CHAPTER VII 



REMEDIAL THEOElES AND EXPERIMENTS 



In most progressive communities the public water 

 supply has been brought under public control. The, 

 evolution of the public water supply may, for the 

 purposes of this discussion, be divided into three 

 periods, as follows: (1) The ante-organization period, 

 with private springs and wells used by individual 

 families and by groups of families ; (2) first organiza- 

 tion period, with private companies, operating under 

 agreements made with public authorities, supply- 

 ing water from some central source at a given price; 

 (3) second organization period, in which the service 

 is undertaken by the public authority in place of the 

 private company.* 



Now, one of the most potent factors in bringing 

 about the organization of the water supply was the 

 fact that polluted wells occasioned a great many 

 serious outbreaks of disease. It was practically 

 impossible to guarantee the safety and purity of the 

 water supply under the old system of individual 

 wells. In like manner the need for a more rigid and 



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