BAILEV AND FRANKLIN: WA'ifck^ OF THE KAW RIVER, 161 



about hvo parts more of chlorin than the city water supply. The nor- 

 mal amount of chlorin is so large that the slight increase that might 

 come from added sewage, would scarcely be noticed. At best the 

 only thing that can be done is to find out about what is the normal 

 amount in each particular water, and then by frequent analyses, a large 

 increase might be noticed and would cause the water to be regarded 

 as suspicious. 



'Vhe organic matter of these streams is large, as is denoted by the 

 free and albuminoid ammonia tests, and by the organic carbon and 

 organic nitrogen tests. The rich prairie soil of these regions is con- 

 tinually giving up to the water that flows through and over it, this or- 

 ganic material. It will continue to do this till the soil becomes im- 

 poverished, and till artificial fertilizers are a necessity. On this ac- 

 count the standards that have been adopted in England, and to some 

 extent those that are adopted in the northern and eastern states, where 

 the soil is so entirely different in character, cannot be applied here. 

 If they are too rigidly applied, all the waters of running streams, and 

 all the lake waters are excluded as sources of domestic supply. Not 

 only is this true, but the waters of many wells yield a surprisingly 

 large amount of free ammonia. This is particularly true, as has been 

 noticed by others also, in the waters of wells that are sunk in the bot- 

 toms, and that contain much iron as an impurity. Waters of this 

 class have been encountered all through the lower Kaw valley. They 

 contain so much iron, in a ferrous state, that when they are exposed 

 to the action of the air the oxidation and the escape of carbonic acid 

 allows the iron to be precipitated and a very unsightly water is the re- 

 sult. Any one not familiar with this class of waters, and accustomed 

 to guage all waters by the old standards would condemn them utterly 

 as contaminated; yet there is not, in most instances, the least oppor- 

 tunity for their pollution by sewage, or from any organic matter other 

 than that which normally belongs to the soil. 



It will be noticed that the nitrogen is mostly present in the least 

 objectionable forms, namely, as nitrates and as albuminoid ammonia. 

 Neither of these is considered as denotiug recent contamination. 



That the water of these wells is entirely of a different character from 

 that of the adjacent river is easily proven. If we take the amount of 

 chlorin in each as an index, and this has been found to be the best 

 element to use in the comparison, we see a marked difference in the 

 waters. The river water contained 9.9 parts of chlorin per 100,000, 

 while a well on the bank at the same time contained only 3.0 parts. 

 The river water contained only a trace of iron, while the well water 

 contained 3.0 parts of ferric oxide per 100,000. 



From a comparison of the water of the Kaw river and its tributaries 



