346 THE WATER FROBLEM OF A LARGE CITY 



decaying leaves and twigs, or humus. The decaying vegetable 

 matter which covers the forest floor acts more or less as a sponge, 

 and quickly absorbs falling rain and melting snow. The water 

 which thus passes into the humus and the soil beneath does 

 not remain there, but slowly seeps downward, and finally after 

 weeks and months emerges at a lower level as a stream. Brooks 

 and springs formed in this way are constant feeders of rivers and 

 lakes. 



In regions where the land has been deforested, the rivers 

 run low in season of prolonged drought, because the water 

 which should have slowly seeped through the soil, and then 

 supplied the rivers for weeks and months, ran off from the 

 barren slopes in a few days. 



Forests not only lessen the danger of floods, but they help to 

 conserve our waterways, preventing a dangerous high-water 

 mark in the season of heavy rains and melting snows, and pre- 

 venting a shrinkage in dry seasons when the only feeders of 

 the rivers are the underground sources. In the summer of 

 1911, during a prolonged drought in North Carolina, the city 

 of Charlotte was reduced for a time to a practically empty reser- 

 voir; washing and bathing were eliminated, and machinery 

 dependent upon water power and steam stood idle. Thousands 

 of gallons of water were brought in tanks from neighboring 

 cities, and emptied into the reservoir from whence it trickled 

 slowly through the city mains. The lack of water caused 

 not only personal inconvenience and business paralysis, but it 

 occasioned real danger of disease through unflushed sewers and 

 insufficiently drained pipes. 



The conservation of our forests means the conservation of 

 our waterways, whether these be used for transportation or 

 as sources of drinking water. 



