The Logan Republican. [volume] (Logan, Utah) 1902-1924, 1912-05-28

tin. A lew years dbo ~ ""o
ally accepted theory that running
water purified itself after flowing
distance of ten or twelve miles, ana
the comforting and reasurring doc
trine is still held by many. The rea'
sons advanced for such theory were:
u)-That the movement of the wa
ter produced an extra surface avail
able for oxidation purposes; C2)-
That the volume of water bearing
down upon any given area beneath
II weakened the vitality of certain
bacteria. (3)-That the influence OF
light (the suns rays) was inimical
to the growth of bacteria. (4-That
the presence of vegetation (algae)
has a marked influence in the re.
duction of organic matter in water.
| (5)-That by reason of the dilution OF
polluting substances with large guam
titles of pure water. the percentage of
! impurities is lowered and the percent
age of oxygenated water is raised.
(6)-That by virtue of sedimentation
and side-adhesion to the banks of
rivers and streams of solids in suspen-
sior a large number of bacteria are
removed. Hence lake water contains
as rule very few bacteria. o.
That the process of oxidation will
take rare of great quantities of i'm.
purities. At the present time we can
nc longer accept this theory of self
publication of streams; we believe
that, II the inflow of sewage and
other refuse is not excessive, running
water will regain comparative purity,
but as II is impossible to compute
the degree of pollution we can never
feel confident as to when a stream
nee polluted, tecomes fit to use
AGAIN. The water from fresh water
lakes and ponds is generally to be
preferred to riyei water for domestic
use. II is less liable to become tur-
piu l'ohi tshS " tune anu eACtpl III
the case of small ponds, the inflow
Of sewage - hot likely to cause
fouling of he water to any serior
tent. When tie supply can be
drawn FROM large lakes, as is done
in Chicago and other cities on the
great lakes, no purer or better source
could be desired. In such cases the
intake should be far enough from
shore to avoid the possibility of sew.
/ age contamination. The water IN
small lakes and reservoirs sometimes
becomes offensive in taste and odor
somewhat resembling cucumbers, due
to a minute fresh water sponge, the
Spongilla Fluviatilis. Another odor
described as the pig-pen odor is due
to the decay Of certain species OF
algae. We do not know whether oil
not these algae are in any way pre-
judicial to health. Here let me
state that the publication of watel
by means of freezing is in no way
absolute as was formerly believed. 4
considerable number of bacteria, IN
fusoria and other organisms remain
in the ice and retain their vitality. s,
that when thawed they rapidly multi
ply.
We now come to the course q
supply Of water for most persons no
aggregated in large communities, sucl
as cities and towns, springs an
wells. Ordinarily spring-water
} clear, cool and sparkling with a rt
freshing taste and uniform tempers
ture and may be recommended TO
domestic use where attainable. Sprins
water usually comes from a sourc
at great depth below the surfac
and after 1t has percolated throug
thick strata of soil before appearin
at the surface of soil ii looses mos
of it's organic impurities. Howeve
II may become impregnated with mil
, erals and gaseous substances as we
as organic pollution in its passae
} over the surface, or through the ~
: per strata of soil Therefore sprin
! contemplated for municipal use shoul
: be tapped as ii issues from III
4 ground; it should be analysed Il
s purity Chemically and bacteriologica
l. ly) and il found to be pure should
c absolutely protected from possib
L contamination. Well water is deri
Z ed from those strata of the SC
. which are the most likely to
II contaminated from the products of a
II imal and vegetable decomposition, al
p the unwholesomeness of the water
II universally proportional to the degr'
% of saturation of the soil with q