MUNICIPAL WATER-WORKS LABORATORIES. 175 



entering the supply. Thus new fields of work have been opened to 

 the laboratory. The center of gravity of the system is now much farther 

 from the city than formerly, and the logic of the situation points to the 

 future establishment of a laboratory upon the watershed operated in 

 connection with a department of sanitary inspection and equipped for 

 chemical as well as biological work. 



In 1893 the Public Water Board of the city of Lynn, Mass., 

 fitted out a small room in the basement of the City Hall to serve 

 as a laboratory for microscopical work. Weekly samples were col- 

 lected from the supply ponds and examined by one of the lady assist- 

 ants in the office. The results of the examinations were used by the 

 superintendent in the operation of the works, and in several instances 



Fig. 2. Mt. Prospect Chemical Laboratory. 



they proved the direct means of preventing the consumers from receiv- 

 ing water of an inferior quality. They also resulted in the undertaking 

 of improvements in one of the reservoirs and tributary swamp areas that 

 materially reduced the growths of troublesome algse. 



Bad tastes and odors in the water supply of Brooklyn, N. Y., led to 

 the establishment of Mt. Prospect Laboratory by the Department of 

 Water Supply in 1897. As this laboratory is typical of its class it de- 

 serves more than a passing notice. Situated upon the shore of Mt. 

 Prospect Reservoir, near the entrance to Prospect Park, the laboratory 

 has a fortunate location. In addition to being within convenient dis- 

 tance of the office of the department, the main distribution reservoirs of 

 the city and the railway depot at which samples from the watershed are 



