The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1875.

Evening Star, Issue 3986, 3 December 1875, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1875.

The recent action taken by the City Council to obtain powers enabling them to extend the water supply of the City and suburbs deserves the thoughtful and attentive consideration of the citizens. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the present service is, looking at the rapidly increasing demand, one imminently inadequate to the requirements of Dunedin. We have, it is true, a reservoir of some capacity, but we are not altogether sure that the storage system is the best that can be adopted. The fact that it has been found necessary lor sanitary purposes to cleanse the upper reservoir, and that during the process the lower or main one was all but empty. Is suggestive, it serves to show, that our hitherto boasted water supply is sadly deficient, and that the extension of the service has come to be a matter of imperative necessity. The question therefore arises, how shall tho deficiency in supply and the defect in quality be remedied 1 and upon this point we feel sure our readers will be interested in reading the following extracts from an exhaustive article on the “ Water Supply of Towns and Cities,” published by the ‘New York Herald’; . Analytical chemists have asserted that the oxidising process, to which organic matter is subjected in running water, is such as to insure a thorough pnri- ; hut tho theory is based entirely upon the effect, which oxygon has upon decomposing organic matter, and is entirely inferential iu its character. It cannot surely be maintained that oxygen is destructive in itself of all animal and vegetable germs. If it were so, oxygen, instead of being tho groat element of life, would be the chief agent of death All organic matter is but the development of germs, and an infusorial germ, which may bo iu a perfectly healthy and harmless state at certain temperatures, becomes diseased and destructive of health at a higher degree of temperature. It was remarked by a distinguished American scientist Professor A. A. Have-;, of Boston, who was iu London iu 1858, when the Thames river became such a scourge as to fill the whole city with alarm and consternation, that the cause of the calamity was really du' t* the sudden rise iu temperature which took place in the waters of the river; in fact, that uu increase of sdeg. Fahrenheit caused a wholesale destruction of germs and a consequent putrescence, productive of wide-spread aiseose. This element of temperature may he considered always in connection with the accumulation of water in storage reservoirs. The presence of organic germs cannot bo ignored. Water in storage reservoirs derived largely from the drainage of open farmins: country and incipient villages, is necessarily mixed with leaves, droppings of animals, and organic impurities. Iu this condition it is exposed, especially iu the hot weather of midsummer, to the direct action of solar light and heat. It is during this season of the year that the rapid development of animal and vegetable organisms takes place from spores conveyed into the water from the atmosphere and the earth, to live, propagate, die and become putrescent. The constant recurrence _ of these] conditions, move particularly in water which remains at rest or moves slowly, ns iu lakes, canals, and reservoirs results iu an accumulation of living organisms of putrescent matter which renders tho water unsuited for human consumption. Even animals suffer from dr ukiug water of this character. .Some larval forms, living in water, have to pass through the stomach of animals before they are known to affect Inman beings. The angnillulc, flueiatllU, which affects the intestinal canal of fl»h, is believed to originate tho disease called “ trichina,” which has been so fatal to consumers of pork. Putrescible vegetable mattei in drinking water, the refuse of a starch manufactory, has caused tho death of cows sheep, and fish. ’ It is utterly wroug to suppose, as hos been stated, that a dilution of twenty parts of pure water, even after running together for some distance, will render contaminated water lit for dietetic use. A much larger dilution than this has been known to produce dholcra, typhoid, and other fevers. Indeed, the fallacy of such uu assert ion becomes apparent when it is remembered that tho one hundred thousandth part of yeast, a minute fungus, which the microscope shows to consist of myriads of living cells or vesicles, when added to a vat of sweet wort, with a marvellous rapidiiy of growth, converts* the whole of it into an intoxicating drink; and if the °rowth of the fungus is not stopped at the right moment, putrefaction sets iu, followed hy animal organisms that change it into vinegar. The effects of fungus conveyed into tho hj ood circulation through drinking water are sometimes of the most startling and distressing nature. '1 ho fungus foot disease of India, which is frequently followed by the loss of feet and hands, is due to this cause Tho Damascus sore, a disease that has spread all over the East, is due to a minute vegetable cell that grows with wonderful rapidity, destroying the skin, and ultimately killing tho patient. Some of tho smaller auimacules found iu water are not more than the thirty thousandth part of an inch in size, and yet one microscopic entozoa which finds its way into the blood will multiply there iu thousands. (Jabez Hogg, Loudon.) The power and the value of the microscope must be fully understood and appreciated iu connection with water supplies. Without underrating the importance of chemical analysis, it is nevertheless certain that it is not safe to rely upon it alone. The septic poison of water is undoubtedly clue to infusoria, and not to matters iu solution. Hence simple analysis fails to reach the difficulty. Thi* brings us to another branch of this subject which is entitled to grave consideration. It is well known that within the last few years many large provincial towns and other populous places in England Lave been compelled to abandon entirely the use of the water of rivers for domestic purposes This has been in consequence of the impossibility of maintaining tho rivers free from pollution in thickly populated sections of country. The towns and parishes of Pluinstead, Woolwich, Charlton, Deptford, and Greenwich have abandoned the use of water from the Raveusboume, ind resorted to subterranean water for a supply’ The town of Hull and its suburbs have abandoned the use of the River Hull. The town of Nettingham Las abandoned the use of the Trent. The town of Birmingham has abandoned the use of the Eiver Taino. The city of Canterbury tho River Stour. All these and numerous other cities and towns in England depend for their supply upon subterranean sources. In view not only of the possibility, but the probability, of a similar conctitiou of affairs manifesting itself iu this country in consequence of a rapidly increasing population in certain localities from which supplies of water are now derived, it becomes a matter of importance that tho subject of obtaining water from subterranean sources should bo undo stood. Tho cases whore large quantities of water issue from tho surface at one spot, so us to bo depended upon ns a permanent supply fora town, are exceedingly rare, although such instances do exist. Tiia e is a spring at Vauclu.se, in France, which supplies ns much water daily as is delivered iuto tho city of New York by tho Croton aqueduct; and there are other places where very great quantities of water issue from the earth. The true source, howew r of a subtemuv an water supply is found through the means of what are known as artesian wells Many wells of this character have been sunk iii Cull oi cut parts of tho United Sttiles, soino of i hem to the depth of from 1,000 to 2,000 feet ohtainiug an ample supply of good water. The vast palasozoic basin, whie constitutes the greater part of this continent, being composed of successive ayers of sedimentary rocks, occupying a generally horizontal position, is peculiarly adapted for sup. plying water through artesian wells; and whenever the time shall come that the density of suburban population, and tho consequent pollution of water supply, requires the abandonment of the inodes now generally resorted to, it is very probable that all the water demanded may be obtained from suhi erranrau sou, cos. Tho greater purity of water hum this source, in being always free from the possible contamination of organic matter, would entitle it to a preference over any oilier. ho conditio,, of the water even now distributed in some ciiies of the United States, to the manifest injury of general health, demand-* a caieful examination of this question. Jersey City, in tho State of New Jersey, is a notable instance. The drinking water of this place is polluted by tho sewn go of several large towns, and if this use of the contaminated watej, 1 if persisted in, the population will

