen factories of different sizes, including our iron factory and yarn mill. There are already seven or eight thousand workers. These workers now live in dormitories, but soon, they will build houses here, just like those refugees..."

He pointed to some simple sheds near the factory, Shi Yiwen said.

"These are originally just to work on the construction site, and the refugees gathered here. Many people have started small business, specializing in the business of workers. There are also many people entering the factory. It seems a bit chaotic, but anyone can see that this place has become a town now. In the future, there are more and more people here. Naturally, there is a need for water use. Always relying on water trucks to deliver water. It is definitely not a solution. Water trucks to deliver water, and the water will definitely be enough. But in the future, there will definitely be large water users such as dyed cloth factories. Even the iron factory needs a lot of water every day. We cannot wait until the water is not enough to consider this problem. We must start solving it now. It is here..."

Pointing to the open space by the river, Shi Yiwen smiled.

"Building a water plant here is to use pipe water supply water plant."

In fact, using pipes to supply water is not new. As early as the Roman era, lead water pipes were used. Even in the dark Middle Ages, there were pipes in Britain. Of course, water was only transported to the center of London through pipes, and residents had to move water themselves. As early as a hundred years ago, London had more than 50 kilometers of water supply pipes, both wooden, iron or lead. By the mid-18th century, iron management basically replaced wooden pipes.

Because the output of Zunhua Iron Plant is sufficient to meet the requirements, Shi Yiwen naturally chose cast iron pipes, which did not have any technical difficulties. Compared with pipelines, the real problem lies in the overall design of the tap water plant.

Despite some difficulties, Shi Yiwen finally found simple technical materials for "Rural Simple Tap Water Project" in the library's electronic reading room.

Through topographic survey, Shi Yiwen chose the location to establish the water plant, which is located on the river more than four miles away from the factory. The altitude is several meters higher than the factory, making it easier to use natural altitude to supply water. The location of the water source is neither too high nor too low.

Because the river water in this era was not chemically polluted, we can directly use the method of taking surface water from a simple tap water project to directly draw water from the river, and dig several pools - raw water reaction tanks and filter tanks on the other side of the river embankment.

"Guangqi, Yunshan, you should know that pouring alum solution, that is, potassium aluminum sulfate, into muddy water, and stirring, many flocculent precipitates will be generated. These precipitates absorb tiny particles in the water, gradually subside, and the raw water will be clear. This is the "coagulation effect" of alum."

While the workers were digging the pool, Shi Yiwen carefully explained the principle of tap water treatment to them. Because there were no modern chemical water raw materials such as chlorine, they could only treat water in the most primitive way according to the information in the magazine. Even alum was a commonly used water coagulant in ancient times, so Xu Guangqi and others did not think it was fresh.

"The production process of tap water is like this. First, the coagulant is poured into the raw water anti-aligning tank, stirring and mixing thoroughly, wait for the floc to settle, guide the upper layer of clean water, divert to the filter tank, where it is filtered by quartz sand to obtain clear and clean water, and finally lifted onto the water tower through the wind-powered water lifter, then pressurized through the water tower and then transported to the pipeline network, and finally sent to thousands of households..."

Wind water lifters are not special machines, they only use wind energy to drive piston water pumps to lift water. Whether it is the former or the latter, the structure is quite simple, and in comparison, it is even easier than building brick water towers. Those skilled workers in iron factories are relatively easy to solve whether they are making windmills or piston water pumps.

"Teacher, what is quartz sand filtration?"

The question was Li Yang, who was an apprentice in the factory apprenticeship class. Because he was very smart, Xu Guangqi was pulled into his study group. He always had endless questions.

"The filtration method of quartz sand is a very simple cleaning method. In the wild, if we are eager to use water, it is also a method of filtering it with sand or pebbles. The raw water becomes clear, the zygomatic particles of the sand and stone are small and the surface area is large, and it can absorb impurities and flocculate, which can play a role in purifying water. Of course, the effect of using charcoal is better. Quartz sand has the characteristics of hard, wear resistance, high density, anti-corruption, strong dust loading, and long service life. It is an ideal material for water treatment. Quartz sand filter material can be used to intercept suspended colloids and particle impurities in the water, and play a role in cleaning filtration. Generally speaking, the quartz sand in the filter tank has a service life of 3-5 years..."

In fact, there is still a shortage of disinfection, but due to the technical level of the times, we can only make a simple decision.

Then Shi Yiwen led these students to the water tower under construction. Due to the high terrain efficiency, the water tower is only six meters high. In addition to an anti-seepage layer, the brick water tower also needs to be equipped with a thermal insulation layer to ensure that it will not freeze in winter.

The water tower used to maintain and adjust the water volume and pressure in the water supply network has just been built. Yiwen is more willing to build a water tower with an iron frame structure, but due to technical reasons, he finally chose a brick water tower.

Although the water tower has not been built yet, a one-meter-deep trench has been dug in the direction of the water tower towards the "industrial park". Considering the anti-freezing needs in winter, cast iron water pipes are buried directly in the trench. In the wide trench, craftsmen are connecting the iron water pipes with hemp silk and other means.

These iron pipes with a diameter of ten centimeters and an inner diameter of eight centimeters, each of which is only three meters long, are sent to the construction site after casting by the iron plant.

"The main water supply pipeline leading to the main urban area has an inner diameter of eight centimeters, while the branch line has an inner diameter of five centimeters. According to the preliminary plan, tap water will not enter the people's homes directly for the time being, but will use the method of leaving a water dragon in each street and alley to supply water centrally..."

While Shi Yiwen was explaining the diameter and composition of the water pipe network, he heard someone ask softly.
Chapter completed!