410 The Philippine Journal of Science im 



The need of a systematic water survey in the Philippine Islands 

 is strikingly apparent. Attention has repeatedly been called 

 to this need as shown by the following quotation from an annual 

 report of the Director of the Bureau of Science :^^ 



Our knowledge of the quality and quantity of available Philippine water 

 supplies is extremely limited. * * * the bacterial count of water has 

 little significance after a sample has been drawn for an hour or two 

 without being kept on ice, and sanitary and mineral analyses of water 

 should be considered more in the nature of a series of experiments than 

 as giving results from which one may make a direct interpretation of 

 the potability or medicinal value of the water. All classes of water analyses 

 simply assist us to judge the character of the water. Without an accurate 

 knowledge of the normal constituents of the source, the conditions under 

 which the sample was taken, and the other factors which influence it, it 

 is impossible to pass judgment upon a water. An investigation and 

 study of all medicinal and thermal springs in the Islands should be 

 undertaken, and a reservation as a public domain of a suitable area 

 surrounding those of value should be made. It seems to me that it is 

 a duty the Government owes to future generations to provide an adequate 

 water survey at the present time. When funds are available, an ap- 

 propriation should be made to this Bureau for carrying on a careful 

 survey of Philippine water supplies. 



The standards laid down for water in the United States, espe- 

 cially in regard to chlorine and ammonia content, are not appli- 

 cable to conditions in the Archipelago, and unless a special study 

 of the subject of water supplies is carried on it will be many 

 years before the routine work will have furnished enough data 

 to warrant definite conclusions. There are also much-needed 

 analytical results which can be secured only with a portable 

 laboratory in connection with field work. 



Even at the present time there are many valuable data in the 

 possession of the Bureau of Science which should be much more 

 useful to persons interested in the problem of water supply than 

 has been the case. Thousands of pesos have been spent in drill- 

 ing wells in the Islands in places where a study of available 

 geologic and chemical data would have shown conclusively the 

 impossibility of obtaining a suitable supply of water. A careful 

 survey would prevent unwise expenditure in unknown barren 

 districts. 



By combining the geologic information with all available chem- 

 ical and biological data concerning the water occurring in any 

 one district, it should not be difl[icult to establish safe limiting 

 values for the normal constituents of water to serve as a basis in 

 determining its fitness for any particular purpose. 



" Cox, 12th Annual Rep. P. I. Bur. Sci. (1913), 107. 



