84 
SANITARY NOTES. KHARTOITM 
Method of 
supply 
Shallow wells 
Deep wells at 
Hurre 
sample taken from mid-stream, opposite the Gordon College, gave 84 organisms per 1 c.c. 
Water taken from near the bank contained excretal (“ Flaginac”), B. coli, in 1 c.c., while this 
organism was present in 5 c.c. in water 
from mid-stream, but was not found 
in 0 02 c.c., 01 c.c. and 1 c.c. of such 
water. At present the water is collected 
anywhere along the banks. It is baled 
by the water porters into canvas sacks, 
carried by donkeys, and is then 
distributed throughout the town. 
Nearly every household possesses zeers, 
large earthenware filter jars, into which 
the water is put, and the clear filtrate is 
used for drinking and other domestic 
purposes. 
Water for the troops is collected at a 
special place above the town, and, as far 
as possible, the water porters are made 
to take their samples up-stream, but it 
is impossible to exercise any special 
control in this direction when some 
three miles of foreshore on each bank have to be watched, and the control has to be'icommitted 
in large measure to the Egyptian police, who are practically useless for sanitary purposes. 
Care is taken to prevent water being taken from pools at low Nile. 
The river water is very palatable, and as long as the river is not stagnant it does not, 
despite statements to the contrary, appear to be a cause of communicable disease, largely, 
I believe, because enteric fever is rare, because the bulk of water is very great, because 
saprophytic organisms successfully combat the pathogenic, and because most of those who 
drink unfiltered and unboiled Nile water are not very susceptible to such disease conditions. 
At the same time, it is bacteriologically impure, and it is a very disquieting fact that 
the town has still to rely chiefly on a supply which is readily open to contamination in the 
presence of an epidemic of cholera, enteric fever or dysentery. Moreover, the method of 
supply leaves much to be desired, and would have been improved ere this, but that the new 
works were begun nearly four years ago, and one has lived in hopes of seeing the new 
supply supersede the old. So far these hopes have not been realised. 
Water is also obtained from the numerous shallow wells, but such water, which is always 
impure from a bacteriological and chemical standpoint, and is usually hard, is not generally 
employed for drinking purposes. It is used for washing, cooking, irrigating gardens and 
watering animals. It is sufficient to say that, as a rule, B. coli of a “ flaginac and excretal ” type 
is often present in so small a quantity as 0'02 c.c. In a few cases the drinking of such shallow 
well-water appears to have induced dysentery, and in one instance this was associated with 
the presence of Bacillus pyocyaneus. The relation of the level of the water in these wells to 
that of the Blue Nile is a very interesting subject, which is now being studied. Charts are 
being prepared by the Irrigation Department, and Mr. Drummond, of the Gordon College, has 
kindly collected some data as regards the village wells at BuriA. The work, however, is not 
yet complete, so that it is not desirable to tabulate it at present. 
The proposed supply is to he derived from a chain of seven deep wells sunk at BuriA ; the 
one nearest the Nile being 30 feet from its southern hank. The deepest of these wells is 
300 feet in depth, and they undoubtedly tap a deep water which Dr. Beam has shown contains 
