Evening star., 1962-08-28
LETTERS TO THE STAR
Polluted Wells

Polluted Wells
AS one Of the 10000 Mont
gomery County families de-
pendent on wells and septic
systems, we are shocked at
the apparent lack of concern
shown by DR.. William T.
Peoples, County Health Di-
rector, concerning the pol
luted wells in Potomac, Md,
as revealed in a story in The
Star on August %. When
asked why the county does
not make the inspections of
the wells that the State law
demands, DR.. Peoples an
swered, ITS also the law
that you're not supposed to
speed on the highway. But
people do it every day, don't
they?"
Since when does a county
official excuse the neglect Of
his duty to the public by citing
the fact that other people
break laws, too?
A county official is the
servant of the public, and
the people have the right to
expect that he will do his
job to the best of his ability
and with the public welfare
uppermost in his mind. Ger
tainly the health of countless
families is at stake, and yet
our County Health Director
seems completely uncon-
cerned. Instead Of being
shocked and pledging a COM
plete investigation of the mat
ter, DR. Peoples, when asked If
1t wasn't dangerous to permit
anyone to drink or bathe in
water which the county itself
declares unsafe. was quoted
as saying, Not necessarily,
they've been drinking it all
along. haven't they?"
Unless all the data gathered
by scientists over the years
concerning the danger of
drinking polluted water is in
error, our County Health Di-
rector should be sickened and
worried by this matter, not
treat it as if it were relatively
unimportant.
But, strangely enough, DR..
Peoples won't even deny the
statements attributed to him
by The Star. Unless DR..
Peoples offers some kind of
a satisfactory explanation
for his performance when
asked the above mentioned
questions by reporters, we
insist that the County Coun-
Gil demand his resignation
Immediately.
Montgomery County with
its high taxes certainly has
the right to expect the County
Health Department to enforce
all sanitation laws, both State
and local, thereby ensuring
the residents of clean and
pure drinking water.
Mr.. and Mrs. Robert ]. Kirwan
Darnestown, Md.
With regard to the story Of
the polluted wells in Mont
gomery County in your issue
of Aug. % and the respon-
sible. professional statements
of DR.. Peoples, I should like
to pose a few questions.
l. Should the Public Health
Service keep records of the
incidence of communicable
disease?
2. Should any attempt be
made by the PHS to test wells
at all. or to attempt to clean
up any sources of potential
infection, until someone be-
comes i'll?
3. Why not close up the
testing service completely, or
just forget the routine tests,
until a few cases of dysentery,
typhoid fever, gastritis, or
hepatitis appear. This would
eliminate boredom of routine
bacterial counts, and cut
down the number of tests to
be done. 1t would also elm
mate a lot of WeariSome re-
cord keeping.
After all, since DR.. Peoples
states that drinking polluted
water isn't necessarily dan
gerous. we must be wasting
time and money with water
publication plants . as he
states, They've been drink
ing the water all along,
haven't they?"
The statement that there
are laws against speeding, but
people do it every day is a
real gem. This completely
justifies the foul-up in the
health department, of course.
If other people ignore the
laws. why can't a government
agency, entrusted with the
health of the population
ignore them too2 Isn't that
only fair?
David w. Oxley