The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-06-21
Let us now consider the typhoid sta
tistics Of Sacramento during the past

1895 6 2 to 10000
1896 2 2-3 Of / TO 10000
1897 1 to 10000
Total, II years. .127
This gives an average of lis per an
mum, or to 10000. There have oc-
CURED IL deaths from typhoid fever
| during the first five months of the
present year, there were deaths in
May, and thus far in June there have
| been deaths. AS the typhoid fever
epidemic began in April of the present
year, we may safely estimate that dur
| ing the present outbreak We will have
/ an average death rate of per month.
This would give total of 90 deaths in
one year, or about 20 to the 10000 in
| habitants. This, it will be seen at a
| glance, is ten times the normal rate
as set forth in Dr. Kober's statistics.
| Where, let me ask, can be found more
notable instances of reckless disregard
| OF human life? A condition of affairs
which must proceed from criminal in
difference or culpable ignorance. John
W. HILL an engineer of repute residing
in Cincinnati, Ohio, referring to this
general subject says: TT may be a
mistake to assume that typhoid fever is
a water borne disease, and that the ty-
rect index to the quality Of the water
| supply. 1t may be a mistake to as
sumo that these statistics in London,
Berlin, Hamburg and Vienna are in
direct relation to water publication. If
so may we not also be mistaken in
assuming that knowledge is better than
| ignorance? That morality is better
than vice? That civilization is better
| than barbarism?"
We come now to deal with the ques-
| ton of escape from the dangers at
| tending water pollution. Fortunately
in seeking a satisfactory solution of
this all-important problem we have
passed beyond the speculative and ex-
perimental stage. There are recognized
to-day three sources of municipal water
| supply from which may be selected the
| one most available from an economic
| standpoint and best adapted to the To-
cality interested These are, mountain
springs, whose environment can be per-
fectly controlled; deep wells, and lake
or river water
The great superiority Of mountain
4 spring water over all other sources is
apparent, but unfortunately the ex-
pense of delivery through concealed
conduits of masonry or metal is, save
in rare instances, prohibitory. Port
| land, Oregon, is one Of a few cities
which enjoys such luxury. At enor-
| nous expense that city is now served
with mountain water conveyed a dis
| lance of twentythree miles through
/ pipes and conduits, with the result that
in 1897, the first year after introduce
ton of pure water, her death rate fell
from Is in 1896 to 6 per LOCO inhabi-
| tants in 1897. In the aggregate this
amounts to an annual saving of about
| 100 lives to that community.
| No plan which depends upon convey
| ing mountain water through exposed
bitches or conduits will receive the
sanction of reputable authority. The
conditions here involved are such that
possible pollution is an ever present
menace to the purity of the water; and
as the dangers from such exigencies are
unseen they cannot be efficiently
guarded against.
Where geological conditions are fav-
orable the deep we'll system has COM
paratively few Objectionable features.
In determining the availability Of well
water the conditions imposed are, first,
| absence Of an excess of mineral in
gradients. Second, an abundant and en-
4
logical formation as will preclude the
possibility of contamination by surface
water at all seasons of the year. With
few exceptions the volume of water OBJ
tainable from wells is SO limited as to
render them available only for cities
of the fourth or fifth class. Hence it
may be laid down as a general propo-
| sitiOn that lake or river sources must
| be selected in the vast majority Of
| cases. Here we are at once confronted
by two all important facts; first, that
we have to deal with water inevitably
polluted, and second, that it must be
purified by artificial means before it is
fit for domestic use.
/ My personal belief is that in the near
| future legislative bodies yielding to the
| dictates of common sense and decency
will provide by statute for the protec-
ton of water courses from pollution by
human excrement and sewage filth. The
/ initiative has already been taken by
the Ohio Legislature through a most
excellent enactment, which provides
that all sewerage systems and all water
supply enterprises, must, before adop-
| ton, be submitted to and approved by
the State Board of Health. In pursu-
ance Of this idea I find that Massachu-
sets also has upon it's statute books
an enactment. giving to the State Board
4 of Health supervision of inland waters
| with power to institute measures for
| the prevention of pollution from any
| source, and to require cities and towns
! to consult with the State Board before
the introduction Of water supplies and
sewerage systems Furthermore all pc
titions to the Legislature for authority
to introduce a system of water supply,
| drainage or sewerage shall be accom-
panied by a copy of the recommends
ton and advice of the State board
| thereon. In addition to the foregoing
| the Board of Health shall have super
| vision of all streams and ponds used
| by a city or town as sources of supply
with reference to their purity, together
with all springs, streams and water
courses tributary thereto.
| But for the present, municipalities
| must face the inevitable and deal with
| existing conditions. The conclusion is
| that public health can be conserved and
| frequent calamitous epidemics can be
| averted only by strict obedience to
sanitary laws and most liberal ex-
| penditure Of money.
In proof of the fact that the import
ance Of such measures are profoundly
realized by those in control of water
| supplies I beg to refer you to the re-
ports of the Louisville Water Com
1 pany. From such source we learn that
| during three years prior to August,
| 1897, this concern, a private corpora