Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 865 Bank of the Wujiang River ([-])

On May 1651, 5, a group of more than 20 immigrants came to Gutingbao (the later town of San Javier, Uruguay) on the banks of the Wujiang River after traveling to many places, because most of the first batch of immigrants were captured by Shao Shude. Named after Zhenming people).They came here by boat and on foot, because there are many sandbars and shoals on the Wujiang River in these places. Before the Ministry of Communications and the Navy had time to systematically submit reports on the hydrology and channel conditions here, their big ship with a deep draft could not Dare to advance indiscriminately, so they can only stop near the safe channel they think, and then order the Ming immigrants to walk three to four kilometers before reaching the final destination.

At present, there are already some buildings in Gutingbao, such as warehouses, sheds, and sentry towers. These were built by hundreds of immigrants from the Huai’an Prefecture of the Ming Dynasty who arrived here earlier. Later, the Immigration Department sent them more than 200 The Koreans on Jeju Island sent the third batch today—the last batch in a short time—more than 200 Ming immigrants. So far, the official population of this settlement has reached [-] People, not too few in the new settlements.

Now the central departments of the East Coast Republic—especially some technical departments—are very keen to test various new technologies, new ideas, and new ideas in the newly-built settlements. Gein is conducting this series of experiments in the old settlements More troublesome and costly.For example, the urban sewer and sewage treatment project that Jingjiang Town is working on a while ago, the new reservoir, large-scale water turbine, hydraulic press and other projects that Shippubao is working on, and the urban water supply project that Guting is preparing to launch.

Undoubtedly, these experimental projects carried out in the newly-built towns in the Wujiang area are not large in scale, and the cost is not high-because they can be carried out together with urban construction, unlike old towns that need to demolish and renovate existing municipal facilities, after all It is much cheaper to build a new one than to renovate the existing facilities.However, there is also no doubt that once the experiments of these projects are successful (improving the problems encountered while doing the experiments), then the "densely populated" counties such as Dongfang County, Ping'an County, Zhenhai County, Meilin County, etc. Large-scale promotion in cities and towns to benefit the production and life of the majority of citizens.

To be honest, the urban water supply system of the people on the east coast is still quite old-fashioned-of course it is much more advanced than other parts of the world-they just use natural rivers, lakes, wetlands, and artificially dug cisterns and reservoirs as cities. The source of water is then filtered through sand and gravel, and then sent to the city through stoneware or cement pipes.After the water was delivered to the city, the residents ran over to pick it up with wooden barrels—if you are too lazy to pick up water or don’t have time, it doesn’t matter, there are special water delivery workers who will deliver it to your door, provided you pay a little cost.

Simple sanitation procedures and outdated water supply methods, this is the current status of the big cities in the East Coast Republic, which does not seem to be much more advanced than Europe.At least in the big European cities at this time, rich people can still enjoy the spring water sent outside the city. It seems to be the same as in China. Big cities such as Nanjing and Beijing even have special water delivery workers to send sweet spring water outside the city. The city is for those who can afford it.

But the sad thing is that even these seemingly backward water supply methods, on the east bank today, only some big cities or towns near natural rivers and lakes can do it. In hilly areas, local residents can only rely on drilling wells—in many places even have to dig deep wells—to obtain domestic water, which seems quite difficult.In fact, there is not a lot of precipitation in the grassland area on the east coast every year, but it is evenly distributed in all seasons (the precipitation is less in summer), and there is a lack of surface runoff on the ground, so most of the rainwater seeps into the ground.Therefore, how to make good use of this precipitation is the key to reversing the water difficulties of residents in inland areas-maybe try digging deep wells and then use large pumps to lift water.

As Gutingbao, which stands on the bank of the Wujiang River, it is natural that they do not need to go to the underground sandstone layer to pump water. They can directly draw fresh water from the mighty Wujiang River as a source of domestic water.At present, the early immigrants here have dug some diversion canals, and the rest of the work will continue after the arrival of the second stage immigrants, such as sedimentation tanks, filter ponds, etc.As for the construction of urban areas and road traffic, they will be handed over to the Hejian slaves who will be escorted by the police from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

Speaking of this, I have to mention that according to the data survey conducted by the Ministry of Health of the East Coast Republic for many years, the incidence of cholera and typhoid fever in towns with filter tanks built in the water supply system is much lower than that of towns without filter tanks - some Farmers in rural areas like to drink raw river water, which is often the reason for the spread of these two diseases and the death of residents.Therefore, under the strict order of the executive committee, from 1648, the water supply system of each town must be filtered by the filter pool, and no one should omit this vital facility because of trouble or high cost; In rural areas, it is recommended that residents mainly drink well water, and the water must be boiled before drinking, so as to reduce the transmission of cholera and typhoid fever.Reducing the death rate of residents (especially children) is always more important than encouraging births.

