A Comparative Bacteriological Study of the Water Supply 
of the City and County of Denver, Colorado 
By WALTER G. SACKETT 
There is, perhaps, no city in the United States where an 
abundant supply of pure, wholesome drinking water is more im¬ 
portant to the health of the public at large than Denver, Colorado. 
This is very apparent to any one who has traveled in the West dur¬ 
ing the summer time and has observed the thousands of tourists 
who visit the Capitol City each season. Even with her magnifi¬ 
cent climate, cloudless skies, and her other natural advantages, 
Denver could never have attained to her present enviable position 
among the cities of the world as a health resort and a most desir¬ 
able place to live, were it not for her splendid supply of pure, 
mountain water. 
Pure as such a water is believed to be in the popular mind, 
yet a supply of this character may become the source of much 
grief from a health standpoint and may prove extremely danger¬ 
ous to the community unless it is under the constant supervision 
of experts who watch its chemical and bacteriological character 
from day to day. 
The Denver Union Water Company, a Colorado corporation 
organized in 1894, which supplies Denver with its water, has 
recognized the great importance of bacteriological and chemical 
examinations of the water, as well as the necessity for the accurate 
control of its filters and sterilizing plants. To this end it main¬ 
tains a modern chemical and bacteriological laboratory in Denver 
in charge of Dr. H. I. de Berard. The laboratory is finished thru- 
out in white enamel, has cement floors, and in every respect pre¬ 
sents a most pleasing 'and sanitary appearance. Its equipment, 
including electrically heated and regulated incubators, sterilizing 
and distilling apparatus, is of the very latest design. 
Daily analyses of the water from each source of supply, as 
well as from different taps over the city, are made in the Com¬ 
pany’s laboratory to test the condition before it enters the filters 
and after it is treated. An accurate check is thus kept on the 
work done each day by each unit of the system. Any trace of im- 
