76 BULLETIN 414, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



QUANTITY. 



The adequacy of the water supply of a convict camp is nearly 

 as important as its purity, and before a given source is decided 

 upon for use an investigation should be made to determine the 

 quantity of water it will supply per day, and its sufl3.ciency for the 

 purposes of the camp. 



TTie customary uses of water in convict camps are for drinking, 



cooking, kitchen washing, bathing, laundering, watering of stock, 



and fire protection. When it is to be used for all of these purposes 



the following table will give some idea as to the amount which should 



be available: 



Approximate quantities of water required per day. 



Gallons. 



For each inmate and officer 25 to 30 



For each horse or mule 6 to 10 



Foreachhog 2 to 3 



Thus for a camp of 40 men and 5 officers, and maintaining 30 

 mules and 4 hogs, a minimum supply of 1,313 gallons per day will be 

 consumed, based upon an estimate of 1,125 gallons for the officers 

 and men, 180 gallons for the mules, and 8 gallons for the hogs. The 

 water consumption will vary from day to day and from season to 

 season, and will be greater in arid than in humid regions. 



The amount of water supplied by the source should be somewhat 

 in excess of the estimated consumption to provide for excessive 

 drafts under unusual circumstances, and also to prevent the com- 

 plete draining of the source each day, which is undesirable. Thus, 

 for the camp assumed above, the supply should yield about 1,800 

 gallons per day, which represents a flow of 1 J gallons per minute. 



If the source be a well, the determination of the flow and the ade- 

 quacy of the supply may be made as the well is dug by measuring 

 the amount of water baled out in a given time. If it be a spring, a 

 smaU bank of earth may be thrown up entirely around it, and in this 

 way it can be forced to overflow through a pipe inserted in the bank. 

 The flow then can be determined by noting the time required to fiU 

 a bucket or tub. When the source is a brook, there usually is little 

 doubt of its adequacy for the purposes of camps of ordinary size. A 

 stream only 12 inches wide and 2 inches deep and flowing at the rate 

 of only 1 foot per minute will yield a supply of practically 1 \ gallons 

 per minute, or enough for the camp of 40 men mentioned above. 



Storage. 



Assuming in the foregoing example that the flow of water from 

 the source is exactly 1\ gaUons per minute, it will be observed that 

 a full day of 24 hours will be required for the accumulation of the 

 1,800 gallons, necessary for the use of the camp. But this amount is 

 used during only about half that time, and the length of time during 

 which the water actually is drawn off is much less than that. It is 



