Evening star., 1914-02-16
Inquiry Required
by Treaty's Terms.

e.
United States and Great Britain. con-
corning the protection of international
waters. II was agreed in this treaty
that the boundary waters and waters
flowing across the boundary should not
be- polluted ON either side to the injury
Of health or property on the other. In
his sanitary survey OF the lakes and
their connecting waterways Dr. Nc
Laughlin was assisted by three Cana
dian experts and by two sanitary experts
OF the United States public healn serv-
lee. The studies were begun at Lake Of
the Woods, in Ontario. and terminated
al Grand Falls, on the st. Johns river
between New Brunswick and Maine
II was found that dangerous sewage
pollution exists In certain localities on
the great lakes, chiefly i'll the nciehbor-
hoods oi the cities, and i'll all the con-
meeting waterways. While ii was de-
termined that the great bulk of the lake
water is pure. the investigators reached
the conclusion that there is not A
municipality using raw and untreated
lake water which can be said to possess
Il safe water supply SO days i'll the
year
essentially Il meteorological one \ total
Of lT,Ts+ samples were anaIyzed. and
they were collected from LII sanping
points Five grades of water purity
We're arbitrarily defined. The first grade
represented relatively pure water, with
less than two colon bacilli for each lvJ
cubic centimet.FS and Il total bacterial
count for each cubic ceutimeter of less
than ten. Tie second grade represented
slight pollution, with two to ten color
hacilh each 100 cubic centimeter, and d
bacterial count III from ten to twenty
i've each cubic c,ntimeter. With grade
tour. Il state of serious pollution was
shown The colon bacilli count for this
grade was twenty to f,4tv each 100 cubic
cent!mcter. and the total bacterial coIInt
was nifty to 100 each cubic centimeter.
Water rf such Il degree of pollution puts
am Uuduly severe strain upon Il puritlca-
tIen plant. Every municipality in the
area investigated discharges its sewage
wdrcated into tie lake waters.
Results obtained showed the great bulk
of thu water of Lake Michigan to be
pure; the waters of Lake Huron To he
comparatively pure. with slight pollution
due TO boat traffic; while the Detroit
river, the western end of Lake Erie and
the Niagara river showed serious pollu-
,iun. Before the 0I'cniug OF navigation,
the waters Of I4ihe Ontario were found
10 be practically sterile: after navigation
slight pollution was remarked.
Zones vi pollution in the lakes extend
cd along the shores and around the
were found to be almost entirely absent
N the great body Of free lake water
and the normal total bacterial count Of
the great lakes was determined to be
below ten each cubic centimeter
Areas of pollution were found to be
constantly shifting, depending upon the
direction and
Zones of Pollution velocity OF the
Constantly Shifting. mouths % Of the the
Detroit ard Niagara rivers serious I.ol-
luton extends normally over ten miles
into the lake. Under heavy continuing
winds it might travel much farther. on
occasions polluted waters were found to
reach into Lake Ontario sixteen miles,
and into Lake Erie eighteen miles.
Impurity of the water around the in
takes of the municipal water systems was
found TO be so high in certain localities
as TO impose an unreasonable burden
upon any known method OF publication.
No intake in the area studied was receiv-
ing a raw water which could be supplied
- the consumers as safe without first
1-iue treated Despite these conditions.
.Ae ase q RAW water has been the rule