New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1914-02-25
Council Hears
Plans Proposed
State Health Board Advises
Reservoir, to~Replace
CiSternS.
City Water is Now Safe AS It
Is Being Constantly
Treated.

treated.
Nothing of any great import has
has developed in the typhoid situa-
ton since the last issue of the Re-
view. No new cases have been re-
ported at this writing and apparently
all are on the road to recovery altho
Mr.. Zschunke is still very sick man.
Mr.. Somsen who was announced as
new patient last week has had very
light attack and is able to be back
at the Office a part of the time.
Plans are being formulated, how
ever, to provide for protection
against a repetition of the trouble.
Prof. Bass of the State Health Board
was in town Thursday last and after
spending considerable time going over
j the water station and reviewing the
work done Bly, his assistant, and Mr..
Mohler, he met informally with the
City Council, the local Board of
Health, Supt. Bolstad and City En-
gineer Minium.
At this meeting Prof. Bass devoted
considerable portion of his time to
scoring the local physicians and the
City Council, the former for what he
was pleased to term their criminal
negligence in not reporting the cases
Of sickness to the Health Board and
the latter for their equally criminal
carelessness in allowing the report of
the State Health Board on the water
in November to go unheaded. AS to
this matter, Councilmen defended
themselves by assuring the gentle
man they they had given heed to the
report in that they had once ordered
the discontinuance Of pumping from
the we'll that showed bad. Mr.. Bass
made some very strong statements as
to the responsibility for the spread
of the disease and his yehemence
might possibly be construed as an
effort to crawl out from under any
Of the blame. -,
After his discussion of the respon-
sibility feature, Prof. Bass took up
the discussion Of plans for the fu-
ture. He suggested that the UNDER
ground cisterns be filled up and
new reservoir, entirely above ground,
be built to store the water before
pumping into the reservoir on the
hill. He said that such reservoir
could be built for sum not to ex-
eeed $4,000 and that it should be
made to contain some $4,000 gallons.
At this point he took occasion to
point out the admirable location of
fthe hill reservoir.
= The hope of the Council and other
citizens that the water might not
prove after all to be the cause of the
epidemic was shattered by Prof. Bass
who showed that there could be no
doubt of it that the water was the
source of the Sickness He could not
show what the original source of the
pollution might be as that has not
been discovered and all efforts to To-
cate it seem to fail. That seepage
the organic matter into the system
ter comes from so that it reaches
the surrounding soil of the system
is not known, nor likely to be. The
only remedy seems to be to get res
ervoirs all out Of the ground. The
Council approved Of the plan and or
dered City Engineer Minium to pre-
pare plans for such system. Mr..
Minimum also suggested that by max
ing such arrangements that the two
railroad companies could be supplied
from this reservoir and that the saw
ing in expense would aid materially
to pay the interest on such g. debt
F>as might be found nescessary to pro-
vide for the new reservoir above
ground.
Asked why the report of the State
Health Board on the city water is so
slow in coming, Prof. Bass explained
that thirteen other cities in the state
had troubles of similar nature be-
fore the New Ulm case came to the
attention of the State Board and
that meant great amount of work
must be done before this case could
be attended to.
AS to the question that is being
commonly asked these days, "Is the
water safe now?" the answer is that
the State Health Board says it is.
So much of the hypochloride treat
ment was applied at first that it was
very perceptible. This was done to
make sure Of sterilizing all mains,
pipes and the large reservoir. That
the treatment is destructive to germ
life may well be guessed when the
experience of various people with
their gold fish is known. The water
seems to be fatal to them very
!. quickly after they are put into it.
1T is also complained; that the water
is very hard on the skin since the
treatment is received. Another ques-
ton asked is whether the treatment
is still being applied and the answer
to that is also Eyes,. Every bit of
water going into the mains is treated
before it is pumped into the reser-
voir. So. III. ~ H L