| Sample | TOTAL SOLIDS. | MATTER, ORGANIC & VOLATILE. | CHLORINE. | PERMAN- GANATE TEST. | ALBUMINOID AMMONIA. | FREE AMMONIA. | REMARKS. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gramme | Gramme | Gramme | Drops | Gramme | Gramme | ||
| 1. | 0.400 | .012 | .008 | 10 | .000045 | none | Good water. |
| 2. | 0.586 | .28 | .004 | 12 | .00005 | none | Good water. |
| 3. | 0.699 | .047 | .025 | 9 | none | none | Excellent. |
| 4. | 0.496 | .08 | .006 | 10 | none | none | Excellent. |
| 5. | 0.454 | .069 | .038 | 9 | none | .0001 | Excellent. |
I have in my possession partial and complete analyses by Prof. E. T. Cox, of waters from nine other driven wells in the city. The analyses show that these wells furnish good potable water.
The occupants of large buildings are often supplied with water from tanks on the upper floors. If the tanks are not properly constructed and well inclosed, the water pumped into them may be contaminated at any time by impurities.
Given below are analyses of waters drawn from tanks in large blocks.
The quantities are in one litre.
| Sample | TOTAL SOLIDS. | MATTER, ORGANIC & VOLATILE. | CHLORINE. | FREE AMMONIA. | ALBUMINOID AMMONIA. | REMARKS. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gramme | Gramme | Gramme | Gramme | Gramme | |||
| 1. | 1.032 | .14 | .09 | .00004 | .00012 | Bad. | |
| 2. | .554 | .089 | .075 | .00015 | .00009 | Good | |
One person who lived in the former block died of typhoid fever, and many others had sickness from the use of the water.
The question of drainage and water supply of cities, should take the precedence of every other question, for upon its proper solution depends thousands of lives. Those in authority should understand its importance, and feel the pressing necessity of more thorough sanitary work. Hygiene is not only a subject of scientific interest to the medical man, but its problems and discoveries ought to be of great practical importance to political economists and legislators, who usually occupy themselves with subjects which benefit the common people very little. It appears that the best engineering talent, and great amounts of money, have been employed, to furnish cities and towns with inexhaustible supplies of water without sufficient regard to quality.
To economically furnish water in ample quantity, is an object of great importance; but it is of more consequence that the water obtained is not contaminated by sewers, cess-pools, and surface drainage to such an extent that disease and death shall be scattered broadcast; among those who drink the water. There are those who claim that a small proportion of sewage in drinking water does not necessarily prove deleterious to health.
The English Rivers’ Pollution Commission published conclusions based on the examination of some two thousand samples of water claimed to be drinkable; condemning river water because it is liable to contamination from drainage of cultivated land, towns and manufactories. According to their decision “the admixture of even a small quantity of the infected discharges (of persons suffering from cholera or typhoid fever), with a large volume of drinking water, is sufficient for the propagation of those diseases among persons using such water.”