The Washington herald., 1911-02-20
TYPHOID MENACES
HILLSDALE COLONY
Residents Are Dependent on
Contaminated Water.
WELLS ARE GERM-INFECTED
Three. Thousand Citizens of Dis
trict Appeal to Commissioners to
tate Use for Drinking and Bathing
of Supply Condemned rs UNIT.

1nree thousand residents or the DlStrlct
of Columbia, forced to content them
selves with water for drinking and bath
ing purposes from wells strongly sus-
pected of harboring the deadly typhus
bacteria, is the spectacle furnished Wash
ington in the case of Hilsdale, section
bordering on the Anacostia road and
within stones throw OF the Govern
ment Hospital for the Insane.
So far as ability to command conven-
lent water facilities Is concerned, the
residents might almost as well be dropped
in the center OF the great Sahara desert
But although the necessity OF carrying
all water from public and private wells
is a menace to the health of the COM
munity, because of the resultant poor
bathing facilities, IL is considered as moth
ing compared to the fact that it is be-
lieved impossible to find single public or
private well in that locality which is not
infected with lurking typhoid germs.
Shallow Well n Failure.
After condemning as unfit for drinking
the water of most of the public wells in
that section, the District officials. on
what they term "a forlorn hope" began
the digging of a shallow well. in the
nearer the surface. After digging fifty
six feet, and having two samples of
water, taken at varying depths. con-
demned by chemical and archaeological
examination, the work probably will be
discontinued within a few days, on the
recommendation of an official of the Dis
trict health department
By resolution from the Hillsdale Citi-
zens Association, and in private inter-
views the District Commissioners have
been importuned to put an end to this
condition by securing a sufficient appro-
priation from Congress to justify the eX-
tension OF water mains to that point.
This years District appropriation bill
provides for such extensions to obviate
like conditions in other localities. and it
is hoped that next years budget will
take the Hillsdale people into considera-
ton.
Much Expense Involved.
The extending OF the mains to furnish
this locality with filtered city water would
! involve, according to members of the wa
ter department the installing OF new
and expensive pumping station. as the
water would have to be lifted" ma
teriaIly to meet the topographic require
ments of the section. 1t is believed, how
| ever, IIldI IllS lCl SONGI lllltIlL,
ing the gravity OF the situation, will
make a strenuous effort to remedy the
conditions through the next budget
That every case of typhoid which has
come under his observation while treat
| ing residents of Hillsdale may be traced
directly to the polluted condition OF the
| water, is the statement made by DR..
| W. X Scott, Of Anacostia, whose clientele
| includes practically all OF the Inhabitants
| Of that section
I'VE have a large number of typhoid
| cases in Hillsdale," said DR.. Scott last
| night, "and l think I am safe in saying
| that every one can be attributed directly
to the drinking water.
1T is imperative for the health Of the
| community that the water mains be ex-
| tended as quickly possible to furnish
| filtered city water to Hillsdale. The peo-
pie need it for drinking purposes, and
! they need 1t for bathing. There is now,
l believe, one public we'll in the entire
area of three or four square miles. The
| District has closed up four or five public
wells there in the last three years, and
| the one remaining is so polluted that it
would be closed up except that 1t would
! leave that large area without any water
| whatever.
Every we'll in that section. public or
| private, is suspected. Without sewage or
pipCh HdNSt VI any hlLu, Oile C<1H IldIuly
| expect water from that soil to be free
| from impurities
The danger of typhoid that turks in
| the water is reason enough for the ex-
| tension of city mains to Hillsdale, but
as practically all of the inhabitants are
forced to carry water no small distance
and under no little difficulty for all pur-
| poses, little incentive Is offered for even
| n minimum amount of bathing. This
condition certainly is not conducive
! either of cleanliness or good health"
Appeal to Commissioners.
At 4 recent meeting the Hillsdale Cit
liens Association passed and forwarded
| to the District Commissioners a resolution
calling attention to the condition there
| and urging speedy action, both in the
matter of water and sidewalks. There
has been, apparently, no attempt to lay
sidewalks or improve the condition Of the
roads in that section
Hillsdale is populated almost entirely
by colored people, and despite the unen-
cCuraging conditions boasts large num-
| her of comfortable and well-kept homes.
Situated on a series OF mound-like hills,
through and between which wind a num-
| her of roads to various points, the To-
cality resembles town in some moder-
ately mountainous country of the Mid
die West. Most of the houses command
an unimpeded view of the Anacostia River
and its bordering hills, and in many re-
spects the location is ideal