The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-05-21
Tommy's Water Supply

From CaSSeiIS saturday Journal. Too high a value cannot be placed upon pure water-and in vast quantities-where troops and horses are concerned. In South Africa, as later in Galipoli, the lack of Adams Ale has led to fatal results. Soldiers, battle weary, and maddened by the fierce heat of the sun, have, time and
 again, thrown all caution to the winds,
 and have bent over some murky pool, scooping the lukewarm thick fluid up to their parched mouths by means of their hands, They eagerness has been tragic, disease has followed in the wake of such
 madness, and has led to many casualties l through death by fever.
 l No camping ground is selected unless good supply of pure water is handy. The natural sources of water are as follows: ran or snow, natural springs and wells, | and the surface water from rivers, lakes, l and pools.
 Rain and snow have to fall in vast | quantities before plentiful supply can be obtained from either of them, so such sources can be practically ruled out l Springs and wells, however, are largely utilied by the army if good surface wa l ter is unobtainable.
 | d | and water raising plant installed. In hilly country, water bearing ground ly- | ing beneath a rocky strata can be satis- | factorily tapped i nthe following manner | A tube well (which is simply hollow pipe) is sunk to depth sufficient to pierce right through the impervious rock,
 and led into the water bearing ground beneath This tube well, being sunk in | dip in the land, enables splendid ~1 fxorx ,+<x, 70 l. be without and pumping being at all
 necessary, as the water rises. by natural l pressure, as in the case of a fountain, 1 through the tube to it's own level higher l up the hill
 1 When stream or river flows by the | camping ground the means of supply are plain sailing. As the stream will be 1 utilized for all purposes, great care has | to be taken to avoid contaminating the lsupply for drinking purposes. It is ac- complished as follows:
 1 At the highest place in the stream of l the section marked by flags as the camps waterworks, water for drinking and cooking purposes is pumped through | pipe lines into water carts. Care is | taken, of course, only to draw off the surface water, leaving the bottom un- l disturbed.
 | A little lower down stream white flag | denotes the spot where WdtIer DOllleS l can be filled. Lower down again a slope | is made to the streams edge, and marked with a blue flag. Here the horses are ridden into the stream, and little way 1 farther down a red flag shows where another slope affords an exit for the freshened horses. Beyond this again is a spot laid out as bathing and clothes washing place for the Tommies
 | As the flow of the stream is purest where the drinking and cooking water is
 drawn off, and necessarily remains so
 no danger is experienced at all from the other operations taking place in the same l water.
 | At times conditions make it necessary
 to store water. as nthe Gallipon cam paign. A good method is to dig a fairly large hole and line it. with tarpaulin. An other tarpaulin raised like a tent. covers | it from above. A variation of this field l tank is contrived by placing stakes in
 the ground in the form of a rectangle Waterproof sheets are lashed to these stakes, and also cover the ground be- 1 tween them, the whole reservaoir being after the manner of portable camp bath
 made of rubber. Water is pumped into this improvised tank, and can be safe ly stored for any length of time.