Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1910-06-15
PROTECT WATER SUPPLY.
Timely Article Upon the Infec-
ton of Drinking Water By
Professor of Clemson
College. \

Health is of first importance in
all occupations, since it governs the
ability of the individual to do work
The progressiveness OF communi
ty is governed by its healthfulness
and this healthfulness is measured
largely, directly or indirectly, by
the purity of its drinking water
Almost our entire rural population
and the inhabitants ola majority
of our small towns get their supply
of drinking water from springs OF
from shallow wells. 1t is TO CAL at,
tention TO the often impro per sur.
roundings of these sources of drink
ing water that this article is writ
| ten.
The principal diseases supposed
to be communicable through the
drinking water are typhoid fever,
cholera, dysentery and other diar-
rhoeal affections, cholera infantum,
animal parasitic diseases, enteric
fevers and scarlet fever. Of the dis
eases mentioned, typhoid fever,
cholera, dysentery, cholera infan-
tum and scarlet 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 mentioned may carry
these diseases it is first necessary
for them to become infected with
the specific Infection which commu-
nicates the disease. The infection of
all of the sources mentioned except
mosquitoes, is derived from the
eiecta of a patient suffering from the
disease.
1t is 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.
The Spring.
The ideal conditions for the
spring are that its watershed is un-
Inhabited, that the watershed does
rot cnntain-stahles- harnYards. MIC
pens, privies, scesspools or cemeter-'
les; and it should not be traverscd
by railroads nor highways, for all
of these make infection possible.
The freedom from all of these OBJ
jections is not always obtainable.
The spring should be ditched
around in such a way as to carry off
all of the surface water, both dur
ing a downpour, of rain and from
ponded areas, and never allow it to
be overhowed and filled with filth
or trash of any kind. The surround
ings must be scrupulously clean.
The spring itself should be walled
with rock and covered to prevent
trash from falling into it.
The Well.
Too many of our wells are locat-
ed in the barnyard, in order that
water may be convenient for the
stock, regardless of sanitary condi-
tions. The source of the drinking
water for the family should be re-
moved from any such possible dan
ger of infection. The we'll should
5e located on well drained area,
remote from barns, pig pens, privies,
cesspools, cemeteries or drains and
should be cemented from the edge
outward to the distance of several
feet. Above the surface of this ce-
ment, a tight box should be built
and tight fitting cover provided,
if buckets are used. The pump is
much preferred to the bucket be-
cause it lessons the danger of trash
falling into the we'll. All waste wa
ter 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 great
gatherer of filth, and by wallow-
ing in a puddle which drains into a
we'll, there is great danger of infec-
tion.
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.
. 7. E. Keitt,
Chemist S. c. Experiment Station.
Easv Money!.