MUNICIPAL WATER-WORKS LABORATORIES. 



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The work of supplying water to a community is, however, an engi- 

 neering problem, and for some years water-works' officials and engineers 

 have felt the need of having in their own hands the means of determin- 

 ing the quality of the water. This has not been because they wished to 

 assume duties pertaining to the health authorities or because they stood 

 in fear of criticism, but because the management of the water supplies 

 demands immediate information of a character not always appreciated 

 by a physician and not always promptly obtainable from the laboratory 

 of a health department. Accordingly, there has been developed in this 

 country during the last decade an interesting group of water-works 

 laboratories devoted to sanitary supervision and to experiments upon 

 water purification. 



The first of these laboratories was that of the Boston Water Works, 

 established in 1889 by Mr. Desmond Fitzgerald, C. E., then Superin- 

 tendent of the Western Division. At that time, and for several years 

 previous, the water supplied to the city was in ill favor with the con- 

 sumers because of its brown color and its vegetable taste. The primary 

 object of the laboratory was the study of these objectionable conditions 

 and the means for relieving them, but as the work proceeded it de- 

 veloped along broader lines. The laboratory, situated on the shore of 

 Chestnut Hill Eeservoir, consisted of a small frame building of two 

 rooms, one used for general biological work and the other fitted up as a 

 photographic dark room. The working force consisted of one biolo- 

 gist and three assistants, besides a number of attendants at the reser- 

 voirs, who devoted a portion of their time to the collection of samples 

 and the observation of the temperature of the water. The following 

 were the general outlines of the work: 



The water supply of the city was derived from Lake Cochituate and 

 from a series of storage reservoirs on the Sudbury River. The waters 

 from these sources differed from each other and varied at different sea- 

 sons of the year. Accordingly, a system of inspection and analysis was 

 arranged in such a way that the superintendent knew at all times the 

 exact condition of the water throughout the system. Samples of water 

 were collected regularly from all streams tributary to the supply, from 

 reservoirs at various places and at different depths, and from the aque- 

 duct^. and distribution pipes. When these reached the laboratory they 

 were examined microscopically and bacteriologically, the presence of any 

 odor-producing organism was carefully noted and an immediate report 

 was rendered when necessary. Careful observations of color were also 

 made. When the work in Boston was started the methods of biological 

 examination of water were in their infancy. The Sedgwick-Rafter 

 method of ascertaining the number of microscopic organisms in water 

 had just been devised and the methods of plate culture of bacteria were 

 just becoming popular. The new methods were adopted in the Chestnut 



