Читать книгу History of the Water Supply of the World - Thomas J. Bell - Страница 5

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It is an historical fact that the water supply of Rome, during the first century of our era, was so abundant “that whole rivers flowed through the streets of Rome.” The quantity was estimated at 375 million gallons per day, an equivalent to 375 gallons for each inhabitant. This supply was conducted to the city through nine costly and marvelous conduits of brick and stone, that tunneled hills and crossed rivers and ravines in the boldest manner, presenting most skillful engineering ability. The number was afterwards increased to fourteen. The principal aqueducts were: Aqua Martia, erected B. C. 431, was 38 miles in length, part of which was composed of 7,000 arches. Aqua Claudia, a subterranean channel for 36¼ miles; 10¾ miles a surface conduit, 3 miles a vaulted tunnel, and 7 miles on lofty arcades, had a capacity for delivering 96 million gallons daily. New Anio was 43 miles in length. Some of these aqueducts were made of three distinct arches, one above the other, that conveyed waters from sources of different elevations.

Constantinople presents remains of the skill possessed by the Romans in the numerous subterraneous reservoirs, covered with stone arcades supported by pillars. Pont du Gard is another relict that supplied the town of Nismes, France. “It consists of 3 tiers of arches, the lowest of 6 arches, supporting 11 of equal span in the center tier, surmounted by 35 of smaller size. Its height is 180 feet, the channel way being 5 feet high by 10 feet wide; the capacity was estimated at 14 million gallons per day.”

In Mexico and Peru are found water channels of marvelous length, while India is noted for the numerous impounding reservoirs of wonderful dimensions,—the Poniary reservoir, having an area of 50,000 acres, and banks 50 miles in extent.

While the ancients have left monuments of their skill in gathering and conducting waters, modern science has been, and is, endeavoring to leave a reputation for its devotion to the knowledge of pollution in, and purification of waters required for mankind.

The vast amount of literature devoted to this subject, containing a varied scope of discussions, arguments and analyses, has a tendency to lead one to the conclusion that wholesome water scarcely exists. In fact, the theory advanced by the Massachusetts State Board of Health, in their Fifth Annual Report, is not so premature. They say:

“The time may come when it will be necessary to supply our drinking water from sedulously guarded but limited sources of supply, and to furnish for manufacturing and other uses less pure water. This plan is partly carried out in Paris, and it is the purpose to enlarge it, although much of the water is unfit to drink.

“The injurious character of a water, impregnated with sewage matter, might not be discovered for years. You might go on using it for years and might not be discovered, and you might have some outbreak of disease in the place, which nevertheless might be connected with the use of that sewage water.”

The Rivers Pollution Commission of Great Britain struggled with this subject for six years, and at last resolved upon the following classification of potable waters:

	{ 1. Spring water.	}
Wholesome,	{ 2. Deep well water.	}	verypalatable.
	{ 3. Upland surface water.	}
Suspicious,	{ 4. Stored rain water.	}	moderately
{ 5. Surface water from cultivated lands.	}	palatable.
Dangerous,	{ 6. River water to which sewage gains access.	}	palatable.
{ 7. Shallow well water.	}

The constituent parts of pure water, in volumes, are two parts of hydrogen and one of oxygen, and by weight one part hydrogen and eight parts oxygen. When pure it is transparent, tasteless, inodorous, and colorless, except when seen in considerable depths. But having such high solvent powers and affinity for almost every substance in nature, one can account for suspicions that science places on all waters, for it is never free from impurities. And well it may not, if doctors are to be believed, for they tell us, that chemically pure water is not best for man; that good potable waters have from one to eight grains weight in each gallon of certain impurities diffused through them. Impurities are arranged under the following general heads:

Rain Water—Atmospheric influences.

Spring and Well Water—Mineral properties.

Rivers, Lakes—Vegetable and animal organisms.

But what can we consider good drinking water? Dr. Frankland, of England, has given the following as a minimum limit of mechanical and chemical impurities held in suspension or solution, to be considered bad or polluted liquid:

A. Every liquid which has not been submitted to precipitation, produced by a perfect repose in reservoirs of sufficient dimensions, during a period of at least six hours; or which, having been submitted to precipitation, contains in suspension more than one part by weight of dry organic matter in 100,000 parts of liquid; or which, not having been submitted to precipitation, contains in suspension more than three parts by weight of dry mineral matter, or one part by weight of dry organic matter in 100,000 parts of liquid.

B. Every liquid containing in solution more than two parts by weight of organic carbon, or three parts of organic nitrogen, in 100,000 parts of liquid.

