The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1921-08-26
IMPURE WATER CAUSE
OF HARVEST MALADIES
Chloride of Lime a Preventive REM
edy. Says Sanitation Expert.
(By H. +. Phelps, w. S. c.

(By H. +. Phelps, w. S. c.
During the summer months large
numbers of men, women and children
are engaged in harvesting, threshing,
and picking fruit, often being COM
PEELED to live intents, bunk houses
and other temporary and portable
homes placed near their work and fire.
Guently moved from place to place.
Under these circumstances the sani-
tary conditions surrounding them are
frequently far from good, and MANY
cases of typhoid fever and other in
testinal troubles are the direct re-
suit of such insanitary conditions. 1t
is we'll established that most cases of
typhoid fever and the less serious
but unpleasant summer intestinal
troubles are caused by drinking i'm
pure water.
1t has frequently seemed difficult
OF impossible to provide harvest
workers with sufficient supply of pure
drinking water, the expense of the
temporary and scattered nature of
their work and the expense that has
seemed to be involved. A certain
amount of typhoid and intestinal dis
ease has therefore often been looked
upon as an inevitable accompaniment
of such kinds of work This has Of
ten been true of those who realized
that such diseases were transmitted
by impure water, and generally bv
those who were ignorant of this fact.
1t is, however, possible to provide a
supply of pure water for harvest
workers, and to greatly reduce the
amount of disease to which they are
subject The destruction of all dan
gerous bacteria which may be in the
water can be easily and efficiently ac-
complished by the use of chloride Of
lime. Chloride of lime, or bleaching
powder, can be obtained at almost any
grocery store, and the amount re-
quired is so small as to make the
cost negligible. 1t should be used in
TIE lOllOWHlS manner:
One tablespoonful of the Chloride
of Lime is dissolved in ten quarts of
water. This quantity is sufficient to
treat 1000 gallons of water and the
operation is carried out by simply
pouring the clear solution into the
water to be treated and stirring
thoroughly. This solution is a pow
erful germicide and its action is very
rapid-ten minutes or so being all the
time required to carry out the purl-
fication. One quart of this solution is
sufficient to treat effectively tank
containing 100 gallons of water, and
one pint of it stirred into a 5O-gallon
barrel full Of water will destroy anv
dangerous germ and make the water
safe for drinking purposes.
One is cautioned against using too
much of the chemical, not because it
is dangerous at all, but because an
undesirable odor or taste may be i'm
parted to the water where too large
amounts are used. The strength Of
solution indicated above, used in the
manner described, will be found per-
fectly satisfactory. The quantities of
the water will in no wise be impaired
and no undesirable conditions will
arise from its use. On the other
hand, dangerous water may be made
safe and much sickness prevented.
The solution loses its strength if
left standing open for any time, but
may be kept for several days if kept
in tightly stoppered bottle. If so
kept, it becomes a very handy germi-
eide to use during the harvesting and
threshing season. The water used
about the cookhouse and for drinking
purposes in the field and about the
threshing machine can be made safe
and the amount of typhoid fever and
other intestinal troubles made much
less.
DRYDEN