Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-05
DANGER IN THE WATER.

Allegheny's Unfortunate Situation - The
Whole City Threatened by Sewage
From Pittsburg-What Physicians and
the Mayor Say-Everybody Must Boil
Their Water.
Mayor Kennedy and Chief Murphy, OF
Allegheny, yesterday morning made long
tour ofinvestigation of two of the most dan
gerous districts in that city. They went
out Spring Garden avenue and up Butch
er's run to its head at the Perrysville road.
They carefully looked along the stream and
saw much refuse living along the banks and
in the water. From the Perrysville road
they descended to Woods run and fol-
lowed that street to the Ohio. There they
found better condition of affairs After
their return to City Hall they sent out a
wagon load of unslaked lime and had it
literally sprinkled along the banks OF
Butchers run and even thrown into the
water.
Several gangs of men were at work In Al
leghenv yesterday. washing down the
streets. Mayor Kennedy SAYS that within
this week the city will be made as clean as
it is possible to make city.
Dr. SuttOn'B CnOi6ra SuSReBpOnBS
Mayor Kennedy on Saturday received a
letter from DR.. R. S. Sutton, the celebrated
specialist, treating of some of the peculisr
features Of cholera The doctor had much
experience with that disease during the
epidemic here 3s years ago. The cholera
germs, he says, have their home in the
Ganges river, in India, and the general way
they are conveyed into the human system Is
in drinking water. The great danger for
Allegheny, be says, is in its bad water sys-
tenn. He points out that there are many
sewers, from both sides of the river, empty
ing into the Allegheny above the inf1uent
pipe through which the water for the city is
drawn. One deposit of cholera germs into
the riverabove that pipe would contaminate
the water supply of the whole city Dr.. SUIT
ton says that ii cholera comes, the only de-
tense against 1t, for the people of Allegheny,
will be to bail all water before using it for
domestic purposes.
The doctor. says that during the epidemic
of 1854 the Point. the oldest and dirtiest part
of the city, escaped. He offers no explana-
tion of this fact.
Why the Children Die.
He gives an interesting reason for the
deaths of SO many children on board the
steamer Moravia. OF the % deaths on that
vessel during the voyage, 20 were of chill
dren. The little ones, he says, played on the
floor, where the filth containing the cholera
germs collected. This they got on their
hands. and their hands went to their
mouths.
The Mayor had a personal talk with DR..
Sutton yesterday, when the physicion reft-
Grated his statements concerning the great
danger from AL ,gheny's water supply.
Other doctors agree with him. City Physi-
clan Hazard said last evening: "Our water
supply, drawn from a point in the river
where contamination may easily reach 1t
F,1, %h Dft%. ,lN,,,.r .aol
source of danger for u.s. 1t cannot be
changed now, on short notice, but 1t ought
to be changed as soon as 1t can be done. The
water should be dawn from far up the
stream, where the fluid is pure. In the
present emergency people must boil the
water. That will kill all germs"
Danger In the Water Supply.
Mayor Kennedy expects to have a con-
ference this evening with q number of
rominent physicians. Last evening he
said:
sour present predicament ought to con-
vince all our citizens that now source of
water su pply is inperatively necessary. OF
course, we cannot change it in two or three
weeks or in two or three months, but we can
within year. l understand that above our
tnfiuent pipe there are Is sewers from the
PittsDurg side emptying into the river.
There is also at least one sewer at Sharps-
burg. In 1854 the conditions were reversed.
Then Pittsburg's water was drawn from a
point in the river lower than ours. We are
in bad condition in regard to our water
supply. Our people can do only what all
the physicians with whom ! have talked
agree upon, boil all the water they use.
at has been suggested that We connect
temporarily with the Pittsburg water
supply, but they are short. They cannot
spare l2 600, 900 gallons a day. An eminent
doctor suggested to me that We use Il big
gas pipe line running from Beilevernon to
Pittsburg and draw our water from away up
the Monongahela. That is impracticable.
That big pipe, running up and down hill,
would burst If sufficient pressure were put
upon 1t to force water from Bellevernon to
this city. There is only one thing left for
us and that is to boil the water"