Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-12
POTOMAC POLLUTED
Mr.. Marshall Q. Leighton S
Statement to Civic Center.
SOURCE OF ILL HEALTH
CONDITION OF WATER SUPPLY
DISCUSSED AT LENGTH.
Addresses by Engineer Allen Hazen,
Commissioner mcfarland and
Major Sylvester.
SOURCE OF ILL HEALTH

'.The Potomac is typically American
stream, and. there are stretches of the
Potomac that may be said to be synony-
nous with all that is filthy and unhealth-
full These are the facts. What are you
going to do about it?" This impressive
warning was sounded last evening by Mr..
Marshall o. Leighton, chief of the bureau
of hydro-economics, United States geo.
logical survey, at a meeting of the civic
center held at the Public Library. Mr..
Leighton, who has made an exhaustive
study of the Potomac, delivered the princi-
pal address of the evening, and an audi
ence of ladies and gentlemen interested in
the welfare of the city listened carefully
to his severe arraignment. Commissioner
mcfarland was there as presiding officer
and he was as much impressed as any one
by Mr. Leighton's remarks. 1t was a serd-
Gus problem that Mr.. Leighton discussed
and 1t is not improbable that as a direct
result of the meeting some steps will be
taken TO better protect the sources of
Washngtons water supply.
"All water coming from a well-inhabited
section is bound to be polluted TO some eX
tent, continued Mr.. Leighton. The fill
tiers are great advantages in protecting the
health of a city, but filters are net infai-
lble; they are not the real remedy. With
out the filters a malicious tramp; afflicted
with typhoid in its worst form, could go to
one of the streams tributary to the Po-
tomac, and PROSTATE this entire city. Fill
tiers are expensive, but their cost is the
price that society must pay for the adj
vantageS which II receives through the con-
gregaton of large numbers of persons in
one locality. There is no trouble getting
good water in the country. Every farm has
Its spring or its we'll or its brooklet But
the cities must depend on the rivers or
streams. If we could go 100 miles into the
hpti1 {y,,r,,
bring the water to Washington in a gigan-
tic conduit, the problem of pure water
would be almost solved. But this would be
entirely too expensive. That is too big
will come, l believe. when society will say
that this price would have been cheap.
1880 tons of coal in the Brooklyn navy
The Present Situation.
But we are face to face with the PROPOSE
ton that we have to get our water from
the Potomac, and that the Potomac Is pol
luted. 1t is polluted by industrial combina-
lions, as Well as by animal matter from the
human habitat ions along the river. The
pollution is continuous and indscriminate
and unless something is done now to curb
these evils, your children will suffer unto
the third and fourth generations-and aye,
perhaps unto the thirtieth and fortieth gen
erations.
In my work I have been principally in
tefested IN the preservation OF the people,
whom L consider the greatest resource of a
country. A human being has a pecuniary
value in the social combination and |
want to see laws passed that will abso-
lutely prevent pollution, even If one or two
individual industries must suffer. The
Potomac is a typically American stream,
and all that have said about pollution ap-
plies here. There are stretches of the
Potomac that may be said to be synony-
nous with all that is filthy and unhealth-
full. These are the facts. What are you
going to do about it? 1 think that is a
pertinent question