74 BULLETIISr 414, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Portland cement mortar is described in Bulletin 230 of the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, which may be procured at 10 cents per copy 

 from the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, 

 Washington, D, C. 



For the purposes of wells for temporary camps, in which a wooden 

 casing is used, a certain degree of protection may be obtained by 

 extending the wooden casing above the ground level and banking 

 around it a shield of earth, 18 inches deep at the casing and sloping 

 away from it to the ground level about 6 feet away. 



If the water is to be raised from the well by hand, a hand pump is 

 better from a sanitary standpoint than the famihar rope and bucket, 

 since the bucket coming in contact with dirty hands may carry pollu- 

 tion to the water in the weU. The joint between the pump and weU 

 cover should be protected with a tin flashing to prevent water from 

 rimning back into the well. 



If it be necessary to use a bucket, a shelf should be built on the side 

 of the windlass box, so that when not in use the bucket may rest on 

 the sheK instead of on the well cover. A better method suggested 

 by the United States Public Health Service consists of a closed wind- 

 lass box provided with an automatic device for emptying the bucket 

 through a spout. By this method the handling of the bucket is 



avoided entirely. 



Surface Water Supplies. 



Surface water supplies are more liable to pollution than either 

 springs or weUs. Streams, lakes, and ponds receive a large amount 

 of contaminating matter washed from the section which they drain, 

 and usually the sanitary conditions of the up-stream watershed are 

 beyond the control of convict camp officers. 



Double Water Supplies. 



Though the practice of using surface supplies generally is to be con- 

 demned, it is sometimes impossible to supply more than the drinking 

 and cooking demands of a camp from underground sources. In such 

 cases it may be necessary to resort to a surface supply to obtain water 

 for washing and other purposes. This condition existed at one of the 

 camps visited, and river water was being used, without any hesitation 

 for general camp purposes, notwithstanding the fact that it was 

 known to be dangerously polluted, and had caused an epidemic of 

 typhoid fever. It is true that the water was heated when used for 

 bathing and washing clothes, but there could be no assurance that the 

 temperature was high enough to kiU the germs, nor, apparently, 

 was there any hesitancy in adding unheated water in sufficient 

 quantities to reduce it to a comfortable temperature for bathmg. 

 Furthermore, even when, as in the camp referred to, a pure water is 

 provided for drinking purposes, it is a well-known fact that many 



