Spray Irrigation — A Positive Approach
to a Perplexing Problem
W. A. FLOWER, Waste Control Engineer
Oxford Paper Company
West Carrollton,  Ohio
In Cologne, a city of Monks and bones,
And pavements fang'd with murderous stones
And rags and hags and hideous wenches;
I counted two and seventy stenches,
All well defined and separate stinks!
Ye nymphs that reign o'er sewers and sinks.
The river Rhine, it is well known,
Doth wash your city of Cologne,
But tell me nymphs, what power divine
Shall henceforth wash the river Rhine?
In modern-day America, there are many of our self-righteous brethren who
feel that the power divine to protect our water resources is bestowed upon Washington. Few of us in the field of water pollution control and water resources management would dispute that there is a long way to go, but by the same token, we
have come a long way in a very short time. We will continue to progress at a
rapid pace with our ever increasing technology and with the service of dedicated
professionals, such as we have here today.
The real powers divine that ultimately will watch over our waterways are the
municipalities and the industries who have spent millions of dollars and many
years on research to provide satisfactory methods of waste disposal. This paper
deals with one industry's approach to, and ultimate solution of, a most perplexing
problem of water-pollution control.
When Howard Paper Mills of Urbana, Ohio, was faced with the necessity for
treatment of its industrial waste, several types of processes were considered. Any
such facility to be considered would have to have the following qualities:(1) It
would have to reliably provide 85 per cent BOD reduction. (2) It would have to be
economical. (3) It would have to be free of nuisance conditions; i.e. , not unsightly or malodorous.
The first thought was to use the city sewage treatment plant. This was found
to have inadequate capacity, and cost of expansion would have been prohibitive.
Trickling filters and activated sludge were considered and found to be not satisfactory. Spray irrigation appeared to offer the best solution, but it appeared to be
full of pitfalls and there was a reluctance on the part of the company to spend
large sums of money for something as uncertain as this.
In order to determine the feasibility of using spray irrigation for waste disposal, a pilot project was set up on a 10-acre test plot, to be operated jointly by
Howard Paper Mills and the United Board & Carton Company. However, several
questions had to be answered before a permanent installation could be made.
These included: (l)What cover crop was most suitable? (2) How much land would
be required? (3) How much attention would it need? (4) How much water could
be applied? (5) What is the tolerance of the cover crop to waste materials? (6)
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