Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-10-21
OUR HYDRANT WATER
DIR. George Wells's Remarks ON the
Condition OF the Reservoir
Water.

AS the water supplied us by the An
napolis Water Company, while 1t may
not be unwholesome, is decidedly often
siye to the taste and smell, viii you al
low me space to make few suggestions
copied from statistics, as TO the probable
cause aud how TO correct it. For sever
al years it has been observed that when
ever the spring temperature reaches
GO or ZOE Fair, unpleasant changes take
place in the water supply of Annapolis.
owing, doubtless. 10 the great amount of
vegetable matter growing and floating
therein and which lodging in the angles
of the pipes render the water for weeks
offensive to the smell and unpalatable to
the taste This condition, so annoying
to the consumers, could, no doubts be
obyiated in great measure by the adop-
ton Of artificial saeration" and a good
system of filtration through sand and
spongy iron, made use of at the pump
ing station or before the water enters
the mains The low vegetable growths
which occasion the trouble belong to
that class of plants (which the botanists
call "Algae These plants-ferns,
MOSES, mushrooms. etc, grow in water
and although they are not killed by a
considerable degree of cold, still they
thrive only in warm weather. Observa-
ton would seem to point to a tempera-
ture of zoe Fair. or thereabout. below
which the trouble is not likely to begin.
In some cases the abundant appearance
of algae has seemed to follow the appar-
ent increase of sewage and other impur
tiles discharged into the water supply;
at any rate they are known to be highly
heterogeneous and when in a state of de-
composition or Preventative putrefaction
they are the cause of the ishy, musty,
cucumber, or other peculiar odor or taste
which affects the water supply every
spring and summer There is no EVIL
dence that these minute vegetable organ
isms will impart positive unwholesome-
ness to water, from a supply which in
other respects is of good quality; but
they certainly give rise to serious annoy
ance, which should be gotten rid of at
any cost. In such condition the water
is manifestly unsui ed for domestic use.
The artificial filtration of wa'er on a
large scale has become very general,
where the supply is taken from streams
or ponds. Ithas long been practiced by
many European towns. In Germany,
any considerable size supplied with un-
| filtered water In America very few ef-
! forts have been made to secure better
water supplies for our cities by improv
ed methods of aeration and filtration.
| What we want is not only plentiful
supply, but a plentiful supply of clean
and pure water and if it is not so natur-
ally, it should be made so by the best
system of artificial filtration possible.
DIR. Smart remarks that, In England.
where the relations of the water supply
to the public health are thoroughly un-
derstood, constant supervision is exer-
cised over the quality of city supplies
and any alteration from the normal stan
dard is followed by an inquiry into its
bearing on the wholesomeness of the
water. This is as it should be. But in
our country public health work of this
character is only beginning to be appre
ciated. The objective of all sanitary in
quiries is preOeBfi n and this in the cases
of diseases propagated by the water sup
ply, can only be effected by a continued
and general supervision which will
throw out of use the dangerous waters
and suggest such precautions for those
that are of doubtful quality, before eth
er of them have forced themselves upon
the public attention by unmistakable evil
dences of their character. Prof Mich
OILS, who has given more attention to the
question of water supplies than any
other scientist in this country, says In
localities where there is public water
supply, it should be the duty of the
Water Board or Company to deliver the
water to consumers in condition fit for
domestic use, except in respect to tenn
perature If the source, which is, on
the whole, the most available for the
water supply, is such that filtration is
absolutely necessary the water should be
filtered on the large scale by the author
ity controlling the works For effecting
filtration on the household scale numer-
GUS devices are employed; but it is well
to remember that the success of any FL
ter, in the accomplishment of its legiti-
mate work, depends upon the frequency
with which it is cleaned. No house fl
ter shoaId be used continuously for q
longer period than two or three days
without driving off the contained wa
ter and allowing the air, which is much
more destructive of organic matter than
water, to pass freely through the filter
ing material for several hours. vegeta-
BILE charcoal, so frequently used in house
filters, is particularly Objectionable for
the reason that, if not constantly chang
ed, it attracts more readily than most
other filtering materials minute forms
of animal life. This objection, however,
does not apply to animal charcoal to the
same extent as it does to vegetable char
coal, since the former possesses the pow.
er Of bringing the oxygen dissolved in
the water into chemical union with or.
| ganic matter and so destroying it, es.
pecially when the organic matter is in q
state of decay and in an unwh0lesome
condition The character of the filter