324 



MODERN METHODS OF WATER PURIFICATION. 



Stead was bring"ing" out a precipitation with lime, which he 

 later modified to lime and permanganate of potash, which 

 treatment since its recommendation by him as being better 

 adapted than alum for our water was adopted in preference 

 to other methods of treatment, and has proved remarkably 

 successful. 



These chemical additions to the water are made in the settling 

 pools in the proportion of lime 5 gr. and permanganate i-20th 

 gr. per gallon (on occasions, when required, this has been 

 slightly increased), and the difference between the water sup- 

 plied to Bloemfontein, before beginning chemical precipita- 

 tion and since then, is as the difference between night and 

 day, both as regards the appearance of the water and its free- 

 dom from water-borne disease causation, as can be seen in 

 the returns of notifications of typhoid and the death-rate from 

 that disease, particulars of which will be found in the follow- 

 ing' tables : — 



BLOEMFONTEIN EUROPEAN CIVILIAN POPULATION. 



Notifications of Enteric Fever for each Month of the 

 Years 1904, 1905, 1906, 1907 and 1908. 



1904 



1905 



1907 



1908 



January 



February 



March 



April 



May 



June 



July 



August 



September 



October 



November 



December 



47 

 At 

 48 



16 



239 



91 



S3 



16 



BLOEMFONTEIN EUROPEAN POPULATION. 

 Deaths from Enteric Fever — Comparative Figures. 



Year. 



Number of 



Deaths from 



Enteric Fever. 



Percentage 

 of total 

 deaths. 



! Rate per 



10,000 of population 

 per annum. 



24-5 



i6-2 



i6-6 



19-8 

 9-3 

 /•I 

 3-04 



i0'04 

 1-98 

 3-33 

 3'i9 

 3-i8 



83 



41 



2-75 



Therefore, seeing" what a great improvement had come about 

 through adoption of the principle for which in the first in- 



