The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1919-01-10
FOUR UTILITIES
NEEDED ON farm
Good Water Is One of Prime
Essentials for Safe and
Comfortable Living.
LIGHTING ALSO NECESSARY
Surface and Underground Drainage
Should Be Considered in Locating
Wells to Avoid Contamination
Wood Lot Desirable.

A good water supply, a complete
sewage-disposal plant, and effective
heating and lighting systems consti-
tute the four prime utilities of the
farm home, the foundations Of safe,
comfortable living. To ecure these
ends in greatest measure, thought and
planning are necessary. If the proce-
dure is ~haphazard, if the parts are not
correlated, there is neither economy
in the construction O satisfaction in
the operation of the plant.
When locating the well, the direc-
ton Of surface and underground drain
age should be considered, to the end
that the water supply may not be con-
taminated by the sink drain, cesspool,
or other sources of filth. The unused
water from a spring or flowing well
may be made valuable If brought to q
watering trough, cooling tank, fish
pond, or swimming pool, or harvested
as ice. A saving may be effected by
laying two lines Of pipe in n trench.
The engine which drives the pump
may operate other useful appliances,
such as q dynamo, saw, washing ma
chine, cream separator, or churn.
A notable example Of h~ome-planned
utilities is found upon a farm In north
ern Utah. BY personal planning and
hard work, the wne Of this farm
gradually has equipped his house with
a pressure water system, a laundry
containing a power washing machine,
wringer, mangle, and drying machine,
q heating plant, electric lights, electric
range, electric heaters for emergency
use in chambers, and a vacuum clean
ing system.
Sanitary Farm Water Supply.
Observation indicates that on the
average three out of four farm wells
are located within rs feet Of the back
door of the house and in the direction
Of the barn. That convenience and
first cost-not safety.-have been the
deciding factors in thousands Of such
locations is a fact made evident by the
proximity Of barnyards, pig pens, pas
lures, fortified fields, sink drains,
privies, cesspools and house yards rem
dered i~nsanitary by chickens, slops,
garbage, and other filth. Too fire.
quently the leach from these or other
sources Of filth, after Joining the
ground water, moves with greater or
less directness to wells and springs,
seriously impairing the water supply
by organic impIrity or grossly poison
ing it with human sewage.
Among other ways by which surface
waters and open or poorly covered
wells and springs are contaminated or
receive nOxious substances are: Sur
face wash from roads, ranges, Of the
other sources Of nth above mentioned ;
bodily entry Of stock and poultry or
their drOppings; filth from the shoes
Of careless farm hands and children I;
handled by carriers Of disease; dust
and leaves from the air; and entry Of
worms, bugs, spiders. toads, frogs.
mice, snakes, cats, or other animal
life, which through death and decom-
position may impart to the water dis
agreeable odor and taste and perhaps
more serious characteristics.
Deterioration of water may be due
to still other causes that make it un-
wholesome but not, so far as known,
destructive Of health. Among such ere
unusual dissolving Of mineral salts
from the earth, washings from clay
that produce a milky appearance, dis
coloration from mineral or vegetable
matter, admiYture Of mineral or vege-
able oils, absorption Of offensive