C. Every liquid which, when placed in a white porcelain vessel to the depth of one inch, exhibits under daylight distinct color.

D. Every liquid which contains in solution, in every 100,000 parts by weight, more than two parts of any metal, except calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium.

E. Every liquid which in every 100,000 parts by weight contains in solution, suspension, chemical combination or otherwise, more than 0.5 metallic arsenic.

F. Every liquid which, after the addition of sulphuric acid, contains in every 100,000 parts by weight more than one part of free chlorine.

G. Every liquid which in every 100,000 parts by weight contains more than one part of sulphur, in the state of sulphuretted hydrogen or of a soluble sulphuret.

H. Every liquid having an acidity superior to that produced by adding two parts by weight of hydrochloric acid to 1000 parts of distilled water.

I. Every liquid having an alkalinity greater than that produced by adding one part by weight of caustic soda to 1000 parts of distilled water.

J. Every liquid exhibiting on its surface a film of petroleum, or hydrocarbon, or containing in suspension, in 100,000 parts, more than 0.5 of such oils.

But to arrive at a fair and impartial conclusion, authorities now agree that analyses and investigations must be often, and for a prolonged period of not less than one year. The aim of modern scientists, in their analyses, is to detect the amount of organic (especially sewage) contamination. Dr. Frankland’s method is by the estimation of organic carbon and nitrogen, while Wanklyn, Chapman, and Smith reach their conclusions by estimation of nitrogenous organic matter, by breaking up the organic bodies and separating their nitrogen in the form of albuminoid ammonia. Ammonia is the measure of that portion of organic matter not decomposed but in state of or capable of undergoing putrefaction.

The maximum amount of free ammonia permissible in good drinking water is .5 of a grain per 1000 gallons, and of albuminoid ammonia .9 of a grain per 1000 gallons.

Upon the above basis the relative merits of the following waters may be formed:

Number of Grains of Sewage in Each Thousand Gallons.

Cities.	Source.	Date.	Authority.	Free Ammonia. Grains.	Albuminoid Ammonia. Grains.	Remarks.
Philadelphia	Schuylkill	1874	Booth & Garrett	1.17	1.76	Fairmount.
“	“	“	“	5.85	5.11	Belmont.
“	“	“	“	7.31	5.12	Flat Rock.
“	“	“	“	1.46	7.31	Perkiomen.
“	“	“	“	17.50	8.75	Spring Garden.
“	Delaware	“	“	25.74	11.70
London	ArtesianWell	“	“	none	1.75	Bryn Maws.
“	Thames	“	“	1.00	5.31
Detroit	Detroit	1879	Stearns	3.09	7.29	Hydrant.
Hoboken	Passaic	1880	Leeds	1.72	19.22	Hydrant water.
Jersey City	Passaic	“	“	2.96	22.28	“
Patterson	Passaic	“	“	1.50	30.90	“
New York	Croton	“	“	1.60	15.70	“
Brooklyn	Long Island	“	“	.50	4.80	“
Boston	Lake Cochituate	“	“	7.60	35.60	“
Rochester	Hemlock Lake	“	“	.90	13.00	“
Philadelphia	Schuylkill	“	“	.60	10.50	“
Wilmington	Delaware	“	“	2.00	17.50	“
Baltimore		“	“	2.90	11.70	“
Washington	Potomac	“	“	3.50	15.70	“
Oswego		“	“	2.00	15.20	“
“	Well	“	“	4.90	12.30	“
Cincinnati	Ohio River	“	“	6.70	14.00	“
“	“	“	Stuntz	.87	1.40	Markley Farm, best condition.
“	“	“	“	2.45	36.42	Markley Farm, worst condition.
“	“	“	“	3.15	4.37	Dayton Sand B’ch best condition.
“	“	“	“	2.33	14.24	Dayton Sand B’ch worst condition.
“	“	“	“	13.48	11.67	Eden Reservoir, best condition.
“	“	“	“	12.20	42.50	Eden Reservoir, worst condition.
“	“	“	“	2.92	9.10	Pump House, best condition.
“	“	“	“	4.43	79.73	Pump House, worst condition.

