The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-06-02
PURE WATER FOR The PEOPLE.
The Polluted Pawtuxet and Fill
tration.
ARTICLE NO. 8.

anosset HiI. II forms part of
| Engineer 6hedd's report ia 1Sd8. and
In this report page -. civ
Doc. No. 18, 1608-9) YOU will hnd
this extraordinary statement. ain
state OF solution; the matter Ito " II. he
sewerage Of Londony In : state Of diffu-
sion, and thus the air and this fetid
nader arc IN the verv condition
| TO combine toset her and form an innoK-
ious compouqd; II requires time and
with very extraordinary rspidity-bv
the time the water has passed six or
| eight miles (Pettaconsett a one and a half
miles from the Pontiac RIeachery works)
according to the wind, and other circum-
stances, yon hayes complete decomposi-
Sheed quoted these things from the testk
mony OF one Dr. A. &. TayIor before
committee OF Parliament. But this was
about 1850, and DIR. TAYLOR waa a witness
for one OF tho water companies then
Opposing the puri6cstion ~ the or. cn-
don waters. Such stuff was not frue
then, and it IL equally false now In the
light OF the present state of knowledge
Mr.. Shcdd would never write his name
under 1t. Nevertheless, that was the
slogan. was taught to believe it,
you were taught to believe IT,
everybody was taught TO believe
It; only DIR. Snow, the then superintend-
ont Of health, reduced the running dis-
tance to three miles, and didn't Count
wind. When the plant came to be put
''as n moral necessity to filter the water
which 1t was the duty of the Commission
ers to introduce, - and under tine lend Of
Engineer Shedd the natural filter
bed at Pettaconsett was ordered 10
be constructed; and IL was
s42, 900, when IL was discovered over atbat Otus tbs
sand (of which the bank of the river was
composed) was finer than the borings
indicated, and therefore that the
water runs through It less rapidly
than was expected.b In plain EngIish Il
wasa fiat failures: it would not sunnIv
water, and it had 70 be Abandoned. ffRS fRiSs
was in 1874, and SO for all these wears the
gentle Pawtuxet has fiowed direcfIv info
our houses with all its aduIterated nasti-
ness.
Ideas M rodav
At this point we recur for a moment TO
the report OF the State board Of health for
1891 which we have before referred to
'.The purpose Is to show the great change
during the last few wars In fhe
the subject pafticuisr attention "s ~ sh shas
constitutes pollution and especially the
-
10 neaith; time was when the mineral
~ ~Sons.nuens were regarded the
maximum usnscr; the presence OF
cniorne, tne nnrogen compounds
~ anu o.ner inorfanac acsuDstsnces IN solution |
pcyonu acertsin amount. And the same
ana the waters OF which they |
.ae eom mPonons parts, are thereby |
rendered unnt ior domestic use. |
D,eeolposeu a,s organic matter was
slso regaloeo a. possessing properties
tv,e'etious t;,,,a thn 70 nealtn. Az the present
water ior drinking are the infinitesimal
oITanisIns 5a known as disease germs.
Lnat ~ yPnoia ievef mas had lts origin in |
wavr po,su.eu aa py .ns intestlnal excretion
az sypnSio iuser Pa.en.s scarcely 10 be
usPuteu, onIoitunateiy no method OF
compieteiy eliminating tncse germs from
,arge Doo,es ol water - now known. Butno
,',aS ps.u.s uSsse germs can pe
lnaue ~ tapsoiuoeiyl safe ior drinking ex.
cep' ~ tI neat; Uaumery organic matter
can pe nl.ereu OUT oi volumes OF water,
"a - s;n,,a 90 ~ peclp..a.eu Dy harmless
ute particles Oh which become entangled
Win Win - ins = ooAsuiA'eo Precipitant ana falls
A Corm.n p-oooa.n.
e'10A"
We now come to the most striking IL
'Nots .saoa Va thC SkSdb uSo VI ultTatlon
which modern investigation affords. The
journal of the 30th of jan
nary. 1883, published an interview with
German civil engineer, w. Keummel, on
.he condition OF the Pawtuxet tier. Mr..
keummel Is chief engineer of the water
works at Altoona, German city, with
l43sOOO Inhabitants, on the banks of
She river Elbe, and taking its
water supply from that stream. 1t is
!, Tree seaport OF Prussia, little below
hamburg; from this fact you may OBJ
'ein some comparison with the Elbe
n the matter OF volume at the point
where the Altoona water is taken and our
oetlt Pawtuxet, at Pettaconsctt. This
interview with Mr.. Keummel has so very
iirect q bearing upon the conditions
which at this moment surround US, that
Is well worth examination.
Inc journal said "this German engi-
'eer's opinion OF the city's water supply
merely corrobcrates what has been gene
ally accepted as fact, namely, that
he Pawtuxet furnishes as good
S0Ief hn