Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1912-07-19
PROTECTION OF SOURCES OF
WATER SUPPLY.
Prepared by DR.. Henry II. Vail Of
Woodstock at the Request Of the Com.
mission on Conservation of Natural
Resources Of Vermont.

Resources Of Vermont.
Where does our water come from?
Even in Vermont most of our water
comes from the ocean. The great spiral
storms that are daily reported by the
Weather Bureau at Washington cover
thousands of square miles and their
winds bring clouds from the ocean to
drop their burden of moisture on the
land. 1t should be remembered that the
ocean surface of the earth Is three times
as large as the land surface. The ocean
is the great magazine of water that sup
plies the land-however remote from the
shores. But the immediate sources of
the water we use are wells, springs,
brooks and rivers. In an uninha bited re-
gion these sources would supply water
entirely pure and safe. If the sources are
dangerous in populated regions it is be-
cause of the action Of men.
1t is now perfectly well known that
many of the diseases most fatal to men
are communicated from the sick to the
well by means of infinitely small germs
living organisms-many of which may
live for a considerable time in water
These disease germs are so minute that
thousand of them would not If laid
side by side extend across the period
used in writing this article. They are
wholly invisible to the naked eye and
the finest microscopes are needed to
distinguish one kind from another. They
are in effect the seeds OF disease.
Several kinds may be conveyed from in
valids by water to healthful persons
and may produce in them the disease
existing in the patient. Typhoid fever
comes from taking into the system
typhoid germs as certainly as wheat
seed sown in the earth produces a wheat
plant, From typhoid patient millions
of germs are thrown out in the excre-
ment. These germs are more dangerous
than are the drugs marked poison" in
the apothecaries' shops for there is no
known antidote for typhoid germs If
they are once lodged in a mans body
under certain conditions, a run OF ty-
phoid fever is inevitable.
Since there are many kinds Of dis
ease germs that may be conveyed from
the sick to the we'll by drinking water
1t is exceedingly important to secure
the sources of water from contamina-
ton. The history of one case will make
this clear. A village of some two
thousand inhabitants in Vermont was
supplied with water from a reservoir
made by damming a brook This brook
ran through farm lands. In one house
was patient having typhoid fever.
| 1t was winter and the excrements from
| the invalid were thrown out on the
| snow. BY the melting of the snow the
| disease germs were carried to the reser-
| voir. and were thence distributed to
| all the users of public water. Typhoid
| fever broke out all over the village but
| was limited to those using the public
| water. Thus the epidemic was traced
| to its cause. The germs of one endemic
| disease were conveyed through drinking
| water from the mucous membrane of
an invalid to the bodies Of hundreds,
| and of these many died. The careless
nT nf op6
| the death of scores. In this case the
| germs of disease were carried in sur
| face water down slopes that were Wis
| ible.
But the water that falls in any re-
| glon does not all at once run off as
surface water. A large part sinks into
the earth through the loan, the sand or
gravel and through loose rocks un-
| til 1t comes to some continuous un-
| broken surface of clay or rock along
| which ii slowly trickles until II comes
| to the open air as spring Some of this
| ground water" is caught and held
through the summer by vegetation;
some is held by the earth, maintaining
| Its moisture, but large part passes
down to the impervious layer OF clay or
| rock and runs. out of sight, carrying
| with II soluble matter from the soil and
| rocks and also carrying any disease
| germs that have been scattered on the
| SURFACE or the SOIL II is therefore
necessary to guard not only the surface
water in the form OF brooks and rivers,
but the ground water that finally unites
with the surface water. Wells and
| springs are all fed by the ground water
The clearing away of forest growth
the blowing and smoothing OF the sur
face, the draining of swampy places
have all lessened the flow of ground
water, On cultivated land the rain flows
of quickly. A heavy rain floods the
brooks which quickly drop away to a
much lessened body of water. All the
processes OF cultivation have tended tc
hasten the flow Of water from the land
1t is quite certain that the annual rain.