294 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



killed by a specific substance. It is only necessary to prove 

 that the waste or substance is injurious to fish or to fish food 

 to call for its abolition. 



The Departments of Health and Fisheries found a 

 gigantic problem confronting them. Municipalities could 

 not change their sewage system in a day, neither could 

 the manufacturers stgp polluting the streams within twenty- 

 four hours without closing down their establishments. 

 Both Departments therefore had to make haste slowly in 

 the enforcement of the laws. A rapid glance over the State 

 would indicate that the progress in purifying the streams is 

 less than has actually been the case. 



The Department of Health has stopped the drainage from 

 cesspools in nearly all parts of the state, outside of the 

 cities. A number of the towns have built sewage dis- 

 posal plants and nearly every town and city in Pennsylvania 

 has been served with a decree to have its disposal plant 

 completed within a definite period. In some cases until 

 the disposal plants are completed it is unwise to enforce the 

 law and put a stop to certain forms of pollution above those 

 towns, because they act as neutralizers to the sewage below, 

 and if the pollution were stopped at once disease epidemics 

 would probably follow immediately. The Department of 

 Health has in the meantime compelled hundreds of estab- 

 lishments to outline plans and experiments so that certain 

 serious pollutions may be stopped within a brief time. 

 Many other sources of pollution outside of cesspools have 

 been entirely stopped by the Department of Health. 



In the meantime the Department of Fisheries has not been 

 idle. It has been, of course, working in accord, as far as 

 possible, with the Department of Health. It aimed to 

 secure the co-operation and good will of the manufacturers 

 while making it clear that the law must be obeyed, and 

 success has been achieved to such an extent that it has not 

 been necessary in two years to prosecute more than two 

 dozen manufacturers. There are today practically few 

 saw mills in the State emptying any sawdust in the streams. 