The Rivers Pollution Commission value the quality of water by the previous sewage or animal contamination, as they term it. This expression is obtained by taking, as a standard of comparison, the amount of total combined nitrogen (which is assumed as 10 parts), in solution, in 100,000 parts of average London sewage. The parts of nitrogen obtained, in the form of nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia, less .032 part of 100,000 for that portion in rain, is that nitrogen derived from animal matter. Animal matters dissolved in water, such as those contained in sewage, the contents of privies and cess-pools, or farm-yard manure, undergo oxidation in lakes, rivers and streams very slowly, but, in the pores of an open soil, very rapidly. When this oxidation is complete, they are resolved into mineral compounds; their carbon is converted into carbonic acid; and their hydrogen into water; but their nitrogen is transformed partly into ammonia and chiefly into nitrous and nitric acids. The following table is a compilation of their analyses:

Potable Waters, from Analyses by Rivers Pollution Commission, (1874,) (Parts of 100,000 Parts.)

	Organic Carbon.	Organic Nitrogen.	Previous Sewage.
	parts	parts
Rain-water, collected in leaden gauges	.070	.015	42
“ “ “ from roofs, etc., for domestic use	.257	.080	12031
Dew or hoar frost collected on leaden gauges	.264	.076	1536
Sea-water	.278	.165	103
Upland surface, from non-calcareous strata	.278	.033	0
“ “ from calcareous strata	.346	.037	33
Land drainage water, from sewage farms	.082	.191	10443
Deep well waters, in the chalk below London clay	.093	.028	797
Spring waters, from the chalk	.044	.010	3511
Bristol, from springs and deep wells	.172	.024	16620
Edinburgh, from springs and streams—water filtered	.145	.026	2020
Glasgow, from Loch Katrine	.204	.017	0
Liverpool, Green Lane well	.020	.020	3840
“ Rivington River, gravity supply, unfiltered	.243	.031	0
“ “ “ “ “ filtered	.210	.029	0
Birmingham, from Bourne River, normal	.211	.039	2480
“ “ “ “ in flood	.640	.059	3890
“ “ “ “ filtered	.460	.045	2720
“ from Aston well	.034	.006	1440
“ mixed waters—river and well	.040	.010	1380
London, Thames water from Hampton Grand Junction Works	.246	.033	3270
“ “ “ after subsidence “ “ “	.262	.042	3270
“ “ “ after filtration “ “ “	.231	.032	3140
Jacob’s Shallow Well, at Sheffield	1.200	.126	590

They consider reasonably safe water, when it is derived from deep wells, (say 100 feet,) or from deep-seated springs, although it contains previous animal sewage, but does not exceed 10,000 parts in 100,000 parts of water. Suspicious or doubtful water is, first, river or flowing water which exhibits any proportion, however small, of previous sewage; and, second, well or spring water containing 10,000 to 20,000 parts. Dangerous water is, first, river or flowing water which exhibits more than 20,000 parts of previous animal contamination; second, river or flow water containing less than 20,000 parts of previous contamination, coming from sewage discharged into it directly, or mingling with it as surface drainage; third, well or deep-seated springs containing more than 20,000 parts, because previous contamination is in direct proportion to the amount of such contamination.

The value of an analysis, sanitarily considered, is questioned. Mr. Simon, medical officer of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, testified, before the Royal Commission on Water Supply, on this point, as follows:

“There are dangerous qualities of water supply with regard to which, so far as I know, chemists are totally unable to measure, even to demonstrate the fatal influences that a water may have. A water may be, for instance, capable of spreading the cholera, but chemists be unable to identify the particular contamination which produces that effect. It is, I think, a matter of absolute demonstration that, in the old epidemics, when the south side of London suffered so dreadfully from cholera, the great cause of the immense mortality there was a badness of the water supply then distributed in those districts of London.”

Prof. Frankland says:

“That we have no reason to believe that the injurious character of either sewage or of the gases from a drain depends fundamentally upon the quality of that sewage or of that gas. In all probability it far more depends upon the quality of the sewage, namely, what it consists of. Now, what is the nature of the poisonous matter in the atmosphere or in the sewage? We do not know that, at all; therefore you can not possibly say when that poisonous matter is got rid of from the water or from the air. Chemical analysis can not do it, for its limit is by the power of weighing and measuring. It is not sufficiently advanced, and is one of the poorest things possible to reach those delicate points.”

Vital statistics are sources of reliable information; and from them we can learn more of the propagation or dissemination of certain diseases through the water supply, and the relation of water to health. The cholera epidemics of Great Britain exhibit striking examples.

The following are tabulations from the Rivers Pollution Commission Report, 1874:

LONDON.
YEAR.	CHARACTER OF WATER.	MORTALITY.	RATE PER 10,000.
1832	Polluted	5,275	31.4
1849	Very much polluted	14,137	61.8
1854	Less polluted	10,738	42.9
1866	Much less polluted	5,596	18.4

Between the years 1849 and 1854, the water supply was much improved by removal of intakes to purer sources.

