No. 6. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 205 



THD POLLUTION OF DOME^STIC WELLS. 



By Pkof. C. B. Cochrax. Wtst ChesUr, Pa. 



As our country is gradually becoming more thickly settled and the 

 sources of pollution of springs, streams and lakes are constantly in- 

 creasing, the problem of obtaining a pure water supply for towns and 

 cities is becoming more and more difficult of solution. 



Since the character of the water supply of a city or town is a matter 

 of great importance to a large and continually increasing number of 

 people, skillful investigation attended with the expenditure of much 

 time, labor and money is usually given to a solution of this ques- 

 tion. If, in any case, the problem is not satisfactorily solved the 

 newspapers or other periodicals are very apt to assume the respca- 

 sibility of calling public attention to the impure character of the 

 water supply. In this way the inhabitants of a city or large town 

 usually acquire some knowledge as regard the quality of the water 

 furnished for their daily consumption. 



On the other hand, the subject of the water supply of country 

 homes is almost completely ignored by the public press. And, as a 

 consequence, the average individual deprived of this common means 

 of information forms the very natural conclusion that the water 

 from a well or spring located in the country is the very emblem of 

 purity and counts himself fortunate in being able to obtain his water 

 supply from such a source. 



Why should the water from this country well be impure? It re- 

 ceives the surface drainage of no village, town or city. Xo sewers 

 or factory wastes or other similar sources of pollution sometimes 

 found contaminating public water supplies, can pollute it. Further- 

 more, it is a universally admitted truth that water percolating 

 through the earth in regions remote from thickly inhabitated areas 

 is usually wholesome and palatable. 



While these facts argue strongly in favor of the sanitary condition 

 of couotry wells and springs we have yet to consider the effect of 

 such possible sources of pollution as barn-yard, privy vault and house- 

 hold wastes. 



Assuming that no surface drainage from any of these sources can 

 reach the well, we are still in ignorance as to what may take place 

 below the surface. The impression that water, no matter how badly 



