The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1908-06-23
Roii the Water.

On the ninth of this month DR.. Richar'
II Parsons, health officer of the township
sent a sample of the town water to tn
State Chemist for analysis, and received {
report that showed pollution but left hin
somewhat in the dark with reference t.
the danger of the pollution. As he wai
about to start on his European trip hs
wrote to the State Board of Health anc
asked for full report that he might give
the people information on the subject
The reply he received was as follows:
Trenton, June 16, 1908.
R. II. Parsons, M. D., Health Officer,
Mount Holly, N. j.
Dear Doctor-Your letter of June is,
addressed to the Secretary of the State
Board of Health has been referred to me
! for further reply. An examination of the
records on file in this office of results of
analyses of Mount Holly water shows that
the raw water of the Mount Holly creek
is undoubtedly polluted. Most of the
samples of filtered water are free from
/ Colon bacilli, which indicates that filters
may ordinarily be relied upon to remove
the pathogenic organism from the water.
The sample mentioned In your letter,
however, contains Colon bacilli, which
indicates that at the time this sample was
collected the filtration was not sufficiently
perfect to remove all intestinal bacteria
from the water. In my opinion the water
supplied to the citizens of Mount Holly is
usually safe for domestic use, but if you
have any reason to believe that typhoid
fever exists on the water shed of the
/ Rancocas 1t might be well 10 advise that
| 4 l.. L~41 r<-t. IL II
filtered before it reaches the consumers.
Very truly yours,
V. B. FitzRandolph,
Director.
In view of the above the Board of
Health advises that drinking water be
boiled especially that taken from wells,
for it must be borne In mind that all the
householders In this town do not use the
water supplied by the water company.
According to the last census In this state
there were 1925 dwellings and 1897 families
In Mount Holly. The water company's
records show that water is furnished to
$50 buildings. This includes stores, Of
fees and dwellings, while the census
quoted showed the number of dwellings
only, so it will be seen that there are a
number of dwellings that must use pump
water. On the subject of filtration the
Philadelphia Ledger makes these comments:
''If the decrease of typhoid fever cases
in Philadelphia, as compared with the
record of a year ago, were an isolated fact
there would be no particular significance
in the figures just made public by the
Bureau of Health; but as they bear an
immediate relation to the progress being
area, they assume an immense Importance
to Philadelphia. They prove the efficacy
of filtration beyond the shadow of a
doubt. Filtration is not the sole proven
tive measure that needs to be taken, but
it is the most vital, and the sewage prob
lem will be the next great one to receive
attention"
Many of the cases that have occurred in
Mount Holly have been traced directly to
the use of well water, while in other
instances it has been shown that the suf
ferers have been frequent visitors to other
places Where typhoid fever has been
much worse than in Mount Holly and has
been caused entirely by the impure water
at those places.
The water company is looking into the
matter of the pollution Of the water shed,
and will use every endeavor to have re-
moved every condition that might posi-
bly, cause impurities to reach the water
they supply. In the meantime drinking
water should be boiled and natural ice
should not.be put in it after boiling, as
germsIare not killed by freezing. Put the
boiled water in bottles and place the bot
ties on the ice.
The report on the Mount Holly water
has given the sensational correspondent
his chance to get in stories with big head
lines without regard for the truth. The
Burlington Enterprise, which is fighting a |
plant in that city, produces one
of these STARTERS" The first statement
is that signs, "boil your water, are being
posted all over town, and further states |
that ''the streets are placarded with these
signs" All of which is without the
slightest foundation. the only basis for
such an idea being in mind that is pos
sibly excited by the use of something else |
than water. Another statement by this |
correspondent is that the report of the
state chemist shows the water ''to be
literally swarming with colon bacilli, |
which cause the fever" The letter print
ed above shows how near the truth this is. |
Again, with reference to the removal of
98% of the bacteria, the examination of
the raw water and that filtered shows that
the plant here removes 909S of the
bacteria.
Another thing that should be taken into
is that typhoid bacilli and
colon bacilli are apt to be COMPOUNDED and
that the latter Is not necessarily typhoid. |
The city correspondent makes this state
ment: "The filter was not put in because
water, but because at certain times several |
sand pits were worked above the town,
the water and causing it to be
filled with fine grit, which was exceeding |
ly disagreeable."
To show how little the writer of that |
item knows about his subject we have
merely to refer to the files of the local
papers of September, 1900, long before
the sand pits were sending sand into the
creek. Examination will show that a |
meeting of citizens was held, the object |
of which was to have the water company |
furnish better water or have a new COM
pany formed. The statement was made
that the water had bad taste and odor
and there was room for the fear that |
disease might be brought on. The next
week DR.. Hunt, Of the State Board, made |
an inspection of the creek and reported
that there was some sewage contamination,
and that the water was unfit for drinking
purposes. On the 9th of October, 1900,
the Board of Education notified the water
company that the we'll on the school,
grounds had been condemned and the
water supplied by the company had been
declared unfit for drinking purposes and
asked "what was going to be done. "
Following this, within week of this
communication, the water company be
gan to experiment with an artesian well,
and it took about two months to sink
SO, 500 without any good results, and in
February, 1902, the contract for filter
was awarded.
This appears to be long explanation
but it shows how easy 1t is for person to
sit down and draw on his imagination for
scare-head item without regard to facts
or truth. Several physicians have already
announced that the report from the State
Board does not necessarily mean that
| tharo ora tunhnid germs In the water but