Pioneer Lime‐Soda Softening Plant at Oberlin, Ohio: Fid-Bau Portal

Pioneer Lime‐Soda Softening Plant at Oberlin, Ohio

Fuller, Raymond H. / Cosens, Kenneth W.

This article begins by providing a brief overview of the development of water softening, specifically looking at reclaiming lime from water‐softening sludge in Winnipeg, Canada. The article describes eleven unit processes that were involved in the 1903 construction of the water‐softening plant in Oberlin, Ohio. Changes in the methods of plant operation over the years are discussed, along with a 1915 investigation into the affairs of the utility to determine if it was efficiently, economically and properly conducted, an effort in 1925 to add recarbonation to the lime‐softening process, the addition of alum in 1926 to reduce alkalinity, the droughts of 1930‐31 and the building of a pipeline from Oberlin to Kipton Reservoir, construction of an elevated steel storage tank in 1938, construction of a 50‐mil gal circular upground reservoir in 1953, adjustment of the fluoride content of the finished water in 1954, and the recommendation in 1958 by the State Dept. of Health to abandon the Vermilion River source of water and procure the supply from the West Branch of the Black River.