76 BULLETIN 414, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUBE. 
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 sufficiency for the 
purposes of the camp. 
The 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 
For each hog 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 l\ 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 
small 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 fill 
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\ gallons 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 
