The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1907-03-30

river from which to minister 20 the
needs of a great city. Mr.. Outwater
had certain definite theories to work
from. One of his premises was that
pure water does not exist in nature.
Any stream carries many substances
in solution. Water which is drunk
should not possess disagreeable
odor or color or be unpalatabIe. and
| 1t should not be too hard for washing
purposes or. boiling uses. IA river be-
comes in general positive menace to
health when there is an excessive dis
charge of human sewage into its fiuw.
and when flor any reason 1t carries
the germs of specific diseases. M
That means that, other things being
equal, river suffers from the people
| in its valley. Experience has siiowf,
that il the river is to be drawn upon
for domestic uses there should not he
at the outside population of more
than 800 inhabitants per square mile
of watershed. Even with as MANY as
this, of course, care and deceney in
the disposal of sewage should be in
sisted upon.
The pollution by sewage, which is
the danger attendant upon the use OF
most rivers, is easily explained in
chemical terms. Polluted water, ac-
lcording to the chemists analysis, sim
lply contains a lot of compounds of
nitrogen, the inert, lifeless gas which
| is so important a constituent of the
atmosphere. These compounds are of
animal origin and they afford the
pabulum on which disease germs fire.
quently feed. They may be appropri-
Eated by plants or by animal life in
the water, and thus rendered harmless.
If, on the other hand, they are not so
appropriated they may be swept down
to the mains of the great city, there
to bring disease to all those users OF
water whose powers of resistance is
not great enough to shake off the
effect of the toxins thus introduced
Into the system. Among the COM
pounds for which Mr., Outwater made
TESTS among the specimens of water
| from the entire watershed are free
ammonia. illuminated ammonia. MI
trites, nitrates and chlorine.
L Normal river water contains, of
course, a small percentage of each of
these; only when the proportion be-
comes excessive is the water to be
looked upon with suspicion or alarm
Chlorine, which is one of the constit-
uents of common salt, has to be looked
for with particularly attentive scru-
| tiny, for it's presence in excessive
quantities is an indication that too
many cities are pouring their refuse
| into the river. The Massachusetts
| state board of health has made a
definite statement to the effect that
twenty persons per square mile will
| add on an average one-tenth part per
million of chlorine to the water flow
| ing from such a district; but Mr.
Outwater does not believe, on the
basis of his studies, that such a math-
ematical ratio can be establishes; It'll
lis unquestionably true, however, that
| the presence of a certain amount of
chlorine in water shows it to be poll,
luted, but not just how much polluted.
Besides the specimens from a large
number of points in the Potomac vale
Hey a long series of analyses was
made of water taps in the city. Potol
mac water, like that of most streams
flowing through a clay belt, is very
muddy at times. Hence records were
kept for a whole year indicating the
days when the flow was clear, when
! slightly turbid, turbid or very turbid
The tap water was also subjected tol
| elaborate sanitary analyses. Curves
reveal the total of solids and of fixed
solids in the different months of the
lyear, the amounts of nitrogen as al
buminoid ammonia and of nitrogen as
| free ammonia, the required oxygen,1
and the relative hardness of the water
The condition of the water at various
periods is compared statistically with
generally recognized standards of
safety The analyses of examples
from wide geographical range, in
lcluding the streams that carry sewage
| from such cities as Frederick and
IHagerstown, give information as to
I, the sources of whatever pollution ex-
lists in the river as 1t tumbles over
Great Falls on the edge of the District,
| of Columbia.
| A chemical history, in brief, of the
water that hundreds of thousands of
Americans drink at the national capi-
+, tai has at last been written, and in
such way as to indicate where re-
forms of existing imperfectiens should
5be undertaken. 1t is "a practical study
which young investigator could
hardly have made in its present coma
pleteness without the assistance of
| f. w. Clarke, chief chemist, and M. o.
Leighton, photographer, of the United
States geological survey, to whom he
acknowledged especial Indebtedness.
In speaking of the possibilities for
| such work, as they are under discus
sion at this time when further endow-
ment of what is destined to be a great
national university is in progress
Dean Munroe, whose interest in the
application of science to practical
hygiene is of long standing, expresses
| the belief that there is a great number
| of similar subjects of immense im-
Iportance to humanity that. can better
be undertaken in Washington than
anywhere else in the world. One topic
which for some time he has been
aanxious to assign to gifted student
lis a chemical investigation of the
lrainfall to be conducted in co-opera-
+, ton with the authorities of the gov
eminent weather bureau. Most people
Ihave no idea of the conditions that
- f1,n alan,,ofnoI ontaanncffion IF