The log cabin Democrat., 1920-06-23
IMMEDIATE ACTION
 FOR SAFE WATER
'IS PLANNED BY COUNCIL
Log Cabin Democrat Article Subject of Discussion at Tuesday Nights
 Council Meeting.

If the recommendation of Mayo w. D. Cole is followed by the cit, council committee on light, water ant sewer systems, immediate steps vii be taken to install qualification plant at the water pumping station for the purpose of treating the city water with chlorine, in order to avert the danger of the water becoming in fected with typhoid or other disease producing organisms.
 Mayor Cole said this morning that he would endeavor to have a meet ing of the committee and Supt. E. V. Leverett some time during the day and would recommend the installation with the least possible delay of some sys- tenn of treating the water to render it safe at all times.
 Under the best of circumstances it would probably require year to con- struct and put in operation settling basin and make the other improve ments needed in the water system,' ,' Mayor Cole said, land in the mean time there would always be a pos sibility of the water becoming infect ed and an epidemic starting before the danger could be discovered. Prof. M. J. McHenry of Hendrix College, who is serving as city chemist and making periodical analyses of the water, strongly recommends that the water be treated by an approved puri- fication process and it is unquestion- ably safer to continue the use of such process, even with perfect filtra- tion. The city of Little Rock has large settling basins in which the water is treated and has the most modern system of filtration, yet as further precaution chlorine is in- troduced in the water to destroy all forms of bacteria"
 The editorial article in Tuesdays Log Cabin Democrat urging the necs- sity of immediate action to insure the safety of the city water was the subject of considerable discussion at last nights meeting of the city coun- cil. It was brought out during the discussion that the committe on light, water and sewers has been devoting considerable attention to the matter of improvements in the water system. but has encountered number of legal obstacles. The question of forming new improvement district was taken up, but tentative opinion from the firm of Rose, Hemingway, Cantrell & Loughborough of Little Rock advised that 1t was doubtful if a new dis trict could be formed until the old district had been dissolved. The lat ter will have to be continued until January, 1922, when the final in- stallment of bonds is to be paid off.
 A local act applying to a district at Walnut Ridge, however, has been discovered, Mayor Cole stated, which seems to be general in it's applica- ton and which may furnish authority under which the commissioners of the old district would be empowered to issue additional bonds for the con. structlon or the waterworks improve ments. This act is now being close iy studied and it is possible that the city will be able to proceed under it, However, it is very difficult to sell ponds at any price under the present financial situation, and extremely ex- penslve to construct improvements of 1 any character.
 In the meantime, it is believed that the city can obtain the comparative " sum necessary for the installation or a plant to treat the city water and prevent recurrence of the condition o1 one month ago, when bacill coli were found to be present in the water. Tn such numbers as to cause the chem. lsts to condemn it as unsafe for drinking purposes.