His first two jobs were with water utilities: Boston Water Works as Director of the Chestnut Hill Laboratory (1889–97) and Brooklyn Department of Water Supply as Director of the Mt. Prospect Laboratory (1897-1904). While at both institutions, he gathered the material to produce his seminal work
The Microscopy of Drinking Water. It was the first text solely devoted to identifying and cataloging microscopic aquatic organisms that interfered with sources of drinking water. Many noteworthy items were included in the book, but two deserve special mention. First, to determine the transparency/turbidity in reservoirs, Whipple modified the original all-white
Secchi disk to "…a disc about 8 inches in diameter, divided into quadrants painted alternately black and white like the target of a level-rod…" The black and white Secchi disk is the standard disk currently used in
limnology investigations and marine water quality studies. Second, Chapter 9 of his book organized for the first time what was known about odors in water supplies and how algae and other microorganisms contributed to problem odors. Whipple worked directly with the
Portland, Maine Water District in 1908 and 1924. He recommended on both occasions that filtration of
Sebago Lake was not required. For other water supplies, he had the opposite recommendation. In 1922, he recommended that most surface water supplies be filtered because those water sources were rarely protected from contamination. Hazen and Whipple were hired by the
City of Pittsburgh in 1910 to investigate the necessity of replacing the city's
combined sewer system, which had no
sewage treatment plant, with a separate sewer system and a treatment plant. They recommended no change in the existing system. At the time, their report was hailed as "The most important sewerage and sewage disposal report made in the United States." Later in the 20th century, with a greater understanding by the engineering profession of the environmental impacts of
combined sewer overflows, and the regulatory requirements for their control, the report would not receive the same plaudits today that it did in 1910. While a partner at Hazen and Whipple, he was also consulting professor of water supply and sewage disposal at the
Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute from 1907 to 1911.
Chlorination and the Jersey City trials Whipple's early training in bacteriology prepared him to evaluate the use of
chlorine for disinfection of water supplies. In early 1906, Whipple visited Europe and toured several facilities using various forms of chlorine for drinking water disinfection. He presented his findings from the trip at a June 1906 AWWA conference. In his paper, he noted that while it was unlikely that "poisonous chemicals" would be added to drinking water to kill bacteria, that some consideration of chemical disinfection might be given in the future. After his presentation, the audience verbally attacked him for even suggesting that chemicals be used for drinking water disinfection. Neither sanitary engineers nor the public at large were ready for chemical disinfection. In the second trial, Whipple attacked the proposal by
John L. Leal to treat the water from the reservoir with chloride of lime (
calcium hypochlorite). Instead, he recommended the construction of sewers in the watershed and a treatment plant that would discharge the treated wastes below the reservoir. The chlorination system was declared a success by the Special Master,
William J. Magie, and was judged capable of supplying Jersey City with water that was "pure and wholesome." Despite his opposition to chlorination of the Jersey City water supply, Whipple recommended the addition of chloride of lime before the slow sand filters at
Poughkeepsie, New York. His recommendation was quickly adopted on March 17, 1909, which made the Poughkeepsie water supply the third U.S. drinking water source to receive continuous disinfection by chlorine (after Jersey City [September 26, 1908] and the treatment plant at Little Falls, New Jersey [February 4, 1909]).
Harvard School of Public Health Whipple's career took an important turn in 1911 when he was appointed Gordon McKay Professor of Sanitary Engineering at
Harvard University where he remained until his death. His appointment was somewhat unusual even during this time period due to the fact that he only possessed a bachelor of science degree. However, his extensive research and publications, his technical leadership and his position at the Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute prepared him for his new responsibilities. He also served Chief of the Department of Sanitation in the
League of Red Cross Societies in Geneva, Switzerland. In this capacity he studied typhus fever in
Romania.
Whipple's Index Whipple was also the author of a technique, called
Whipple's Index, to measure the degree to which respondents' ages in surveys were affected by rounding or other kinds of culturally affected mis-reporting. ==Personal life==