The area of intense cholera of 1866 was confined within the limits of the foul or unfiltered water supply by the East London Company; and, when notified and stopped the rate of deaths immediately decreased. It was almost exactly the area of this particular water supply, nearly if not absolutely filling it, and scarcely at all reaching beyond it.

MANCHESTER AND SALFORD.
YEAR.	CHARACTER OF WATER.	NUMBER OF DEATHS.
1832	Used polluted water	890
1849	Used polluted water	1,115
1854	Used pure water	50
1866	Used pure water	88

In 1851 the new supply of unpolluted upland-surface water was introduced in place of shallow wells.

GLASGOW.
YEAR.	CHARACTER OF WATER.	NUMBER DEATHS.	RATE PER 10,000.
1832	Polluted water	2,842	140
1849	Polluted water	3,772	106
1854	Polluted water	3,886	119
1866	Pure water	68	1.6

In 1859 the present source, Loch Katrine, was first used for water supply.

PAISLEY AND CHARLESTON.
YEAR.	CHARACTER OF WATER.	NUMBER OF DEATHS.
1849	Polluted water	182
1854	Polluted water	173
1866	Pure water	7

The testimony of Dr. Daniel Richmond, the medical officer of Paisley, before the Rivers Pollution Commission of 1874, in reference to the cholera epidemics, is of sufficient interest to be embodied verbatim:

“1. Have you any complaint to make of the water supply? No. The water that we have in Paisley is of a very superior character, and there is an unlimited supply to the whole of the inhabitants. The supply is constant, and I regard that as one of the greatest blessings the people ever received.

“2. Is there any water used which is obtained from wells? None. During the last epidemic of cholera the wells were ordered to be entirely shut up.

“3. When did the last epidemic of cholera occur? Four years ago. But I should say it was not epidemic in Paisley then. It was threatened in 1866.

“4. Had you any cases of cholera then? No. There was a danger felt about it, but I had no fear of it; and I expressed that opinion before the Sanitary Committee, that we should have no attack of cholera, and that the city of Glasgow would not have it.

“5. On what did you found that opinion? Upon the unlimited supply of pure water that we had, and on the supply of pure water that Glasgow had obtained from Loch Katrine.

“6. Was your prediction fulfilled in both cases? Yes.

“7. When had you cholera last in Paisley? Was it in 1854? In 1854.

“8. Had you an attack of cholera in 1849? Yes. A very sharp attack.

“9. What was the state of the water supply in 1849? In 1848 and 1849 the town was but partially supplied with water, and some of the large suburbs, such as Charleston, were not supplied with the town’s water. Charleston was supplied with water from wells. There was one well that belonged to Baille Smith, which supplied a large quadrangle of buildings; that well was at the bottom of an incline, surmounted by buildings on all sides except one. Those wells took a supply from the surface. They were surrounded by dung-pits, and the wells imbibed the impurities of the dung-pits. I took occasion to warn the people of the district not to use water from the wells, but to get the town’s water. I recommended the authorities to open pipes connected with the town’s water, and to supply Charleston with pure water; and very soon after that was done the cholera disappeared from that district. At the last threatened visitation of cholera, in 1866, the Sanitary Committee took the precaution to remove all the handles from the pumps, and they had the wells shut up.

“10. Do you think there is a direct connection between the water supplied to a town and the propagation of cholera? I believe that there is a very intimate connection between the use of impure water and the propagation of cholera; and the proper antidote to that is a free and unrestricted supply of pure water.”

In Calcutta the yearly death rates from cholera averaged nearly 4,000 from 1841 to 1870. When water-works were introduced the rate of deaths were:

1870	1,560		1872	1,068
1871	790		1873	1,134

The famous Broad Street pump, in London, in 1848, killed 500 persons in a single week.

In 1866 many deaths occurred from the use of water from a famous pump in Brooklyn. All trouble was brought to an end when the health officers removed the handle.

Typhoid fever and diarrhea are universally traced to impure water, and numerous examples can be given that were directly due to this cause. The enterprising town of Rugby, on the Cincinnati Southern Railroad, furnished us with a case of this nature. In Millbank Prison, England, typhoid fever was especially fatal until the year 1854, when the supply was taken from an artesian well in Trafalgar Square, instead of the Thames; and immediately thereafter, and up to April, 1872, a period of eighteen years, there have been only three deaths from typhoid fever.