CHAS. E. FOWLER. 271 



of land we desire an abundance of water also. Conse- 

 quently, while European cities are content and cleanly 

 with twenty-five or thirty gallons of water per inhabi- 

 tant per day, American cities require from three to five 

 times that quantity. To meet this extravagant demand 

 has, therefore, occupied the attention of projectors and 

 authorities largely to the exclusion of the more impor- 

 tant considerations of quality. 



The more general distribution of sanitary knowledge 

 has directed public attention to the fact that the quality 

 of water supplied to a community has even more direct 

 relation to its health and prosperity than the quantity 

 and investigation and efforts are being put forth accord- 

 ingly. 



The recent growth of municipal water supplies in this 

 country has been something remarkable, as regards 

 numbers. The Manual of American Water Works, issued 

 in 1890, stated that— 

 In 1800 there were 5 public water supplies in the U. S. 



Showing that from 1881 to 1889 more than twice as many 

 public water suppplies were constructed as existed prior 

 to 1881. Of course the enormous later development con- 

 sists of the smaller cities and villages that seem to have 

 realized at once the greater convenience as well as health- 

 fulness due to public water supplies in general. 



Of the 1,960 municipal water supplies 6xisting in the 

 United States in 1890 it may be said that 192 had at that 



209 



