326 PUMPS, AND THEIR VALUE TO MAN 



Camping. Its pleasures and its dangers. The allurement 

 of a vacation camp in the heart of the woods is so great as 

 to make many campers ignore the vital importance of securing 

 a safe water supply. A river bank may be beautiful and teem- 

 ing with diversions, but if the river is used as a source of drink- 

 ing water it will usually prove fatal to some. The impure 

 water can be boiled, it is true, but few campers are willing to 

 forage for the additional wood needed for this apparently un- 

 necessary requirement; then, too, boiled water does not cool 

 readily in summer and is disagreeable for drinking purposes. 



The only safe course is to abandon the river as a source of 

 drinking water, and if a spring cannot be found, to drive a 

 well. In many regions, especially in the neighborhood of 

 streams, water can be found ten or fifteen feet below the sur- 

 face. Water taken from such a depth has filtered through a 

 bed of soil, and is fairly safe for any purpose. Of course the 

 deeper the well, the safer is the water. 



With the use of a good pump, campers can, without grave 

 danger, throw dish water, etc., on the ground somewhat re- 

 mote from the camp. This will not injure their drinking water 

 because the liquids will slowly seep through the ground, and 

 as they filter downward will lose their dangerous matter. 

 All the water which reaches the well will have filtered through 

 the soil bed and will probably be safe. 



While the careless disposal of wastes may not spoil the 

 drinking water (in the well to be described), other laws of 

 health demand a thoughtful disposal of wastes. The mala- 

 rial mosquito and the typhoid fly flourish in unhygienic quarters, 

 and the only way to guard against their dangers is to allow 

 them neither food nor breeding place. 



The burning of garbage, the discharge of waters into cess- 

 pools, or, in temporary camps, the discharge of wastes to dis- 

 tant points, through a cheap sewage pipe insures safety to 



