Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-01
tn. Repu.e of Potomac Water.

Unfortunately for the good repute of the
sanitary conditions of Washington. an i'm
preston has gone abroad that the murky
water occasionally supplied to those users
who are not provided with house filters
Is deIeterious to the health. Newspapers
published at distance from the capital
periodically contain insinuating references
to the turbid water, as though il were the
normal instead of the unusual condition of
the supply. They allege many frightful
things about the water, condemning it as
bacteria-laden, as death-dealing and as foul
to both eye and nose. Those who live here
and have attended at all closely to the
matter know that these charges are broadly
untrue. but the fact remains that the repu-
tation of Washington as a healthy COM
munity is sadly injured at times by these
mis-statements. that travel much further
than do their corrections.
The misfortune is that by means of this
continuous iteration of unpleasant allega-
tions the capital city has been indicted as
an unwholesome community, and would-be
residents frightened off in numbers
that can only be imagined. In all other
respects-and in truth in this one-Wash-
ington is an ideal residence city. 1t is so
located and so governed. and its affairs are
many hundreds annually. who seek COM
Portable quarters during the winter the
spring. the autumn, and even the summer.
Many of these remain throughout the year
when once they have enjoyed the benefits
and the conveniences of the capital. The
hope of all loyal Westinghouse is that
this process of accommodating substantial
residents will not be interfered with by the
lying reports about the city's health that
are circulated SO persistently whether by
design or by inadvertance cannot be ascer-
tanned.
1t is within the power of Congress to re-
move the chief cause of these ISLANDERS.
The color of the water. that has done so
much to spread a belief in the unwhoie-
someness of the supply, can be remedied
only by filtration. That process will at the
same time make certain the security of
the water users from disease such might
be communicated by the drinking water.
The tendency of things is Enthusiastically
toward filtration. which is recommended
by competent authorities. 1t is easy to
foresee that within very few years that
improvement will be provided for by Con-
Gress. and 1t is only wise now for the Dis
trict to prepare itself to meet its share of
the expense of installing an adequate fl
tration equipment. The cost will be heavy,
but the District will cheerfully pay Its
proportionate share. All IL asks now Is
that 1t be not deprived of its main source
OF revenue for this purpose. The surplus
water rent revenue now amounts to about
$4,000 a year and this sum would serve
neatly for the purpose of liquidating what
ever debt might be incurred by the install
lation of filter beds. 1t Is now proposed,
however, TO take this surplus for at least
twelve years and to pay for water-meter
installation. the necessity for which has
never been demonstrated, and the success
or failure of which can only be accurately
determined at the end of the installation
period Of twelve years
AS between the two needs, that Of fill
tration is so immeasurably more pressing
than that of metering that the House of
Representatives should not hesitate a mo-
ment in striking from the District bill the
item that provides for the gradual meter
ing of all the domestic users of the Dis
trtct. Metering win not help the individual
members of Congress in their distress over
the Potomac water supply in the least. Fill
trauon will give them clear, pure water,
and al the same cost.