WATER SUPPLY AND DRAINAGE OF DELAWARE. BY S. E. ALLEN, M. D., DELAWARE. MR. PRESIDENT, LADIES AND Gentlemen: The town of Delaware has as yet a water supply from no distinct source, the water for domestic use being derived either from the rain directly or from wells, with the addition of water from the numerous sulphur and iron springs in which, indeed, the whole county abounds. Owing to the universal use of soft coal the rain water is blackened, and from an aesthetic point of view made unfit for drinking purposes, thus forcing the people to the well water as a chief source of drinking water supply, or to the spring water. Rain falling upon the ground soaks through the soil, and when the soil is gravelly and underlain by a rocky or shaly impervious strata, it collects in the gravelly soil and a vast subterannean lake or river is formed. The water so collected is called ground water, in distinction from surface water, spring water, and deep-well water. In dry seasons the level of this water sinks, and in wet seasons rises. The ground water of thickly settled communities contains, of course, all the impurities and waste from human or animal sources which is washed into ground by the rain. Shallow wells, such as the majority of wells in Delaware are, the depth averaging from about 12 to 26 feet, simply form basins for collecting this ground water. In thinly settled districts the impurities in the ground water are slight, but in the thickly settled portions of a community the ground water is simply a huge sewer, filled more or less with organic waste, as the life upon the surface is more or less crowded. Shallow wells tap this sewer. In the business portions of Delaware there are numerous wells sunk into the ground water, examination of any one of which would condemn it for drinking purposes. In addition to the impurities from the surface filth, there are, in all parts of the city, numerous privy wells, contaminating the ground water for varying distances, according to the perviousness of the soil. The location of the wells has generally been simply a matter of convenience, and very often the vault or stable of the adjoining lot is quite near the well. There has been quite a number of dry vaults put in of late years, but still the number of privy wells is large. In the business portion the wells are all of them grossly contaminated. They must of necessity be so, the soil being gravelly and communication from the vault or surface easy. The water in these wells is very clear and sparkling, a proof not of their purity, but rather of their contamination, as addition of sewage in moderate amount clears up water remarkably. There can be no doubt -the case needs no discussion whatever-that the majority of the wells in the town, i. e., in the thickly settled portions, are contaminated and unfit for drinking. How is it that this water is taken inwardly, and no harm has apparently come from it? The great difficulty in discussing this question is that there is no relation whatever between pollution and harmfulness. A well may be grossly polluted and harmless, or but slightly polluted and deadly. The various infectious diseases, as typhoidfever, cholera, etc., are due to specific poisons-to specific germs. Now, there is no specific poison in excremental matter; it may be taken with impunity unless specifically polluted. The organic matter found by chemical analysis does no harm probably, although it is claimed that the albuminous matter from decaying vegetation in the pure mountain streams, causes intestinal diseases, but the albuminous matter must be in very large amount. Prof. Mallet says: "In a polluted water if the whole of the organic carbon and nitrogen found in such water, of the highly dangerous nature of which there can be no doubt, existed as strychnine, it would be necessary to drink half a gallon at once to get the ordinary medicinal dose of the drug." There is nothing in the polluted water itself that is harmful, but the evidence of organic pollution is also evidence of the possibility of contamination with specific germs. In the use of contaminated water, such as is used in many parts of Delaware, there is the possibility at any time of the wells becoming specifically contaminated, and the disease spread to all users of the water. Chemical analyses of these waters show impurities, which are derived from animal contamination, and are proof positive of the possibility of specific contamination. One may drink the water for fifty years with no harmful results, yet all the time during these years be in danger. Men insure their property against possible loss-they should certainly insure themselves against the possible contraction of disease by avoiding contaminated water. The water from the springs has no connection with the ground water. These springs are invaluable, as they have allowed of but the scanty use of the polluted wells. Delaware has no regular system of sewerage. The various drains and ditches simply taking off the surface water and house slops that are not thrown into vaults or directly upon the surface. These drains empty into various larger drains, and these in their turn into the Olentangy directly, or by means of the Delaware run. None of these drains or sewers are probably water tight. The Delaware run is an open sewer, draining a large part of the town. Upon its banks are vaults and barns innumerable. From a sanitary point of view this abuse of the run is to be condemned, because, while the run may not become specifically polluted, yet the bad odors coming from it when it stagnates are, to a certain extent, harmful-not to the well people, may be, but to the sick. A diseased person may be likened to a heavy train of cars slowly toiling up a long hill. If the tracks are not slippery and everything holds together, it may reach the top. So a diseased person may pull through, but annoyances of bad smells, etc., may be just what a slippery track is to the train. Bad odors, of themselves, do no harm except in this way: They are nuisances and annoyances but they do not produce disease. There are no charts or maps of the drains and sewers, and probably the men that dug them are the only ones that know just where they are. The absence of an efficient sewerage system-I am speaking generally, now, and with no particular reference to Delaware-allows the ground water to become contaminated; the inhabitants then live over a huge sewer, and when the level of the foul ground water rises, more or less contaminated ground air is forced into their houses and into their lungs. Delaware is not a paradise from a sanitary point of view, yet as far as sewerage goes, the present simple system of surface drainage is probably sufficient. There is such a lack of crowding here that I think no elaborate sewerage system is necessary. The soil, vast in relation to the sources of pollution, diluting the sewage to such an extent as to render it practically inert as far as contaminating the ground water and ground air is concerned. And with a pure water supply I think there will be but little. danger from foul ground air, etc. ware. All small towns have sanitary conditions similar to those of DelaIt is impossible to avoid them. There is but little or no danger as long as the people are not crowded, but of course as soon as a metropolitan existence is begun, the use of well water must be abolished and systems of water-works and sewerage introduced. The people of Delaware have decided that the town has reached that point in its development when water works are necessary, and last fall by popular vote gave a franchise to Messrs. Moffett, Hodgkins & Clarke, of Watertown, N. Y., for building and maintaining a system of water works to furnish the people with an abundance of pure water. There were but three sources from which it would be possible to obtain the water. (1) |