The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-07-20
IMPURE WATER SUPPLY
mon DEATH RATES the RESULT,

An Interesting Meeting Held Last Night mt
Which Reports of Great Importance
were MIado-PIans to Remedy the sup.
ply-The Board to Investigate
That the water supply Of Wheeling Is
by no means as pure as it should be,
everyone knows who has ever given the
subject a moments thoughts but very few
have anyRdequate idea Of how very impure
and bad it really is, and OF the startling
effect 1t undoubtedly has on the health Of
the city. That the supply should be i'm,
pure Is not to be wondered at, The Ohio
river, from which the supply is taken,
without being in any way filtered, is always
muddy and full Of sediment, even in those
parts most retired from settlements, We're
it merely the so,called pure Ohio river
water that was being furnished the city,
then probably the agitation Of the matter
that has been begun would never have
taken place. but such is not the case,
The city's pumping station is at
the foot OF Eighth street, Above
that point there empties into the
river, q considerable quantity Of filth from
Martins Ferry, q sewer from the Top mill,
q sewer from the Hospital, sewers from
Fourth, Fifth and Seventh streets, and
the dirty stream from Jonathan's Ravlne,
The three street sewers drain away the
filth and waste water from probably 5000
people. ThRtin itself Is bad enough, but
the worst sources OF contamination are
the sewer from the Hospital aud the
stream from the Ravine, The one Is load
ed with disease germsa and IKE Isl filed
with d~eCay'ng matter that comes from Mt.
Wood Cemetery. This cemetery Is built
overs wOrked'out coal mine. Cracks and
seams a be seen in the cemetery, aud
through these, aiteTa heavy rain, matter
is easily carried down and through the old
mine emp!ies into the raVlne,
AN OLD STORY.
The matter OF an impure water supply
has been talked OF of and on for a num-
Der OF years past and various measures
suggested to remedy 1t, but thus far the
few used have never amounted to any
thing, mainly for the reason that they
were not practicable. OF course careful
housekeepers boil thoroughly the water
used for drinking purposes, but the big
mass Of the people drink 1t Just as 1t is
drawn from the hydrants,
Some time since DR.. Garrison, the
Health Officer, made q report on this sub.
jeCt TO Council. In that report he insLi-
tuted comparisons between the purity OF
the water supply OF this city and thRt.o
other cities and q very bad state OF affairs
was shown for Wheeling. The general i'm
preston was that tho matter was over
drawn, but 1t was referred to tho Board OF
Water Commissioners and the Council
Committee on Water Works to be Consld-
cred by them jointly,
Last night a meeting OF these two bodies
was held at the Pablo Building. There
were present Mesars. Jaeger, who pre-.
sided, Jones, Halter, Happy and Scott, Of
the committee, Hall and Hoffman, OF the
Board, Or. Garrison, Dr.. G. Baird, Prof.. O.
Z. Dwight and President Sweeney Of the
Second Branch.
DR.. BAIRD's PAPER.
DR.. Baird read a paper, the contents OF
which were intensely interesting, and
which was full OF figures Of most start.
ling nature. 1t had been prepared by
him from come data furnished by Dr..
Garrison, some figures furnished by Pro.
lessor Dwight, the result OF chemical an.
alyses made by him and from the facts,
statistics, etc, that DR.. Baird was In pos
session Of himself. 1t showed frat, how
impure the water supply was by
exhaustive references to the various
sources OF contamination. Then he show.
ed how much higher the death rate Of the
Cityisthan itshould be and especially how
much larger the number OF deaths from
typhoid fever have been than they should
be- in a city OF this size. He quoted from
the City's health statistics for a number OF
years past to show that the high rate OF
deaths from typhoid fever did not apply TO
any particular year. He asCribed the cause
Of this to theimpure watersupply and prov
ed ConClusively the truth Of this. He
presented an array Of figures to show the
expense to the city Of tue sickness result
ing from typhoid lever, in the way Of lost
wages, time, doctors and druggists' bills
aud the additional expense In case Of
death. These figures as well as the other
figures and facts contained in his paper
proved to be regular eye.openers and the
gentlemen listened to It's reading with the
livellest interest.
The paper then went on to suggest
some remedies. One was a conduit from
the works to the Sisters" three miles
above the city, OF sufficient size and
strength to furnish water 10 all the
pumps. The water at the "sisters' is as
pure probably, as any that could be OBJ
tanned. A careful chemical test has been
made OF 1t and lis parts shown to be Just
the smallest fraction above or below the
allowable limit. The plan OF conduit
however, was treated in the paper
as being 80 expensive rs to in.
volve the city above its constitutional
limit Of Indebtedness and therefore i'm.
practicable. The other plan is 10 con.
struCt a dam In Jonathan's rayine and
lead from 1t TO below the Water Works q
large sewer, three, four and five ieetin di.
ameter, the changes In It's size to be made
as 1t progresses towards the mouth
and connections are made with the sewers
that now empty into tho river, the ideab be-
ing TO take of in this large BOwer the con.
tents from the sewers that are mentioned
above. This plan, roughly estimated,
would cost about $4,000,
A CHEMISTS VIEWS.
Professor Dwight then read o paper.
He had had given to him seven samples
Of water to analyzs,by Dfs. Baird and Gar
rison. They were taken from points be-