136 The Philippine Journal of Science ibis 



During the year 1914 the Bureau of Public Works alone 

 drilled 120 deep wells, 103 of which were successful, while prov- 

 inces and private individuals drilled perhaps an equal number. 

 The total number of deep wells in the Islands is over 1,000. 



The progress of the movement for better water supply may 

 be judged from the fact that over 50 water-distribution systems 

 are already in operation, and that many municipalities, some 

 of them very small, are planning to install systems in the near 

 future. Two recently completed installations — at Roac, Marin- 

 duque, and Sariaya, Tayabas — are typical of what can be done 

 in small towns. The former supplies from 3,000 to 4,000 people 

 and derives its water from two deep-pumping wells; the latter 

 supplies about 4,000 people and takes its water from a large 

 spring on Mount Banahao, 6 kilometers from the town. The 

 largest single project being developed at present is that of Iloilo, 

 to which reference has already been made,' where an installation 

 capable of supplying 55,000 people is being planned. 



LABORATORY V^ORK 



The Bureau of Science passes judgment on all newly de- 

 veloped public water supplies before th£y are made available to 

 the public, and as there is no water laboratory outside of Manila, 

 this central laboratory has been receiving a steady influx of 

 water samples from all parts of the Islands. During the year 

 1914 about 200 chemical analyses and 2,100 biological examina- 

 tions were made. 



As many of these samples are not properly taken, are ac- 

 companied by insufficient data concerning the sources from 

 which they come to justify conclusions concerning their pota- 

 bility, and are very old when they reach the laboratory, owing 

 to the poor transportation facilities in some parts of the Islands, 

 their sanitary analysis is of doubtful value. Under such con- 

 ditions the judgment of water, not an easy task at best, often 

 becomes impossible, especially as the insufficiency of the work 

 done on Philippine waters and the diversity in quality of waters 

 to be found even in restricted areas have made it impossible 

 to establish fixed standards. 



It is being generally recognized * that single "sanitary analy- 

 ses" of waters are often of little value, especially when the 

 analyst does not take the sample. The failure of the "conven- 

 tional grind of nitrogen determinations" is amply demonstrated 



" This Journal, Sec. A (1915), 10, 65. 

 ' Cf. Barnard, Eng. Rec. (1913), 68, 297. 



1 



