CHAPTER XIV 

 WATER SUPPLY AND SEWAGE DISPOSAL 



173. Questions for Discussion. 1. What are the principal sources 

 of pollution of the streams in your community? 2. Is pollution of 

 streams caused by necessity or carelessness? 3. Why is the water of 

 a mountain lake commonly supposed to be free from disease-producing 

 bacteria? Is such water always safe? 4. What advantages come to a 

 city as a whole from providing good water and from proper disposition 

 of sewage? 5. When a sewer system has been provided, and certain 

 house owners fail to connect their premises with it, is this a matter 

 of any concern to their neighbors? Is it a matter of concern to other 

 citizens who live in distant parts of the city? 6. If waste matter 

 is not properly disposed of on farm premises, may this concern resi- 

 dents of the neighborhood and of cities and towns close by? 7. Try 

 to secure the records of a case in your community or state where 

 typhoid fever has been spread by the use of impure water or milk. 

 What was the evidence that water or milk was the source of infection ? 

 What was done to prevent further spread of the disease ? 8. What is the 

 explanation of the fact that over 70 per cent of farm wells in Illinois 

 less than 25 feet deep were impure, while of farm wells 50 to 100 feet 

 deep somewhat over 10 per cent were impure? 9. Secure from your 

 state health department any available information regarding efforts to 

 insure pure water for the state and what still needs to be done. 



174. Sources of water supply. If we are accustomecl to 

 drinking as much water as good health requires and are 

 deprived of it for a few hours, we soon realize how very 

 dependent we are upon it. Its use in cooking and cleansing 

 is also highly important. One of the most difficult problems 

 confronting people both in city and country is to secure an 

 adequate and desirable quality of water. 



In the country or small villages dependence is placed upon 

 wells or occasionally upon springs. In a city this source is 

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