The Republican journal., 1917-08-16
Water for the Soldiers.

In all wars that have preceded this war
of the world, sickness has been RESPONSE
BILE for very big percentage of the total
casualties. But in the struggle which is
now going on in various parts of the
earth the surprising fact is that sickness
is playing a very small part indeed.
Many things have combined in making
this an accomplished fact; sanitation has
been brought to fine art, for one thing,
but the most important of all is, says a
statement from British official source,
that Empire Tommy has been particu-
larly well looked after in respect to his
drinking water.
Water means everything to the fight
ing man. Impure water and then you
get sickness. Water properly dealt with
and treated, and there is very little sick
ness. And for the way in which Tommy
has obtained his drinking water as he has
done, there is one branch of the Service
that has to be thanked. That is the
Royal Engineers. They dug wells at
Gallipoli, they looked after the tanks
away in the desert on either side of
Egypt, they solved the water problems in
Mesopotamia, and in France they did
everything that was to be done in this
connection.
There has been plenty of water in
France, in the villages, and far too much,
not of the drinking variety, in the
trenches at times The problem has been
to take it where it was wanted and re-
move it from where it was burden The
/ system is as near perfect as it can be-
But every drop of drinking water has
had to be passed by the medical officer
before it has been drunk by the soldiers
On thousands of wells today are the little
notice boards:
This water is fit for washing
This water must be boiled before being
drunk.
This water must not be used unless
treated as ordered
The Royal Engineers have worked day
and night in making things right for the
boys. This has been done all over France
behind the British front and the water
supply has been kept right on the heels
OF the advancing troops all the while.
| Water carts have carried the water
right up to the support lines, on hundreds
of occasions. The water has been chlori-
mated in these carts, and the goods have
been delivered exactly to time. Chlori-
HdICu WdleI Is HOl pl0dSduI Slull 10 QTlnk
at all times; even tea will not always dis
guise its taste, but it's purity is guaran-
teed. That is the principal thing, for
when soldiers tongue is hanging out of
his mouth with thirst he is inclined to
chance things, and to drink anything
that may come his way.
Horses, too, as well as men, require
water. For them, huge canvas tanks
have been erected and filled from small
iron pipe, running, perhaps, from point
seven or eight miles away. Steam pumps
for deep wells have had to be brought up
and fixed, and thousands of petrol tins,
carefully cleaned and filled with water,
have had to be stored in the trenches in
case of any sudden emergency arising
The Hun, too, is not idle. He cuts the
water supply whenever possible. "Plunk"
come 40 on the top of a pipe, and
''whoosh," away goes the water. The
repair has to be done at once and it is
done. Up come the snappers at the run
and the break is either plugged or the
fractured pipe is cut out and another
piece fitted in its place. 1t all depends
upon how hot the shelling may be, but
not much time is wasted. That is how
Tommy gets his water at the front.