The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1913-01-07
GOOD WATER SUPPLY MORE I'M
PoRTANT THAN DOCTORS.
BY Frank Parker stockbriJ e.

BY Frank Parker 'StockDrlV se.
Copyright, 1912, by Town Z yelop
ment Company
One OF the things people live in
town for is the community water sup
ply.
If they don't get 1t, or II It isn't the
right kind of water, supplied in guam
titles sufficient for everybody's needs
one Of the reasons for living in town
disappears.
It's one of the things every live
town must consider, when 1t wonders
why it doesn't grow faster.
More and more, manufacturers are
taking 1t into consideration in locat-
ing their factories. All other things
being equal, the town with the best
water supply will win. This is not
only because modern manufacturing
processes generally call for large
quantities of water at low rate, but
because the health Of the community
depends so vitality on the purity of the
water available 10. .rIblic consump'
tlon.
There's no reason, e. -ept ignorance,
why any town should not have the
best possible water supply. We've
learned lot about water in the last
few years.
One of the things we've learned is
that the best water is to be found, not
in the country, but in the cities where
proper attention has been paid to this
important factor Of community life.
The "Old Oaken Bucket" has been
thrown into the discard by modern
senitarians. If there was nothing else
the matter with the old,fashioned
country well-and there usually is
it was a most convenient place for cats
aud other animals 10 commit inyolun-
tary suicide And at its best, water
that is obtained by digging a hole in
the ground is apt to be pretty bad wa
ter unless the hole is deep enough to
90 down through three or four geolog-
ical strata Of rock-an artesian well.
The very best water is water that
has been purified by the sun and the
fresh alr--the water OF river and
lakes. But it isn't enough to depend
upon sun and fresh air to do the puri-
tying. Many cities have learned that
TO their cost.
A few years ago there was an out.
break of typhoid fever among the stu
dents at Cornell University that cost.
several lives. 1t was traced directly
to the water supply Of the city OF It'll.
aca-clear bright, sparkling water,
but carrying the deadly germs OF dis.
ease. Nobody had thought there was
any danger in it. Now lthaca's water
is purified before it gets into the CITY
mains and is as good as there Is any
where. Butler and Scranton are 9th.
or cities that learned the lesson Of
pure water only after typhoid epidem.
les that devastated the towns. They.
have good water now aud are not like.
~ to relax their vigilance again.
Any town can have good water.
Modern science can take the dirtiest
water out of the muddiest river ana
clean it and purify It and make it.
wholesome and healthrul at small ex-
pense. 4f
Cincinnati gets its water supply out
OF the Ohio river, whichsis certainly
one OF the muddlest streams in Amer.
lea and In the low.water months OF
midsummer one of the fllthiest in 9th.
er respects, receiving the drainage Of
o hundred cities and towns between
Pittsburgh and the Cincinnati intake.
Yet the death-rate from typhoid in
Cincinnati dropped off more than
eighty per cent. in the few months fol.
lowing the installation OF the modern
filtration and publication plant at the