The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-08-24
Keep Springs Pure.

noted for the purity of their springs
and the general healthfulncss of the
people, there have been startling re-
ports of fevers and other ailments
this season, and great surprise is ex-
pressed at the unexpected cpidemics
In most cases, the source of the i'll.
ness is the spring that has ever been
regarded as giving the purest oil
water.
Unless unusual care Is taken OF
country springs in seasons like the
present summer, there is great dan
ger of health. destroYing impurities
mingling with the springs which or,
dinarily furnish the purest water
The rainfall of this summer has been
almost uneXampled. Rain after rain
and flood after flood have come
washing deeayed vegetation and
much organic matter into the
streams, and the springs do not es-
cape the pollution unless either ex-
ceptionally well located or excep-
tionally well protected.
The first care of every family in a
season like this summer should be
to protect the purity of the drinking
and cooking water. Any spring that
is at all exposed to surface drainage
must be very impure in an excessive
ly wet season. The growth of vege-
tation is much more rank than com
mon, and its superabnndance multi.
plies decay. There is constant de
cay of vegetation and constant pu-
trefaction of organic matter, and all
are washed into the springs or wells
which are not entirely protected
against surface drainage.
1t is simply impossible for any
closed we'll to be pure in season
like the present summer. There are
so few vitalizing and purifying quail
tiles in the humid atmosphere, and
such multiplied sources of pollution
in surface drainage, that wells should
be carefully watched, ventilated,
cleansed and guarded by cemented
walls against surface water. Many
people use water from wells for years
without examination as to their con
dition; and only when dead frog
or rat makes the water offensive to
smell and taste, do they think of
cleansing the well. Every well, no
matter how situated or protected,
should be cleansed at least twice a
year, and monthly inspection of wells
would be wise in summer like the
present.
1t is always simple and easy
matter to protect springs from i'm
purities. Some are so favorablv To-
Gated that they need little protection
beyond raising the earth around
them to drain the surface
water away from them; and such as
are located in low ground and there
by subject to surface drainage, can
be fully protected by cemented
wall extending from the bottom of
the spring to higher point than the
surrounding earth, with terrace
slopes to shed the water away from
the spring. Springs which are ordin-
arily very pure may become danger
ously impure in long wet season,
and the failure to protect springs
from surface drainage has doubtless
caused fevers and howell disturbance
in many localities this year.
All doubts should be resolved in
favor of the best measures for assur-
ing pure drinking water in the fami-
ly; and all water-spring. well or
ACKNOWLEDGMENT pure the supply
naturally, should be filtered when
there is an unusual growth of vcge
tation and unusual surface drainage
1t is cheap and simple process, and
it is the best protection to health.
will not remove the most
dangerous impurities which are
known in water, but it will relieve it
of vegetable impurities as a rule. If
cesspools or barn yards are drained
into springs or wells, as is often the
case, no system of fltering will make
water healthy, but the exercise of
careful observation and intelligence
will detect the probability of I'M
wholesome underground drainage
into wells or springs. Pure water
is one of the first necessities for
health, and every family should
promptly examine into and fully pro
tect their wells and springs from the
unusual flow of impurities common
this season.