The star. (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1874-1875, 1875-03-19
THE WATER PROBLEM.

zHE, WAIEH PhOBLEM.
A few fears ago New York was made
happy lily the completion of her Crotor
Water-works, by which cQpious supply
of the pure element was TO be forever
furnished from a distance of thirty-foul
miles beyond the outer edge of Manhat
tan Island. Lakes were built for storage
reservoirs. Croton Lake holds 500, ,00O, ,O0(
gallons, and the water is conveyed by q
conduit OF masonry to Harlem River
and thence in pipes to reservoirs in Cen.
tral Park, one of which 10 108 acres in
area, and the other 50 acres.
Another storage reservoir, holding
a,000, ,0O0. 900 gallons, is in Putnam county,
and its water flows to Or0ton Lake
through open, natural channels. A third
reservoir is in process Of construction
with the capacity Of 1000, ,O00, 900 .gallons,
with outlets by natural channels to the
same Cr0ton Lake. Locations for. other
supply lakes have been determined, to be
built as they shall be needed, and which
will swell the water capacity to,87 ,000.-
100000 gallons. The present conduit
from Croton Lake has a capacity of l1b,-
00O, 900 per day, while the daily consump-
tion has been lO4, ,0OO, 900 gallons.
But New York has exhausted her
crotOn flow Of happiness, and now de-
mands the filtration OF the water that
was supposed to have come from 80 far
inland as to be free from contamination.
Wise men are talking learnedly about
the infusoria and organic germs, which,
though harmless when taken alive, be-
come fatal after their death, and putres-
cent under even q slight elevation Of
temperature.
They talk about minute organic impuri-
ties that defy all the tests OF chemistry
and the microscope, and produce chol-
era and infinite arrangements of human
health. The blissful ignorance Of the
people is dispelled by the statement Of
those who never shrink from any dis
turbance Of human felicity, that the
great storage lakes Of Putnam and West.
chester counties receive the drainage of
large scope Of country full Of barn.
yards and villages from which proceed
endless impurities, besides leaves,
spores, and infnitesimal organisms, that
are abundant wherever there is vege-
table growth.
During the hot season the spores rap
idly develop into vegetable and animal
organisms that live. propagate, die and
become putrescent. These conditions
rapidly recur in water that is still or
moves slowly as in canals, lakes and res
ervoirs, and it becomes unfit for human
consumption. Some larval forms living
in water are not hurtful to man until
they have passed through the stomach of
animals. Such is the guillula .eaviatilis,
which intects the intestinal canal OF fish,
and is believed to originate the disease
called trichina, that has proved 80 fatal
to pork-eaters in some sections.
Such discussions are calculated to-
alarm the people. As population in
creases, our running water becomes more
contaminated. Many towns and cities
in England nave abandoned the rivers
and streams that had long supplied them
with water, and are getting subterrahsah
supplies by artesian wells. How long
before the Ohio will be abandoned as q
source OF our water supply we can not
say; but that Its water is annually de-
teriorating there is no doubt.
Artesian wells can not be had every
where, and probatey, for the whole Ohio
Valley, it is of the utmost Importance to
prevent, as far as possible, the contami.
nation Of the river by casting impurities
into it. Our city is doing its full share
Of this dirty work. 1t 10 not for the in
terest OF the people to hasten all sorts Of
decomposition down stream. There is
profit in it, If converted into fertilizers
and spread out upon the famishing fields.
Every barn-yard might be so constructed
as to save the corn-producing elements
from flowing away, and the farmer would
be rendered happier by 1t.
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