North Jersey 'revolutionary' put chlorine in drinking water

May 5, 2013, 9:43 AM
By RICHARD COWEN

EXCERPT:
As Paterson's public health officer, Leal began working with chlorine to disinfect houses where there were outbreaks of cholera and typhoid. He became convinced that the right amount of chlorine added to a reservoir could control bacteria and make the water safe to drink.

He got his chance to experiment after Jersey City decided to build a 7-billion-gallon reservoir in Boonton in 1899. By then, Leal had left Paterson to become the sanitary officer for the Jersey City Water Supply Co., which was hired to build the reservoir.

As part of the contract JCWSC had promised to supply "pure and wholesome" water, but the city was unhappy with the project and sued. A judge ultimately ordered JCWSC to consider "other plans or devices" to provide cleaner water. Leal moved forward with his plan to add chlorine.

In 1908, Leal hired a mechanical engineer, George W. Fuller, to construct a chlorination plant that went online in September 1908 at the Boonton Reservoir and has been operating ever since. Six months later, a chlorination plant was opened at the Little Falls treatment facility on the Passaic River.

McGuire said Leal took it upon himself to build the chlorination plants to prove to the court they would work. "It worked from Day One," McGuire said. "It was a tremendous accomplishment."

The results were almost immediate. Jersey City's death rate from typhoid fever was 20 per 100,000 people when the Boonton Reservoir opened in 1904. By 1910 the rate had been cut in half, and by 1925, it was near zero.

http://www.northjersey.com/community- ... g-water-1.163117?page=all

What the PBS documentary - CLEAN featuring John Leal:
http://video.pbs.org/video/2365347150/