Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1910-12-14

distilled water is not healthy bpv
erage owing to its great solvent prop
critics, but its use among large bodies
of men in the navy without i'll effect
would indicate that this belief is
groundless. Possibly the drinking of
very large quantities of distilled water
might impOverish the system. but as
between distilled water and impure
water contaminated by disease germs
there should be no hesitancy in choos
ing the former.
The principal diseases that are trans
mitted by water are typhoid fever,
cholera, diarrhea and dysentery. All
these diseases are absolutely unneces-
sary and preventable. If fraction of
the time, money and thought that is
expended in windy politics and so
called craftsmanship were exerted in
behalf Of pure air and pure water,
many of our social and political evils
would disappear simultaneously with
the stamping out of preventable dis
eases
How to Get Pure Water.
One golden maxim we can always
keep in mind for our protection against
water borne disease: when in doubt.
boil
Boiled water is fat and unpalatable,
but it is better than a sparkling germ
laden conveyer of disease. But an eff
fort should always be made to secure
a source of pure water supply and
keep it pure.
The appearance of typhoid fever
should call for rigid investigation.
1t is not enough for water to be pure
at its source; rigid police system
should be maintained to prevent con-
termination from sewage within a wide
range of territory adjacent to reser-
votr. river or lake from which the wa
ter is obtained. a proper filtration
plant is also advisable, and here expert
advice and engineering skill will prove
cheap in the long run.
On farms and places disconnected
from a general water supply the mat
tes is under the immediate control OF
the householder.
/ If one cannot afford an artesian well
at least a deep we'll should be sunk
| and rigid precautiOn taken against con
tamination from household sewage
! The most horrible and uncivilized con
dition that can possibly exist is shall
low surface well or spring adjacent tt
shallow surface sewage vault.
No community should permit such 6
combination to exist. and the individ
ual who exposes his family to sucf
risks assumes a terrible responsibility
The distance which a sewage vault
may be located from a we'll without
risk is theoretically sixty feet. AS 6
matter of fact, the combination is al
ways dangerous. no matter what the
distance maintained. as the surface
water may carry the bacteria of dis
ease to considerable distance. The
best plan is to have deep we'll thor.
oughly protected within radius OF
several feet by a cement platform, sc
that surface water from the dooryard
! cannot pollute it. The earth closet
should be used instead of the pestif-
erous sewage vault, or if the latter
evil is permitted it should be as dis
tant from the we'll as possible on a
lower level and drain away from it.
The liberal use of dry earth and chic
ride of lime may prevent sickness and
suffering, not to speak of heavy finan-
cial loss
The Ideal System.
A far better plan is TO install a sur
face irrigation" system. These sys
TENS devised by the late Colonel War
ing of New York provide for a dis
posal of the house waste and sewage
through house drain to a tank or
reservoir. which automatically empties
its accumulated contents by espionage
into a series of pipes, which distribute
the material directly on the surface
of the soil in some field sloping away
from the house. An area of one-tenth
of an acre will receive and care for the
waste of household of twelve per
sons. This waste when delivered to
the field is an inoffensive milky mix.
ture. which the bacterial and chemical
agencies in the surface soil soon dis
pose of if proper interval is allowed
The cesspool. like all devices thai
accumulate sewage and allow it tc
decompose. may be focus of disease
distribution 1t is far inferior to the