Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-09
Saving W ater
For the Army
By Frederic ]. Haskin


quantities Of water; To daily showers Of un
limited duration; to sprinkling his side
walk and lawn with gallons Of water ano
10 having whole fountain IN his back
yard, If he wanted IL.
Water is scarce in the army because IL Il
difficult To supply especially when m
| army Is on the march and because tht
construction OF a wnter-supply system is ar
expensive and laborious business Each
camp must have system as elaborate a,
that Of an American city Of the same size
Artesian wells must 30 bored lsometirnea
without striking water, pumping sta
tions installed and pipes laid. In soms
cases, river is tapped, and pipes extend
cd from the river to the camp. In any
case The total needs of the camp must bt
carefully estimated and the consumption
kept within that estimate.
The American soldier entering train
ing camp is Mt once informed of this calam
| ty A sentinel on police duty scrtitinizc'
him carefully rs he rnops his perspiring
brow and fills his drinking cup NJ tho
camp hydrant. while minute later his
l'attention is called to a sign in large letters
| "Haltp' il reads Serve by savingi There
is plenty Of water if you don't waste il
| Don't leave water running Don't turn
on stronger stream than you require
Report every leak Won see. II leakage
and waste are not checked there won't be
enough water for YOU. Shr y OFF,
NOT vsrv woHM
| And experience has shown that this =
no mere vain warning In one camp not
| long ago there was not enough water tn gC
around for days, until the situation was
| finally relieved by digging another we'll
1 h..f I.1. 4 Ill
would not have been necessary If 90 much
water had not leaked out and been vast
| ed. In another camp the wastage was so
great that the wells failed TO supply the
| demand; whereupon, it was decided to
| tap nearby river and get water from IT,.
| News that the river was polluted reached
the camp just in time
The soldier water ration in the camps
of this country is fairly liberal, although
not 80 liberal rs that permitted him by his
municipality The allowance IS 55 gallons
of water a day, this including an allow
ance Of - gallons per head for horses and
mules Since there is ono horse or mule for
every three men IN a camp, the soldier g
ration is 80 gallons, which is nearly 30
per cent more water than the French or
British or German soldier receives More
over. Il is the best water that can be had
Il Is clear and free from sediment; il con
talns no objectionable quantities of iron,
sulphur or magnesia, and it il absolutely
sanitary. The medical department Of
each camp secs to this.
LOTS Or OTHER USES
Besides drinking water, there must be a
supply for showers, laundry, culinary
purposes, for washing animals and an
occasional sprinkllng Of the camp roads,
as we'll as for fire-hghting in case such an
emergency occurs All Of these things are
apt To place a great strain on water-s1Ip-
ply system unless carefully regulated.
Hence, the use Of water for animals must
be timed 50 as not To occur when the sol
dlers are taking their showers Only one
brigade Of men must lisc the showers at n
given time.
And in case, of fire, no one can get
drink Of water At the first alarm, even
though false, section Of the water police
rtIshes about and turns off every fixture
with the exception Of the fire plugs, and
the whole water system is diverted to
fighting fire.
These are only a few Of the many rcgI-
latlons for conserving water developed by
the (luarterrnastcr's Department, which
Is in charge of the water-suppIy at can
tonments in this country. In France the
army water supply is handled by American
hydraulic engineers, many Of whom have
built important water-works in the Unit
ed States and Canada One company of
these men is already distributed among
the American EXpeditlonary Forces, and
another water-supply company is now
training at Camp Dix, Y J.
The water supply for the American
\ AvfFNx 4,l
divisions ore for the army in the rear.
and one for the troops at the front That
for the army in the rear is built and regl-
lated much the same as the system in
vogue in the camps in this country, but
to keep moving army supplied with
water IS quite a different problem. For
example, American engineers have had 10
work out q method of sterlllzing water on
the field. The method itself is not new.
but its use IN war Is.
They also have had TO find a means of (
protecting water-works from the shells ol
the enemy. They have had to figure. in
fractions of gallons, Just how little drink
ing water soldier can get along with:
how much he requires for shower, and
how often this luxury should be permit
ted him And the answers to these qlles-
tons depend chiefly upon where the sol
der Is.
MUCH DRINKING, LITTLE BATHING.
In the trenches, men consume a great |
teal OF drinking water, but they seldom !
oathe In camp a man is allowed 80 gal |
ons a day, or more, but when the order |
5 gwen to advance, he Is suddenly cut /
iown 10 half gallon day, which starva- /
ion ration lasts for three days. At the |
md of that time the amount is increased To
hree gallons. This is because for the first +
hree DAYS all the water must be hauled .
rom the camp In the rear, bv light rail-
way or by mule transport. An army can
rot afford ever to get more than ten miles
WAY from its water supply, for in France
here are few springs along the wavside
BY the third day the water supply men
re able TO establish ''first-aid' pumping
tatlons, to lay the necessary pipes. and |
'ulld water points. Often this work
must be carried on under q heavy bonn
ardment from the enemy.
The water point" is product of the
nginecr corps, developed for advance
reas. Sometimes it is well, sometimes
canvas trough, or an elevated tank of
'Ood mere pipe line, or a canvas reser-
or. One of these water points is estab-
shed at frequent intervals along the line
{ advance, and it is then up to the di-
lsional quartermaster TO have the water
auled by animals or motor trucks to the
dvance post.
The water supply engineers must keep
hese water points IN repair The wells
nd tanks are usually camouhaged and
nc pipes covered with two feet of earth