«oire day be deoimatad by a fearful peetilence. J. v . en now it is a dangerous locality for residence, it is necessary that we should look at it from the broadest point of view. We build thousands of miles of railway, whereby all the States of the Republic are locked in one vast iron chain of mutual interests and mutual benefits. We construct, with the aid of the public of the Commonwealth, hundreds oi miles of canal, for the development of' our material resources, and the interchange of commodities. Is it not much more imperative that, in the interests of the public health—in the preservation of life that must otherwise be sacrificed—plans for the supply of water, pure and undented, snout; he dovised and executed on a scale which yi onld embrace lai go sections of territory, supplying small hamlets, growing towns, and incipient vi-lagcs, as well as largo cities, in its extended course, bringing to thousands of home* its abundant blessing*?—that in connection therewith grand cloaca; should be constructed, like these of old Koine iu its glory, which would be equally effective in removing from whole lines of villages, in its descent to the sea, all the impurities that now endanger health and life? Surely nothing that we can do or tno future is more imperiously demanded than comprehensive plan* for preserving the health of the generations which are to follow us. Salas populi Mt supremo, lets. The above extracts speak volumes; they are at the present time singularly appropriate, and prove, to our mind at least, conclusively that the system of storage reservoirs is objectionable to a degree, and we cannot but express a hope that the City Council, before proceeding te exercise the powers conferred upon them by the Assembly for the construction of additional reservoirs, will ascertain how far a sufficient and pure supply of water can be provided by other means. The Water of Leith is to our hand; could not its stream be rendered available by means of a weir, from which, by mains, an ample supply of the purest water could be laid on to all parts of tbo city and suburbs. We commend this suggestion to the attention of the City Council.