The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1919-07-11
WATER ANALYSIS
STARTS RUMPUS
Doc Fearing Romps All Over
Elizabeth City Water
Company

The question of Elizabeth City's
water supply was the principal topic
discussed at the regular July meeting
of the Board of Aldermen Tuesday
night. Immediately after the reading
of the minutes Secretary Case of the
Chamber of Commerce reported to
the Board that the committee made
up of the County Health Officer, A. B
Houtz and himself had investigated the
matter and had found that the city
not only has an inadequate water sup
ply, but that the present city water
is a positive menace to the health Of
the community.
A little later, DR.. Peters, City Health
Officer, read a report from the State
Bureau of Hygiene to the effect that
samples of the city water analyzed
by the State chemist showed that the
water was very good, or, as DR.. Peters
characterized it, Better than any pump
water in Elizabeth City" The City
Health Officer recommended that the
water be submitted to a weekly analy-
sis, at least through the summer
months, by private chemists if neces-
sary which the City Manager estimated
would cost approximately $50 pei
month. s------- y
DR.. Zenas Fearing, County Health
Officer, at this juncture threw a bomb
shell into the beautiful water report
previously read by DR.. Peters. He said
that he could not conceive of any such
report on our city water as the City
he
city water was unfit either for bathing
or drinking; that for 80 years the peo-
pie of the city had had to use this
stuff which was literally swill, which
was dirty, muddy reeking, Shiny, and
jeopardiZed the lives of the citizens
He urged that the matter of better
water be taken up at once, and stated
that in order to gain a definite idea
of the amount of sediment in the city
water, he had tied a piece of fine gauz@
over the spigot in his Office, and after
letting the water run for 10 minutes
had taken from the gauze a quantity
of deposited mud which he would not
dare swallow.
Good water, declared DR.. Fearing
should be odorless, colorless and taste
less; our city water possesses none OF
these qualities. The season for dysen-
terry, diarrhoea and typhoid is now on
and unless immediate steps are taken
to give the city a pure water supply
many deaths will result. We can never
get good water from the present intake
on Knobbs Creek"
At this sjuncture DR.. Peters made
haste to inform the Board that he had
not submitted the water reported sc
favorably upon by the State Bureau
of Hygiene, nor did he know by Whon
it had been submitted, and it develop
ed that this water had been sent by the
sunerintendent of the Elizabeth City
Water Co. Nobody present was able
to say where the Water Company Off
cial had drawn this water.
City Attorney Walter Cohoon then
called attention to the implied insult
to the people of the city, in the big
auto. with "H2O'' painted on its sides
from aEhich the same Water Company
is s6Hkng pure and drinkable Wate' az
10 r nts per gallon, tacitly admitting
sHf the water which the company Is
supplying to the city through It's water
mains is not pure water.
City Manager Simonds reported te
the effect that the f1ltering plant OF the
Water Company is very good one
h11t not large enough to properly pur1-
fv the quantity of water daily USED IN
the city. He estimated that needed
additions to the plant, including sedl-
mentation tanks, would cost severa
thousand dollars, and stated that the
Water Company had agreed to make
these improvements. Mr.. Simonds was
asked by the Board to make lnVestl-
cations and to recommend changes o.
such a nature as to give the city pure
water.
In connection with the sanitary con-
dition of the city, the Board of Alder
men appointed a committee to declde
,non the advisability of having a Wo-
man in the City sanitary department
to work in conjunction with the house
keepers of the city in an effort to I'M
nrove present sanitary conditions
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