The filter tank filters the water that is transported through the sedimentation tank (which settles the solid particles in the water). The pool contains gravel, gravel, sand, natural sponge and charcoal (the people on the east coast believe that it can reduce the organic matter in the water) and other substances. With a layer-by-layer filtration system, the water leaks into the bottom collecting channel at an extremely slow speed, and finally is transported to the water transmission and distribution pipeline.This filtration system is actually an improvement on the original design of Dongfang County (a county with an urban population of more than 2000 people and a huge daily water consumption), that is, the process of using chemicals for sedimentation is added to the sedimentation tank. Natural sponge and charcoal filtration have been added to the filter pool, and overall it greatly outperforms the much-praised system in the capital.

The water transmission and distribution pipelines planned to be built here in Gutingbao will be more advanced than those in the capital.First of all, large cast iron pipes (cast iron pipes are less prone to rust than steel pipes) will replace fragile stoneware pipes. This kind of pipes has high strength, good uniformity, and is more pressure-resistant. The two pipes are connected by socket joints. , metal lead plugs the gap, and the outer layer of the pipe is coated with a layer of coal tar or paint to prevent corrosion.Of course, in some areas where transportation is inconvenient or wood is abundant, someone may use wood to make water pipes, but this seems to be only an emergency measure. In the short term, it is more economical and easier to install than cast iron pipes, but in the long run Obviously, there will be frequent failures and the losses outweigh the gains.

Fort Guting is a new settlement. Even if the design is advanced, considering the new population in the future, it is estimated that the number of people who need centralized water supply will not be very large. More than 2000 people will probably be enough. Therefore, the experimental water supply of this settlement Even if the system adopts a more advanced water supply system than that of the capital (that is, water supply to households), it will not actually cost too much money.In fact, this is indeed the case. The experimental project has a total of 15 yuan of special funds issued by the Ministry of Civil Affairs—if it is not enough, the Wujiang District Administrative Office will support tens of thousands of yuan and some free labor as appropriate—so this system was built. Not a problem, and this obviously has a strong reference significance for the possible next upgrade of the water supply system in the capital area.

However, some grassroots officials in the Wujiang area still have some doubts about the prospects of this project.Their doubts do not come from technical aspects, but mainly from the waste of water supply and the safety of some materials.They pointed out that although the current law and order in the East Coast Republic is not bad, don't overestimate the consciousness of the people—especially when these people just came from the Ming Dynasty.They felt that some copper fittings installed outside would probably be lost at night, after all, copper often means money in many places.

In addition, they were confused by the water supply method proposed by the Guting Water Supply Company (newly established) that undertook this experimental project.Because according to the company's plan, water is not supplied at all times of the day, and the water supply company will arrange water supply according to its actual situation.In this way, the end users will be in some trouble. They think that the residents may be afraid that they will keep the taps there because they miss the water supply time period. production burden.

Faced with this situation, the project leader has to admit that perhaps the only way to curb this phenomenon is to implement a charging policy for water use.And the charge can't charge a fixed fee regularly for each household, it is better to charge according to the actual water consumption of each household.But there is another problem with this, that is, you need an instrument that can measure other people's water consumption, such as a flow meter.

In April, the Guting Water Supply Company, which received advice from others, began offering rewards for the design of flowmeters throughout the country and even in Europe. The basic requirement is also very simple: that is, to be able to measure the pipeline more accurately without losing too much water head. water flow within.But before that, no matter whether the water supply system is charged or free in the future, the work that should be done cannot be slack. After all, the "old towns" in the eastern coastal areas are watching here.They urgently need to transform their "old" water supply system in order to effectively improve the living standards of the people while reducing the incidence of diseases such as cholera and injuries.

On May 1651, 5, along with a group of 25 Hejian slaves, there were also three reciprocating large-scale steam piston pumps ordered by the Guting Water Supply Company. , designed and manufactured by Tielingbao No. [-] Heavy Machinery Factory.After the arrival of this large water pump, it means that the construction of this water supply system has entered a substantive stage.

(End of this chapter)