The daily gazette., 1882-01-18
SECOND EDITION
From the New York sun.
The Cause OF Had Drinking
water.

The Cause OF had Drinking
In the fall Of the year there are
sometimes complaints Of o bad taste
or odor in their water supply. Almost
every year Baltimore Is troubled by
what is described there as Q flshy
flavor. Last winter some people de.
tected Q putty taste In the Croton
water of this city, which however soon
passed away. Hartford, New Haven,
Norwich, Albany, and st. Paul are
among cities which have had trouble,
more or less severe, of this sort. Boa
ton, however, has had the worst ex-
perience. Last fall the water there
became disgusting in every way, Civ
ing of an odor which became known
as "the pig pen SMELL" and having
later on ''Lne tfsh oil tasle
The popular idea OF the cause Of
such trouble is that there are dead fish
in the storage reservoirs or water
mains. The Boston pagers printed
s'ories how the mains sWarmed with
cells. The temperance men were
troubled over suggestions Of disgusting
infuslons into their beverage. Finally
the City Council brought on Prof. Ira
Remsen Of the Johns Hopkins Uni
versity, to tell them what the matter
was. MIR. Remsen had previously
made an examination Of Baltimore's
water supply TO find the cause of
similar trouble, aud had failed. He
had traced the smell and taste to the
presence of albuminoid ammonia, but
where that came from in such large
quantities he could not tell. He was
more fortunate in Boston and thinks
he has solved the problem.
To the great satisfaction Of Boston,
Prof. Remsen has exonerAted its prin-
cipal reservoir, Lake Cochituate, from
any share IN the evil. Neither do his
discoveries give any support to the un-
pleasant dead-flsh theory. Vegetable
decay, likewise, has had no direct share
In the trouble, although the decomposi-
tion OF plant belonging to the nostoc
family may have contributed to the pig
pen odor. This plant has a close, tiny
growth like mould, and was found
coating the mud of Farm Pond. The
real maletactor was, however, decided
to be an animal substance, very like a
vegetable in appearance-the spongilld
tuUtdttttS, or fresh water sponge. This
sponge, growing on the bottom Of fresh
water ponds, sends out shoots, branch
ing like antlers, several inches long.
Its parts are easily broken, and to their
decomposition Prof. Rsmsen traces the
ishy, putty, cucumber, and other tastes
that from time to time have been recoe-
nized in conduit water. Farm Pond
was full Of masses Of dscaying sponge,
and the water passing into Boston'a
general supply tainted the whole.
While Prof. Remsen 10 very positive
/ 10 laying the blame upon the spongiiEd
fuGidtitiS, he is not able TO tell us ex-
actly what to do with it. The thorough
cleansing of places where the sponge
growth is noticed Is an obvious means
OF relief, but enough is not known Of
the habits of the sponge TO say whether
its growth can be eradicatel In this
way. 1t is generally after droughts,
when streams are low and storage sup
plies are largely drawn upon, that this
contamination becomes noticeable.
New York has less trouble about the
quality of its drinking water than any
other large city, probably from the fact
that its supply ordinarily approaches
more nearly TO the char acter Of running
water than that of other cities. The
aqueduet is a continuation of the Gro
ton River, and the water is used as fas;
as it flows through. Water stagnating
in reservoirs or ponds is the. habitat Of
the spongiLLa. This fact should be
taken into consideration wheRga de-
cision is made whether to increase our
water supply by establishing additional
storage reservoirs in connectio1 with
the Croton system, or to take in fresh
source of supply, such as Lake George.