Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1873-11-25
NO.. $50.
Mistella,leoi,s.
EFFECT OF IMPURITIES IN WATER.

Professor Gambler, in an address before
the American Health Association concern
ing the supply of water in cities and towns,
speaks of the effect of impurities in water
rs follows:
with regard to the effect of impurities
on our water supplies, the mineral impu-
rites are rarely sufficient to be OBJ
ieclionable. Lime or magnesia salts
makes the water hard and untitled for
cooking purposes, but on the other hand it
makes it good for tea, because it prevents
the solution of the bitter and stringent
qualities. DIR. Letherby one of the most
active writers on this class of subjects, has
made out table of death-rates. in which
he compares the death-rate and the de-
gree of hardness in the water caused by
the presence of magnesia and lime. In
towns OF England and Scotland where the
hardness of water is l6 grains to the gal
lon. the death-rate is 81 9-l0; where the
hardness is 8 grains, the dealh-rate is "a
9-l0, and where it is $40, the death-rate
is 26 in the 1000. 1t requires very large
quantity OF mineral impurities in water to
make them Objectionable.
Water might contain thirtv-five grains
of mineral matter to the gallon and not be
Objectionable, and that is very rarely
reached by any city supply. With regard
to the organic impurities in water, living
plants are rarely Objectionable; on the
contrary they are often advantageous,
Certain plants purify the water, for they
liberate oxygen-ozonized oxygen, which
is Of the best kind. 1t very rarely occurs
that the living animals in water are objec-
tonable.
1t is impossible to get a sample of river
or lake water that does not contain living
animals, but these are almost in every
case harmless. 1t has happened that par
asitic worms have been introduced into
the body by drinking water, and it is said
that onesixth of the deaths in Iceland oc-
cur from this cause. Leeches have some
times got into the stomach in this way,
and in a march of the French troops in
Algeria 400 cases of sickness took place
from the introduction into the stomach of
minute leeches which were in the water
drank by the soldiers. Color in water
from peaty matter was scarcely ever OBJ
jectionable.
Not long since new reservoir was con-
structed in New Bedford Mass, and the
area not being secured, the water was
colored for a year or so, but no injury ac-
crued. The organic matter which is dam
gerous in water is sewage. No matter
how clear water may be, if it contain fill
tered sewage it is extremely Objectionable.
Many diseases of the most fatal character
are now traced to water tainted by sew
age. | might give great many instances
in which typhoid fever was developed by
this cause. Cholera, although it does not
originate in polluted water, is most rapid
ly and thoroughly communicated by water
tainted by choleraic excreta. There is
one other source of impurity, and that is
in the pipes through which the water is
conveyed. Water is liable to be contain
mated by lead, and the purer the water
the greater the danger from lead contami-
nation. Water which is kept in lead pipes
over night in New York will contain
tenth of a grain, and the water which pas
ses through POO feet OF pipe will give dis
tinci traces of lead, but this can of course
be obviated by the glass-lined pipe recent
ly introduced.
In studying the sources of our water
supply, we are, therefore, compelled to
consider the danger of contamination of
the water by animal refuse or sewage.
Mineral or vegetable impurities are not
Objectionable. Ponds rarely, if ever, re.
ceive considerable quantity of sewage,
and. consequently, they are above sus-
picion. Wells, on the contrary, should
always be viewed with suspicion. Every
well is liable to be the source of contami-
nation. An ordinary house has its we'll
and its cess-pool and its privy in the same
block. and it is hardly possible in an or
dinary lot, even in The country, to place it
at such distance from the cess-pool and
the privy as to remove the danger of
contamination. With regard to the rivers
and their possible contamination by sew
age, it becomes necessary to see what
means nature has provided for the purifi-
cation of river water.
Nature has provided a scavenger for
the atmosphere by supplying ozone to
destroy the etfluvia that finds its way
there, and similar remedy is provided to
get rid of the efiete matter in rivers. That
question has been discussed in England,
| and it has been established that rivers
possess within themselves the power of
| publication. The matter is SO oxydized
| that it becomes unobjectionable There
| is, therefore, Il total distinction between
we'll water and river water. Well water
is stagnant and is not subjected to move
ments which bring it into contact with the
air A river may receive sewage and be
quite wholesome. In selecting water for
city supply the water from clear ponds is
preferable. We should avoid as far as
possible the contamination OF sewage, but
there is no real dread OF drinking water
containing the drainage OF moderate
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