Connecticut western news., 1921-11-10
WATER SUPPLIES AND
 DISPOSAL OF SEWAGE
By J. Frederick Jackson, State Department
 of Health

The following article was read at a recent meeting of the county health officers, by J. Frederick Jack on, Director of the Bureau of Sani- tary Engineering, State Department of Health:
 l. Litchfeld County is famous for many things. Its numerous lakes and streams backed by rugged hills give enjoyment and health to an in
 rcaSing large number of vacation sts from other states. The fame of he musical festival held yearly m he neighboring village of Norfolk attracts visitors from far and near. The unusual opportunity afforded for conservation by the rapid fall of she streams has been recognized, as $ shown in the several modern hy- !roelectric developments which fur nish light and power to many parts of the State. She maintains a prom inent position on the front page of all the larger newspapers because of the initiative of her own press, r.r- ticularly in noting and rep porting events of an interesting and unua Ial character, and her genius for live organization is exemplifed by the activities of this association and many others, not the least of which is the famous Bald Headed Club.
 While she boasts of no very large cities within her boundaries, many f her towns are thriving centers of Niieiy distributed rural population Cf the 25 towns in the county, IS have water supply system of some description. The remainder are supplied from springs or wells. Two supplies are filtered and two disinfect with liquid chlorine. Only 2 supplies .~e r.'nicipally owned. II towns have some form of sewerage system and of these, treat their sewage in ;ome way before discharging it into the streams. The combined storage of all these water supplies is about 1,257, 100000 gallons and ranges from 16,000 to 867,000,O00 gallons, For the period ending October 1. 1921, analyses of only ' out of the IS supplies were made by the Labor atory. 3 of these were analysed monthly and the others from one to three times. All analyses were sat isfactory. During the same period water from 10 wells and springs in the County was analysed. of the wells and 2 of the springs showed evidence of contamination.
 Most of the problems with which a health officer in this County comes to our Bureau for advice are those | affecting rural sanitation, such as actual or threatened pollution of water supplies, fouling of streams, contamination of wells and springs, poor operation of water filters, chlorinators, and sewage disposal 1 plants, sanitation of schools and state and county institutions and nuisarces from improper garbage disposal or l defective drainage. Under Sections 2533, 2536, 2538, 254O, 2544, 2545, health officer has very broad pow CTS when dealing with pollution of water or ice supplies and under sec tions 2700, 27O4 where nuisances occur, quicker action can sometimes be obtained by persuasion and ap- pealing to the violator's sense of faIr- ness. If such appeals do not produce results, no hesitancy should be felt in exercising all power granted by the statutes. Conservation of pub lie health must always be the first consideration. The policy of the State Department is always to act in Continued on page 6.