Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-11-21
Water Supply Of Farms and Houses

examples of excessive mortality from
what are known as zymotic diseases
that is, a class of diseases that are due
to impure water and foul air-suoh as
typhoid fever, scarlatina, scarlet fever.
diarrhea. dvsentery, consumption.
d%iphtheria, etc. But in recent yesrs
examples of such ~preventable disord-
ers are numerously found IN ruyal
villages and on farms. A recent
case upon u poorly watered farm
is unhappily typical of many; it was
a cistern upon which alone the family
depended for their water supply, and
it was located only five feet from the
cesspool that had been in use for many
years. 1t was only after various efforts
to discover the cause that the source of
the water was questioned, when the
fact OF its poisoning was discovered.
another case in which l was con
suited happened On the farm of q
wealthy nan upon whose house and
homestead money had been lavishcl
profuscly. but by q strange neglect the
well had been fouled by a leaky drain
from the water closets and Kitchens.
which passed within a few feet
OF it. Another case was more
curious; the whole waste from the
house had been dis -harged in loose
underground pipes upon q hillside
meadow for the purpose of subsoil irri-
cation and fertilizing, the matter being
supposed to be taken up blythe sol! and
disposed OF without o~ffense, on a plan
suggested by Il well-known drainage
engineer a few years ago in a monthly
agricultural Journal. At the foot Of
| tho c1n,,a a rrra c,rinm hol ~ e.,
wears, and this was made the source of
the water supply for the house and
barns. 1t is unnecessary to say that
there was constant trouble in those
houses, which was supposed to be due
to anything but the real cause.
During the past year, l have taken
pains to note the situation Of more than
a hundred farm wells and cisterns. and
more than half of them are in danger
Gus proximity to cesspools, some of
which have been in use for scores of
years; most of them, however. have
been emptied every spring for the man
ure in them; but this, even, has little
ele,t in preventing the inevitable pol
luton of the water supply. A large
proportion of the farms have wells
quite close to the manure yards and
stables. In one of these homesteads,
OF q family OF seven, but one survived
to thirty ears OF age, and the survivor
came very near dying of an abscess OF
the liver, no doubt superinduccd by
the unwholesome water supply. 1t is
to be hoped that these facts will give
rise to investigation in such eases as
may present suspicious circumstances,
and in all cases Il comparison with the
following points and the condition of
fthc water supply may be useful.
l.. There is no we'll safe that is not
perfectly we'll protected from surface
wafer and the entrance OF worms,
frogs, toads and small insects and
vermin. The we'll should be curbed up
above the suface with bricks or stone,
laid in cement, or we'll plastered out
side with lime mortar, SO that the
ground slopes in all directions. and
prevents any pools or surface water
from remaining within twenty feet OF
the we'll.
>. 1t is a common but mistaken be-
lief that a well should be open to the
an for ventilation. The reason given
is that carbonic acid and foul air will
gather in the we'll. No doubt at times
this gas gathers in wells, but in every
case 1t Is in wells that are open to the
iii, and are fouled with dccomposinr
organic matter. The purest water
comes from drive wells and artesian
wells, to which the outer air cannot
gain access. Carbonic acid gas, too, is
only dangerous when breathed. It's
presence in water greatly improves it,
and q person who drinks one glass of
coda Uvotar ~. n coill;t, ,ovlc. +o),,
more carbonic acid gas than could be
3. A well should therefore be tightly
closed in at the top, and closely curbed
to the bottom, and every possible en-
trance should be closed against worms
and all other living creatures.
j. A well can not be safe from UNI
derground drainage, unless it is duo.
down below a bed Of clay which slopes
or inclines from the well toward any
barnyard, cesspool or other source Of
pollution, irrespective OF distance; for
when a drainage flow occurs through
the soil, it is only a question Of time
when it will reach the well, although it
may be 100000 or more feet from the
source of the impurities, if the slope al
the subsoil, gravel, %hardpan or clay, is
from the source OF the drainage TO the
well. In porous, sandy soil or gravel.
the deeper the well, the sooner it will
become 1ouled by any drainage.
.. a ccsspool or barnyard should al
ways be located on lower ground than
the house and the we'll, or any spring
from which the water is drawn. il
this is not impossible, the ccsspool
should be made with an impervious
bottom of cement, saturated with gas
tar or melted asphalt, and a drain
made OF glazel pipes, ccmented at the
JOINTS, to carry the liquid from it to a
distant place where it may be used in
making compost.
t. A well should be carried down to
o permanent boiling spring which en-
tiers the bottom, and then lined with
cement tiles. the joints OF which should
be carefully closed; Oh the Inning should
be made OF brick, laid in cement, or if
of wood, of hemlock plank, laid with
close joints. No other wood but hem
lock should be used for q well curb.
The common system Of boring wells by
machinery is the best and safest, and