170 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



in Illinois that are free from possible contamination." 

 Again it is declared that ' ' all running streams are in dan- 

 ger of pollution." To this it can be added that many of 

 our streams are now polluted. 



The report of 1917 listed 433 municipalities with water 

 supplies, of which 189 are from rock wells ; 149 from drift 

 wells ; 67 from streams ; 22 from Lake Michigan, and 10 

 from springs. To these must be added the tens of thous- 

 ands of drift wells on private premises. One must also 

 consider the hundreds of municipalities that do not yet 

 have public supplies and whose needs must be kept in 

 view. 



Let us take first the pollution of the run off as ex- 

 hibited in our streams. This is accomplished by the con- 

 tamination of watersheds as well as by the discharge 

 of waste and sewage into the channels. Cedar Fork, a 

 small stream that flows through Galesburg, furnishes an 

 illustration. Untreated sewage and much waste go into 

 this and render the water foul and exceedingly offensive. 

 These putrid discharges poison the water for eight to ten 

 miles below the city. Estimating the watershed of the 

 creek at seven square miles, when it crosses the west city 

 limits, this creek would have in a year of average rain- 

 fall a run off of 1,500,000,000 gallons of water, with seep- 

 age of possibly a quarter of a billion more. Sewage ren- 

 ders all this absolutely unfit for use. If this water were 

 conserved and impounded the gas company and other 

 industries along its banks would have an ample supply. 

 As it is, not a frog will venture into it for miles below the 

 city and fish life was long since extinguished. Live 

 stock will not drink the water and the stream, which 

 might be an asset, is changed into a liability to the farm- 

 ers. 



This is not an isolated case by any means. Because 

 it is easiest and cheapest, cities and factories all over the 

 the State are using streams as open sewers and recep- 

 tacles for waste. Neither lake, river or creek is spared. 

 When we are discussing this, we naturally think of Chi- 

 cago, but after an investigation I am convinced that most 

 of the cities of the State, little and big, are equally guilty 



