The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1904-09-05
RIVER POLLUTION.

II 4
Condition Of the Naugatuck Said to be
Worse This Summer Than Ever Be-
fore.
Judging from complaints from Derby,
the Naugatuck river is Of the kind
(which, unlike the theoretical river, does
not purify itself every two or three
miles. In fact, it would not be very
surprising if some of the sweet per-
fumes laid to Ansonia's door were
waited from stuff that comes from as
far away as Naugatuck and Water
bury. The menace is none the less dam
gerous to health because fioated from
afar, however, and the more frequently
the public press takes cognizance of
such conditions the sooner are they
likely to be remedied. The time thrown
Sewage high and dry on the Naugatuck
river Is necessity-an expensive one
and never has that stream been more
dangerously filled with filth than this
year The few heavy rains which have
raised the river above its usual height
/ have at the same removal of sewage
from the Naugatuck banks to the. mem
ace of health and the nuisance of the
public. 1t will probably be a long day
before all sewage is removed from the
Naugatuck, but the delay will be due
\ to lack Of money rather than a lack of
retaliation of the great benefit to be de-
rived from such an improvement.
\ 1t is a question whether the truly
Economical thing is being done at the
present time in thus allowing sewage to
run to waste instead Of making use of
lit in the work OF cultivating untitled
land At the present time the river is
polluted to an extent which forbids its
luse for some kinds of manufacturing
purposes, which makes 1t impossible
for fish Of any kind to live within it's
lwaters and which causes even the
lbullfrog to turn up his nose and refuse
to sing. To what extent this river Is
responsible for malaria and other dis
eases in this vicinity Will never be
known. There is no way of tracing dis
lease directly to this source, and it Is
ltrue that both Ansonia and Derby and
Iother places along the Naugatuck have
been singularly fortunate in the num-
iber and size Of disease epidemics. That
they have escaped is more their good
luck than because any extra precau-
itions have been taken In the way of
providing means of sewage disposal or
garbage remavaL
Not all the danger is in the river, but
Lit one could ascertain just how much
Illness this river Is responsible for, it
might also be possible to tell which is
1.-THE cheaper, to continue to use it for a
common sewer or provide other means
flor sewage disposal. Sickness is ex-
lpensive, and an "ounce Of prevention Is
worth q ton Of cure" but the ton Of
lcure necessary to rid the Naugatuck Of
Its curse makes taxpayers tremble eve
Try time II is mentioned Consideration
for taxpayers and the fact that they
lare already tottering under about all
Ithey can stand makes the cautious man
hesitate to say very much about con-
EDITION which stinketh for itself and
(which is too evident to every rlostriI to
lever permitit to be forgotten for any
considerable length of time. Still, there
are none so oblivious as those who
won't smell, none so prone to put up
with the old conditions as those who
cannot afford to pay for new ones. AS
regards the Naugatuck, it is about time
Ito ask, not Can we afford to rid it of
lflth?' but "Can we afford to let it go
las 1t is ?''--Ansonia Sentinel.