The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-02-28
THE WATER /
We DRINK
Great Danger From 1t
UnhItered. {
SOME RECENT EPIDEMC CS
Diseases That Are Caused by Impure
Water Supply--Success Of
FiItering Plants. g


The cholera epidemic of 1895 and the
enormous death rate since from malig-
nant fevers are facts which show the
need of filtration plants for the city
reservoirs. In the cholera epidemic 1t
Is well-known fact that the bSak of
the cases came from the drinking of
impure water and even some of ,ssthe
rice fields near town became infected,
as was proved by cultures made there
from at the suggestion of DIR. Wood. :
There was no doubt among the medi-
cal fraternity that the disease was
largely spread through infected. water.
This would have been avoided hal the
tcity been prepared to filter Its. sgater.
The general argument for filtefs-4 ap-
pears in the following New York let
ter: ~
NEW YORK, Feb. 15.-Modkrn sci
ence by an array of facts and figures
has shown conc4usively that uRfiltered
water is unfit to drink. Thisknowl-
edge has been gained by yeaEH. Of pa
ttient research and obserysti an, and a
close study CT typhoid fever and cllol-
era epidemics, those water r-born
plaques" which have visited various
parts of the world: Nearly every epi-
demie Of cholera or typhoid fever in
modern times has been caused directly
by bad drinking water. For instance,
to this fact were traced the epidemics
which swept over Lausen, Switzerland,
in 1872; Caterham, England, in 1879;
Plymouth, Pa, 1885; Zurich, Switzer-
land. 1884; Spring Water, N. Y, in
1889; Lowell, Mass, 1890; st. Louis,
Mo-, 1892; Elmira, N. Y, 1896; Denver.
COL, 1896; Elizabeth, N. j., 1895; Stam-
ford, Conn.,, 1895; San Francisco, and
many other places, no less than $4,000
deaths in the United States in one
year having been induced by typhoid
fever, resulting from the use of unfii-
| tered drinking water.
Hamburg, Germany, was devastated
by cholera in 1892, 1920 cases occur
ring between August 16 and November
II, there being S,605 deaths-the NOR
taiity reaching the shocking rate of
more than so per cent per 10000 inhab-
ltants. This epidemic furnishes pow
erfui and unanswerable argument in
favor of filtration. The CITY of Ham
Durg is made up practically of three
cities-Hamburg proper. which had a
population in 1892 of GAO, 400; Altona,
population $4,000, and Wandsbeck,
population 10000.
AT the time of this epidemic Ham
burg took its water from the E,be riv-
er without filtration, while Wandsbeck
and Altoona filtered their water supply.
Or. Koch, in reporting on this epi-
demlc. brought out the fact that while
IN Hamburg the death rate per 10000
inhabitants was 134.4, the rates in AL
tona and Wandsbeck were only % and
70 respectively. He even proved that
on one street between Hamburg and
Atona typhoid ragged in the houses
supp led by Hamburg unfiltered water,
whlle those houses using Altoona FL
tered water were free from disease.
The Microbes in Water.
According to the chemist Reinsch,
ordinary unf.tered water has 36,320 mi
crobes to the cubic centimetre, a cent?
metre being, roughly, about sixteen
drops; whereas, at Hudson, n. Y, it
was ascertained that by filtration 1896
per cent Of bacteria was removed by
filtration. DR.. Percy Frankland re-
ports as the results of three years ex-
Iperiment in London that filtration re-
moved 97.6 per cent of bacteria. At
Stuttgart, Germany, unflltered water
lcontained S942 meteorological crgan'
lsms to a certain quantity, while after
n.tration 1t only contained Is organ-
isms, the remaining percentage being
but OH. DR.. Koch demonstrated that a
well-hltered drinking water should con-
tain less than 100 germs per cubic CEN
timetre, no matter how many microbes
it might have had prior to the fltra-
tion process. Before filtration Of water
at Munich the typhoid mortality was
25.4 per cent annually; after filtration
it was reduced to 81 per cent.
Some Significant Statistics.
Both the English and German laws
require that all water supplied to cit
les must be filtered. A ta5ulated list
of half dozen European cities which
filter their water, contrasted with as
many American cities which do not