Durant weekly news. (Durant, Choctaw Nation, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 190?-1944, 1913-07-11
Well Water Unfit to Drink
BY ?. .. LAIRD. CHEMIST. S. u. NoRMAL

In discussing the subject of drink
ing waters of Durant, II is my pur-
pose 10 give the people of Durant an
insight into the possibilities of waters.
chances for pollution and remedy for
the removal of the objectional features.
This Is the time of the year that we
must begin to guard against that dread
ed disease typhoid. and a few others of
a less dangerous nature. All may be
avoided by little precaution. feel
that should this article be the cause OF
some people taking the proper method
of prevention and perhaps preventing
a spread of the disease. then 1 have
been justified in writing this article.
Are the waters of Durant fit for
drinking purposes? In order to answer
that question. we must see what chan
ces they have for pollution. Let us
then take up each separately and see
what chances 1t has for pollution.
TIE well water of Durant is very
clear, and some of 1t is very soft. and
you say that it surely must be good
for drinking purposes Had it ever oc-
cured to you that the water might be
absolutely clear and yet contain many
of the worst possible disease germs.
1t is nevertheless true that clearness
is no evidence Of purity. The wells of
Durant with few exceptions. are less
than 80 feet deep. The water falls
from the sky as rain and soaks into
the ground, carrying with it sewer pol
luton of the very worst kind. Many
of the wells are in low places, where
the sewerage is washed from higher
ground and has a double chance of
contamination. 1t is true that not
nearly all of the bacterial germs that
enter the ground reach the surface
water that we find in our wells but
the possibility still remains. | am told
that in early times that the Indians
used the present location of Dlrant as
a camping ground but after several
seiges of typhoid epidemics they NOV
ed their camp north near Caddo. Now
1T is possible that those bacterial germ
are still in the ground and find their
way into our wells. have made chem
ical analysis of samples of water here
and have had my chemistery classes
make many more we have found ira
ices of those germ carrying agents as
nitrites, nitrates, ammonia etc. Is it
not true that many of our cases of ty-
phoid originate in families who are
users OF well water. / would say
~Shat the well water of Durant is unfit
for drinking purposes unless some of
the precautions are taken that are in
the latter part of this article.
Is our city water. that taken from
Blue River, fit for drinking purposes
j will answer, yes: and give you my
reasons. will first discuss the possi-
bllities with out the liberation and
then with the filtration process. Blue
River is a swift flowing stream with
many rifles in it. Water is said to
purify itself when flowing so feet over
a rifle. 1t purifies itself there by
looming in contact with the oxygen OF
the air Another advantage in favor
of Blue water is there are no towns
above emptying their sewage into it,
While at times the water is not al
clear as ii might be, yet have faileC
70 find the germ carrying agents ii
dangerous proportions. Even without
a filtration plant | would Recommend
Blue River water to well water. fine
from study of Oklahoma waters tina
there is no better water in Oklahoma
than Blue River water for purity
Now a word about the purificatioI
by means OF the filtration process
We purify the Blue River water b!
removing the sedimentation by m an
OF coagulatlon. The coagulation use
may be either alum alone or sulphat
of iron with lime. Either of thes
agents form a sticky. gelatinous pre-
cipitate by combining with substance
in the water. The suspended materia
is removed by sedimentation. No'
having removed the sediment and tina
upon which the germs live we pun
the water into the stand pipe wher
many more died We find that germ
do not thrive in stored water an
more especially is that true II tn
sediment has been removed. Kansa
City and Omaha finding that the filt