The weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 1910-02-19
TECAE POLLUTION.

'IOllc dIlu w k'tCk lltIIIctld
Measures. The T. ID. Re
port Of the Meeting.
No conclusion was arrived at by
the conference which met at til,
Office OF the State Board Of Ilealtl
yesterday to devise means to pre-
vent the pollution Of the Bayou
Teche waters. 1t was decided
however, that for year careful
investigation should be conducted
Samples Of the water will be TAX
en- at various points in the stream
about every ten miles, from the
source of the bayou to its mouth
1t was also Brought out that anne
lioration, if not a solution Of the
difficulty, may be arrived at il
Congress approves plans now be
ing prepared by the United States
engineers TO open Bayou Courta
bleu 80 that it will discharge its
waters into Bayou Teche Col.
Lansing Beach Of the United
States engineers, who was present
at the conference as a member,
stated that his office was now al
work on preliminary records in
connection with this proposed
plan, but that an act Of Congress
would be necessary before it could
be done.
The trouble complained Of is OF
two characters At certain sea
sons Of the year there IL disa-
greeabIe stencil that arises from
the bayou and to the killing of
lish, and il is further declared
that the waters of the bayou are
impure. and when used for drink
ing purposes during dry seasons
have caused great amount of
sickness in the parishes through
which they flow. DIR. }. "A. EstO
pinal, in his report to the State
Board Of Health, declared that
while some sugar rctinerirs had
changed the method of disposing
of the water used in their clarifi
ers, pans and double clftc4s,
many of them were still ,:ischarg
ing water INTO the bayou. which
lmprpgnatel the water OF the
stream with muriatic acid and
caustic potash, which killed the
fish and vegetation. Further tifn
this, the water in circulating
through the pans and being re
turned to tire bayou loses lts vi
tallty and often flows iE warm
On account of the low water il
the bayou it was necessary tor The
water to be returned to the bayou
lie also reported that in st. Mar
tin, Iberia and St. Mary the sew
erage from thirteen towns, aggre
eating $1,000 Inhabitants, found
lis way into the bayou, and in lbe
ria alone, from 800 to TOO cases o'
typhoid fever Fad been reported
yearly. Mr.. Godchaux declared
that the use of acid in his refine
ries was so small az to be insult
clent to affect the waters. A. !
Gonsoulin reported that the dis
charge from his refinery was pump
cd out to a dry field, and Ed
win Sampson declared the refuse
from his refinery did not get int
the bayou. These 'hree lnen rep
resented the refiners'- side Of The
question. Col. Beach suggested
that cleaning hyaciDths out OF th'
bayou during low water had some
thing to do with the trouble
State Chemist George b. Taylo
submitted several samples of The
water, aud reports Of investiga
tions made in streams in France,
Germany. Russia and other for
eign countries. Col. Reach offer
ed the services of his forces ant
also of the government boat TO
procuring the samples Of water e
lie taken. Mr.. GOdchaux Offered
the services of his chemists to al
| sist the committee at any time.
It was finally decided that th
matter be placed in the hands OF
subcommittee, which will handl
the Investigations. The subcom
mittee will make q report to tn
conference, which resolved itsel
,n,o a committee Of the whole, o