171] FAUNA OF BIG VERMIUON RIVER— BAKER 73 



the sewer outlet of the Champaign system is situated on the Salt Fork 

 about a mile below th,e Urbana outlel;. There are two systems for each 

 city, one for domestic wastes and the other for the care of storm water, 

 the sanitary sewage. Septic tanks were installed with the systems, about 

 the year 1894, to reduce the amount of putrescible matter, but at the pres- 

 ent time the sewage receives little treatment and practically enters the 

 Salt Fork in a crude condition.* The population in 1914 was estimated to 

 be 13,750 for Champaign, and 9,252 for Urbana, or a total population of 

 about 23,000 for the Twin Cities. At the present time, 1920, six years later, 

 the increase has probably brought the total up to nearly 30,000. The 

 sewage system, therefore, provides disposal for this population, and is all 

 discharged into the waters of the Salt Fork. It is estimated by G. C. Haber- 

 meyer, that the total flow of sewage from the Urbana plant is about 500,000 

 gallons per day and from the Champaign plant about 1,000,000 gallons 

 per day.** 



The flow of the Salt Fork below the Champaign sewage disposal plant 

 is 3,000,000 gallons per day. These figures indicate that the sewage forms 

 one-half of the total water flowing down the Salt Fork. These data were 

 taken in October, when the stream was low, and may be a trifle too high 

 for those periods when there is a rise of water following a period of rainy 

 weather. During a greater part of the year, however, the water is low and 

 these figures will be approximately correct. The fresh water added to 

 the sewage is derived from the stream north of Urbana which contributes 

 250,000 gallons per day, and the Boneyard, which adds 1,500,000 gallons 

 per day, about two-thirds being clear water. "In October, 1917, the 

 flow in the Boneyard below the Urbana tank was about one-third sewage 

 and probably contained considerable other waste and sewage discharged 

 above the Urbana sewage outlet. The flow in Salt Fork below the Cham- 

 paign sewer outlet was probably one-half sewage." 



H. E. Babbitt,*** thus describes the condition at the Champaign dispo- 

 sal plant at this date. "The appearance of the effluent from the Champaign 

 septic tank is that of fresh sewage, having the typical color of sewage, and 

 carrying fecal matter and paper. The appearance of the Salt Fork at the 

 point of entrance of the sewage from the tank is good. It is about twenty 



* New septic tanks have been installed at the Champaign sewage disposal plant on Salt 

 Fork and a portion of the sewage is well treated before it enters the canal. 



** Data for the sewage conditions, stream flow, chemical analyses, etc., of the Salt Fork are 

 taken from an unpublished report of G. C. Habermeyer (assisted by S. D. Kirkpatrick, assis- 

 tant chemist, and J. F. Schellbach, engineer) made for the State Water Survey Division of 

 the Department of Registration and Education, of Illinois, and here used by permission of the 

 late Chief of the Division, Dr. Edward Bartow. 



*** From unpublished Report on the Champaign-Urbana Water Works System, prepared 

 June 23, 1914. Extracts here published by permission of Edward Bartow. 



