The Water Supply of Albany. By Peter Hogan. 



[Read before the Albany Institute, May 20, 1873.] 



The subject of a water supply for large cities, involving 

 as it does not only the pecuniary advantages for manufac- 

 turing purposes, fire protection and domestic use, but also 

 the sanitary condition of a community, is a problem which 

 in many cases is rendered difficult to solve. 



In its varied condition of vapor, li juid and solid form, 

 water is constantly performing some of the most essential 

 and important functions of nature and of the physical pur- 

 poses of life. It is ever present in the atmosphere, supply- 

 ing an essential element in the air we breathe. It is present 

 in our food, both liquid and solid, constituting in some of 

 the latter from 75 to 96 per cent of the total amount. The 

 human body itself has full 50 per cent of water in its 

 formation. It is not sufficient, therefore, in providing for 

 a water supply to simply guard against a Chicago or a 

 Boston disaster. 1 The varied requirements for manufac- 

 turing purposes and domestic use, as well as a proper fire 

 protection, should be provided for ; but in selecting a source 

 of supply the essential sanitary requirements incident to a 

 densely populated district should be strictly regarded. 



The importance of this subject is daily becoming more 

 apparent Recent investigations have finally discovered 

 the immediate cause of many of the epidemics, — typhoid 

 fever, cholera and other similar diseases, which have long 



1 We have just received intelligence of a terrible conflagration at Isaka, 

 Japan, in which many lives were lost ; the fire raging a whole day and 

 night ; and also of a still greater conflagration at Hong Kong, China, cov- 

 ering an area of 44 acres of buildings, rendering 5,000 people homeless. 



