"We're going to build a waterworks here!"

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

"Waterworks?"

Xu Sicheng asked puzzled.

"Yes, it's the waterworks! Now there are thirteen factories of various sizes, including our iron factories and yarn factories, and there are seven or eight thousand workers, who are now living in dormitories, but soon they will build houses here, just like the homeless people......"

Pointing to some of the humble shacks near the factory, Shi Yiwen said.

"These were originally just to work on the construction site, gathered here of the displaced people, there are many people have started a small business, specializing in the business of workers, and many people have entered the factory, it looks a little chaotic here, but everyone can see that this has now become a town, there will be more and more people here in the future, there is naturally a demand for water, always rely on the water truck to send water, it is certainly not a way, the water wheel to send water, the draft must be enough, but in the future there will definitely be a large water user such as a dyeing factory, Even with the ironworks, it takes a lot of money every day, and we can't wait until we don't have enough water to think about it, we have to start solving it now. Right here......"

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

"To build a waterworks here is to use pipes to supply water."

In fact, the use of pipes for water supply is nothing new, as early as Roman times, lead water pipes were used for water supply, and even in the dark Middle Ages, there was a piped water supply in England, of course, the water was only transported to the center of London by pipe, and the residents had to carry the water themselves. As early as 100 years ago, London had more than 50 kilometers of water pipelines, both wooden, iron and lead. By the mid-eighteenth century, iron pipes had largely replaced wooden pipes.

Because the output of the Zunhua Iron Works was sufficient to meet the requirements, Shi Yiwen naturally chose cast iron pipes, which did not have any technical difficulties, compared to the pipes, the real problem was the overall design of the waterworks.

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

Through a topographical survey, Edman chose to build the water plant at a location on the river, more than four miles away from the plant, at an altitude several meters above the factory, making it easier to supply water from a natural elevation, and the location of the water source was neither too high nor too low.

Because the river water in this era was not chemically polluted, it was possible to draw water directly from the river in the same way as a simple water supply project, and dig several pools on the other side of the river embankment - raw water reaction tank and filter tank.

"Guangqi, Yunshan, you should know that if you pour the alum solution, that is, potassium aluminum sulfate, into the muddy water, after stirring, it will generate a lot of flocculent precipitates. These precipitates adsorb the tiny particles in the water, gradually settle, and the raw water is clarified. This is the "coagulation effect" of alum. ”

While the workers were digging the pool, Shi Yiwen carefully explained to them the principle of tap water treatment, because there is no chlorine and other modern chemical water raw materials, so the water can only be treated in the most primitive way according to the information in the magazine. Even in ancient times, alum was a commonly used water coagulant, so Xu Guangqi and others did not feel that it was new.

"The production process of tap water is like this, first pour the coagulant into the raw water anti-vertical pool, fully stir and mix, wait for the floc to precipitate, guide the upper layer of clear water, divert to the filter pool, where it is filtered by quartz sand to obtain clear and clean water, and finally lift it to the water tower through the wind-powered water lifter, and then pass through the water tower to pressurize and then transport it to the pipe network, and finally send it to thousands of ......households."

The wind-powered water lifter is not a special machine, but uses wind energy to drive a piston pump to lift water, whether it is the former or the latter, the structure is quite simple, in comparison, even easier than a brick water tower. With the skilled workers of the iron factory, it is relatively easy to make windmills and piston pumps.

"Teacher, what is quartz sand filtration?"

The one who asked the question was Li Yang, who was an apprentice in the factory apprentice class, and because he was very smart, he was pulled into his study group by Xu Guangqi, and he always had endless questions.

"The quartz sand filtration method is a very simple cleaning method. When in the field, if we are in a hurry to take water, it is also a method of filtering with sand or pebbles, the raw water becomes clear, the sand and stone cheeks are small, the surface area is large, and the impurities can be adsorbed and flocculated, which plays a role in purifying water, of course, the effect of using charcoal is better. Quartz sand has the characteristics of hardness, wear resistance, high density, corrosion resistance, strong dirt carrying capacity and long service life, which 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 and filtration. Generally speaking, the quartz sand in the filter tank has a service life of 3-5 years......"

In fact, there is still a disinfection process left, but limited by the technical level of the times, it can only be simplified because of ugliness.

Later, Shi Yiwen led these students to the water tower under construction, because of the high terrain efficiency, so the water tower is only six meters high, and the brick water tower in addition to the impermeable layer, it is also necessary to set up an insulation layer to ensure that it will not freeze in winter.

The water tower, which is used to maintain and regulate the amount of water and water pressure in the water distribution network, has only just been built with a base, and Yiwen prefers to build a water tower with an iron frame structure, but due to technical reasons, it finally chooses to build a brick water tower.

Although the water tower has not yet been built, a one-meter-deep trench has been dug in the direction of the water tower towards the "industrial park", and in consideration of the need for frost protection in winter, cast iron water pipes are buried directly in the trench, and in the man-wide trench, craftsmen are connecting the iron water pipes with hemp wire and other means.

These 10-centimeter-in-diameter iron pipes, each only 3 meters long, were delivered to the construction site after being cast in an iron factory.

"The main water pipeline to the main urban area has an inner diameter of eight centimeters, and the branch line has an inner diameter of five centimeters......

As Edwin explained the diameter and composition of the water pipe network, he heard someone ask softly.

"So many iron pipes are buried in the ground, what if someone has bad intentions and steals all the water pipes?"