DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY 269 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



located well and disregard of hygienic principles, are using water of very doubtful 

 quality. 



We have enlarged from time to time in the annual report of the Division, and 

 elsewhere, upon the great risk of pollution that follows when the well, usually quite 

 shallow and drawing merely on the ground water of the immediate environment, is 

 located in the barnyard, near the farm buildings, or otherwise in the proximity to 

 sources of contamination. Unfortunately, such wells are only too common. Conveni- 

 ence has been secured but health jeopardized; in too many instances the results has 

 been polluted water, a water that is a serious menace to good health. We take the 

 position that such wells should be abandoned at the earliest possible moment and 

 that, until a purer supply is available, there should be no neglect in boiling all the 

 water required for drinking and culinary use. Boiling will not make bad water good, 

 but it will make it reasonably safe as regards the possible dissemination of infective 

 disease germs. When the location of the shallow well is satisfactory from the hygienic 

 standpoint it may yield a good water, and a safeguard of considerable value may be 

 adopted by keeping an area of say fifty yards radius around the well free from manure 

 and all kinds of filth (preferably this area should be sod) and by lining the well, say 

 to a depth of ten feet from the surface, with puddled clay or concrete. This lining 

 may be from six to twelve inches thick and should project some twelve inches above 

 the mouth of the well to preclude the entrance of surface wash. The impervious 

 lining ensures that all water entering the well shall pass through at least a certair 

 layer of soil that is able to perform its function as a natural filter. 



Next in order is the bored or driven well, obtaining its supply from a deep seated 

 source, the well being sunk through one or more layers of impervious rock until a 

 water-carrying stratum is reached. Such wells constructed so that not only is surface 

 water excluded but that there is also a perfect sealing where the pipe enters the solid 

 rock, are strongly advocated and it is gratifying to be able to record they are replacing 

 the shallow, ground-water well on Canadian farms. Ordinarily they yield a water of 

 good quality and quite palatable, though one perhaps not quite so suitable for certain 

 domestic purposes as the softer water from shallow wells. Occasionally the salinity 

 is high, especially from the presence of sulphates, but in most districts tbe water is 

 seldom non-potable from this cause. But it must not be supposed that the bored well 

 is always and necessarily free from organic impurity; instances have come under 

 our notice in which the presence of drainage matter has been shown both by chemical 

 and bacteriological examination. The pollution may have arisen from faulty sealing 

 where the pipe enters the rock, or, as is more frequently the case, by the passage of 

 the pipe through a shaly rock or one full of fissures which allowed the downward flow 

 of surface water without exerting any purifying influence thereon. 



Provided the farmer has found by such means an ample and good supply, a pump 

 may be installed, actuated by windmill, small gasoline or hot-air engines and the water 

 piped to tanks in the house and barns. The convenience, comfort and economy in 

 labour of such a service, in addition to the value to be placed upon a wholesome 

 supply, make it one ideal for the rural home and well worth the cost of installation. 

 It permits not only a constant supply of water in the kitchen but the putting in of 

 a bath-room and the disposal of sewage by the septic tank system — modern conveni- 

 ences which undoubtedly tend to better health conditions. 



We must add one word of caution as to the judging of water by tbe farmer from 

 its appearance, its temperature and its odour or absence of odour. Usually, if a water 

 is not objectionable to sight and smell it is considered satisfactory. A water may be 

 clear and sparkling, very cool and odourless and yet be most seriously polluted. There- 

 fore, reliance should not be implicitly placed upon these characteristics, though they 

 are those which all good waters should possess. 



