The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1910-06-30
The Care of the Drinking Water
4 Supply.

Health is the first importance in
all occupations, since it governs the
ability of the individual to do work.
The progressiveness of a community
is governed by it's healthfulness, and
this healthfulness is measured large
ly or indirectly by the purity of it's
drinking water. Almost our entire
rural population and the inhabitants
of majority or our small towns
get their supply of drinking water
from springs or from shallow wells.
1t is to call attention to the often i'm
portant surroundings of these sources
of drinking water that this article is
written.
The principal disease supposed to be
communicable through the drinking
water are typhoid fever, cholera,
| dysentery and other diarrhoeal ar
fections, cholera infantum, animal
parasitic diseases, enteric fevers and
scarlet fever. Of the diseases men
toned, typhoid fever, cholera, dys-
entery, cholera infantum and scar
let fever may also be carried by milk;
enteric fever and typhoid by flies;
and typhoid by raw oysters and raw
fruit. In order that the water supply
or any of the other agencies men-
toned may carry these diseases, 1T is
first necessary for them TO become in
fected with the specific infection
which communicates the disease: The
infection of all the sources mention
ed, except mosquitoes, is derived from
the ejecta of a patient suffering from
the disease.
It is a fact proven by statistics
that the water-borne diseases begin
to increase in July and are at their
maximum during August and Sep
tember, decreasing in October.
Ideal conditions for the spring are
that it's watershed is uninhabited,
that the watershed does not contain
Stables, barnyards, pig pens, privies,
cesspools or cemeteries; and it should
not be traversed by railroads nor
highways fog all of these make infec-
ton possible. The freedom from all
of these objections is not always OBJ
tainable. The spring should be
ditched around in such way as to
carry off all of the surface water,
both during a downpour Of rain and
from ponded areas, and never allow
it to be overflowed and filled with
filth or trash of any kind. The sur
roundings must be scrupulously clean.
The spring itself should be walled
with rock and covered to prevent
trash from falling into it.
Too many of our wells are located
in the barnyard, in order that water
may be convenient for the stock,
regardless of sanitary conditions.
The source of the drinking water for
the family should be removed from
any such possible danger Of infec-
ton. The well should be located on
a well-drained area, remote from
pig pens, privies, cesspools, ceme-
teries or drains, and should be ce-
mented from the edge outward to the
distance of several feet. Above the
surface of this cement, a tight box
should be built and a tight-fitting
cover provided, if buckets are used.
The pump is much to be preferred to
the bucket because it lessons the
danger of trash falling into the well.
All waste water should be drained off
and no water allowed to spill back
into the we'll. No puddles should be
allowed to form nearby in which hogs
might wallow. The hog is a great
gatherer of filth, and by wallowing
in a puddle which drains into well
there is great danger Of infection.
Deep wells, properly protected to
prevent an inflow of surface water
at the top, are to be preferred to
either shallow wells or springs, es-
pecially in the southern part Of this
State.
| T. E. KEITT,
Chemist S. C. Experiment Station.
Bruce-Berry Nuptials.