PUBLIC WATER SUPPLIES — HISTORICAL. 29 



$2500. 



Perhaps, however, the river is too deep, and the construction of 

 the filter-crib out of the question. There are still a couple of cheap 

 schemes available. The city of Painsville, Ohio, has adopted the 

 followiner method of obtaining pure water from Lake Erie : Wood- 

 en gaHeries or tunnels are built along parallel and close to the 

 lake. The water from the lake filters into the structure and is 

 pumped out. Over one million gallons are obtained in that way 

 and the cost was only nominal when comi)ared with a modern 

 filtration plant. 



Still another scheme which under the circumstances may prove 

 advisable. Crys*^al City, Mo., adopted the following method, 

 known as Horizontal Push Wells. A trench was dug beside the 

 river and from this trench, by means of jacks, .several eight-inch 

 pipes, each fitted with sixty -five feet of strainers, were driven 

 under the bed of the river. The water filters down through the 

 bed of the river and into the pipes. The cost was small and the 

 yield is 1,300,000 gallons per day, This scheme, of coui-se, would 

 not work well where the stream bed is of heavy clay. 



The schemes outlined above for obtaining pure water do not 

 compare very favorably with more modern methods, but wheu 

 some cheap way out of a difficulty is necessary, they may often 

 prove advisable. 



Some towns declare that they will never drink anything but 

 spring water, and to that end build large retaining reservoirs to 

 gather the flow from streams and springs. This is commendable, 

 but it must not be overlooked that surface waters are demanding 

 every year an increasing toll of death. In Germany, the law is 

 that all surface waters must be filtered, and England has moved 

 along similar lines. Although it is probably too early for Canada 

 to take such steps, still the time will come, and at the present 

 every effort should be made to see that the drainage area is well 

 patrolled, and all sources of pollution promptly stamped out. 



There is one comforting fact that should be tou.ched on. As 

 long as the average annual rainfall of the Maritime Provinces 

 continues to be forty inches, there is no danger of any of our 

 municipalities finding themselves in the awkward predicament of 

 being unable to find sufficient water. 



