BACTERIA AND RURAL WATER SUPPLIES 

 By James E. Fuller, Research Professor of Bacteriology 



THE BACTERIOLOGICAL TESTING OF WATER 



For some years the Department of Bacteriology at the Massachusetts State 

 College and Experiment Station has maintained a service for the bacteriological 

 examination of privately owned rural water supplies. This service is intended 

 primarily to serve farms and rural homes. No samples are accepted from sup- 

 plies that serve the public as such, except the Amherst town supply, which is 

 tested as a service to the community in which the college and station are located. 



The methods used in the bacteriological testing of water are those formulated 

 by the American Public Health Association, in cooperation with the American 

 Water Works Association, and published under the title, "Standard Methods of 

 Water Analysis." These methods are generally accepted as standard by state, 

 municipal, and private laboratories throughout the United States. 



Experience in this laboratory, in the testing of farm and other rural water 

 supplies raises questions as to how strictly the results of the "Standard Methods" 

 examinations of such supplies shoulrj be interpreted. It happens not infrequently 

 that a well or spring would be condemned if the laboratory results were inter- 

 preted as strictly as these methods direct, even though an inspection of the prem- 

 ises may fail to disclose any source of dangerous pollution. Often water from 

 a well or spring will continue to give unsatisfactory laboratory tests when re- 

 examined, even though every effort has been made to eliminate all possible 

 sources of pollution. 



If a farm or rural water supply is condemned because laboratory tests con- 

 tinue to indicate pollution, and efforts to remedy the situation fail, the logical 

 solution of the problem is to locate a new supply. Often this is not practicable, 

 and it may even be impossible. A small farm may not offer a site any better 

 than the one condemned; and even if a new site can be located, the farmer may 

 not be able to easily afford the expense of developing a new source of supply and 

 of properly equipping and protecting it. 



Several years ago the author and his associates became interested in the prob- 

 lems of sanitation of farm water supplies, and began to conduct experiments to 

 determine to what extent positive laboratory tests actually mean dangerous 

 pollution and how rigidly the "Standard Methods" procedure and interpretation 

 should be adhered to in evaluating the sanitary quality of water from farms and 

 other rural supplies. 



The Development of Standard Methods 



The practical application of bacteriology had its beginning about the time of 

 our Civil War, when the French scientist, Louis Pasteur, proved that "microbes" 

 in wine were the cause rather than the result of a fermentation that was spoiling 

 the wine. During the next forty years the bacteria that cause many important 

 infectious diseases were discovered. Once these discoveries were made, it be- 

 came possible to determine the sources of the diseases, and it was found that the 

 bacteria causing some of them could be traced to water, milk, and foods; for 

 instance, that tubercle bacilli could be carried by milk, and that both milk and 

 water could spread the bacilli of typhoid fever, dysentery, and enteritis. 



