IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 
91 
A STUDY OF A CONTAMINATED WATER SUPPLY. 
J. B. WEEMS. J. C. BROWN. 
A pure water supply is one of the most valuable posses- 
sions which nature can give to any community. The 
value of a pure water supply is realized more readily by 
those who live in a city or town where the population is 
concentrated than by those living in the country where 
the families are isolated. 
A contaminated water supply is a very expensive pos- 
session for a city, and as the natural result of experience, 
great attention is given to insure a pure water supply by 
the larger cities and towns. Expensive water works and 
filter beds are erected in order that pure water may be 
supplied, and the money spent for this purpose is one of 
the best investments that can be made by a city or town. 
In the country and small towns, shallow wells are used 
as a means of obtaining a water supply. The water which 
is furnished by these shallow wells is, no doubt, at first in 
a pure condition, but in course of time little or no atten- 
tion is paid to the surroundings, and a natural result is 
that a condition is reached which is favorable for the con- 
tamination of the well. 
The average individual depends entirely on the taste and 
smell of a water to determine whether it is pure or not. 
As long as the water remains clear and has no offensive 
taste or odor, the water will be regarded as pure. And in 
this lack of realization, as it were, by those who use shallow 
wells, there is no doubt the cause of many an epidemic 
of diseases, the germs of which are readily distributed 
by means of water. A recent epidemic of typhoid fever 
gave an opportunity for a chemical investigation of 
a number of shallow wells, the object of the investigation 
