The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-06-01

| OF Wnich are unfit for drinking pur.
poses" (Report of State Board OF Health
1901, 7. iao:) These four samples came re-
spectively in the order above given. from
the dam OF the Spring Lake reservoir abov.
fiskville; the Hope railroad station,
ihteriaken Flume; and at the bridge
below lnterlaken, at the river side. The
localities whence these samples came, dc
not appear in the State Board report, nor
ala the chemists possess them, but they
| were given to the writer by DIR. Fisher
the secretary.of the Board.
Now then Gentlemen
Would you drink such Water as
These Chemists Found,
Or, would you FILTER IL before you
Drank?
The News has now brought this his
tory, OF this first and last great effort. 10
OBTAIN better, purer water for the people
OF providence, down TO the summer of
1893.
The Advance Clubs Committee.
The cholera menaced US from Europe.
and the little periodical, Book Notes,
again came TO the question; and other
papers and individuals assisted. A body
OF gentlemen, the Advance Club of this
city, sent out at their own cost a COM
mittee of their members 10 examine and
IT.
These gentlemen who knew exactly
what they were about reported that "they
find the water in the central lower part OF
the city turbid, brownish in color, has
slightly unpleasant taste, and after stand
ing short time has an unpleasant odor;
the deposit though small is shiny
and dirty; 1t contains no earthly
matter; when exposed to the ordi-
nary summer temperature it smells foul
ana fetid. The Investigation
made by your committee into the water
of the Pawtuxet has produced the con-
viction that this water Is unfit for either
man or beast" (Report page A. :.
The progress OF science has carried US
beyond mere chemical analysis. We have
learned that waters contain bacteria.
bactlli, microbes and fungi not dis
covered by chemical analysis, but most
potent for good, or i'll 10 those who drink
II, the water OF the Pawtuxet may not be
IN Its normal condition dangerously
polluted, but 1t is sufficiently polluted TO
produce lowered state OF the system
'eyorable to typhoid fever and other spe-
cific contagion. The water as
taken from the Pawtuxet river may
with fairness be described as
little short of diluted sewage. IL is not fit
FOR drinking water. The health and the
lives OF hundred and fifty thousand
tl5000O people of this city, the greater
portion OF them workers, and earners,
who cannot buy spring water, are daily
by using it.'
Such is the utterance of body compris-
ing among them, some of the wisest and
best men in Providence. They urge new
source of supply. This may sometime
come, but in the meantime, will the gen.
tlemen OF the City Council refuse to US the
slight boon--filtration.
No sooner was this entirely unselfsh
report to the Advance Club made public
than 1t was assailed by The Evening
Telegram without sense or reason, iugt as
The Telegram has assailed every real move
ment for the publication of these waters.
and just as IL now would prevent the fill
tration Of the waters il it could do so.
TIE NEWS republished the Advance
Club Map and said: "The vileness OF the
,ity's present water supply lends great
,fiicial summary OF the report upon the
subject which has been prepared by a
OF the Advance Club OF
his city. The Advance Clubs plan is
veil worth consideration. IL is published |
oday not through the assistance of any |
member OF the club, and with no purpose
% embarrass the committee, but TO pre- /
'ent the plan being misjudged from a |
ldicuious Misrepresentation OF IL which /
las appeared in an alleged newspaper /
vidently through breach OF faith"
The City Council Acts.
These severe onslaughts upon terrible
'ublic grievance, made solely by individu-
Is, aroused at last the City Council TO
ction,. and joint committee was ap-
ointed to examine and report upon the
natter. Their report was presented i'm
annary, 1893; IL found four classes of
impurities in the water. Two OF these
lasses were found dangerous, to-wit: the
hird Matter in solution, or in suspen-
ion, giving of bad odors aud affecting
he taste OF the water, largely arising
-om organic matter and the pro.
ucts of its decomposition i'm the
ater, both disagreea5le and unwhole-
,me in character, ana furnish
~ food for bacteria and disease germs.
nd the fourth, Bacteria and other
icro-or Sfnisms the results or accom-
animents OF the decomposition OF
sgetable or animal matter and par
cularlv of sewage emptied into the
ream, in large proportion of harmless
lture, but also liable to include tho
readed baccilli Vf typhoid, diphtheria.
lolcra and other germ-p produced dis
ses." And the committee continued:
'Thc puridcation % the water SUNNY ,eo,,v,.
e substantal removal Of each of the above classes
,pGfss Ho IN. hs sTea,ss =; soures o.
he admission OF sewage into the ~ osm bv The
iu.al or artificial drainage along IT, b inks
lhe com miitee having taken into account fhe
ndOus character % the process of pnridcattan
ally came 10 the conclusion that from vario.. | d.
ases there must of necessity be introduced int. /
rive. more pollution than any care by the city i
thorities can prevent Two courses oniy | i
rcfore, are open 90 the city | Il
first-To change the present plant and take our /
.rly above the sources of pollution.
second-To emove the polluting matter by m. | /
ton other device" "