352 



BIOLOGY AND HUMAN LIFE 



265. Water supply. Water is a fundamental need of life. 

 When we get away from the small farm, it becomes increasingly 

 difficult to supply the community with enough water of the 

 right kind, in a suitable condition, without going to some great 

 distance. In towns and cities that still depend upon separate 



30 



2-5 



20 



15 



10 



1885 



1890 1895 1900 1905 1910 



Fig. 164. Typhoid and water supply 



1915 



For twenty years the deaths from typhoid fever fluctuated between 18 and 31 per 



100,000 of the population. Since 1907, when the state authorities (New York) took 



charge of water regulation, the death rate from this disease has steadily declined 



wells or springs for water the amount of illness and the propor- 

 tion of deaths are likely to be much greater than in communities 

 that have a central water supply. To be sure, if the central 

 supply becomes contaminated, more people are likely to be 

 injured in a short time ; but it is easier to control the sanitary 

 condition of one large reservoir than that of hundreds of wells. 



