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Show fGRIGULTURE 4 J CHEMICAL PROBLEMS. Edited by Prof. Robert Stewart, Utah J Experiment Station. I DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY By E. H. Walters, Assistant in Chemistry, Chem-istry, Utah Experiment Station. I The most important use of a water 1 supply in any community is that of , furnishing a suitable water for do- mestic purposes. The value of purity 1 is, 'by many not rated as high as it , should be. From time immemorial tfic highest value has been placed upon1 up-on1 a' pure water supply. We note In past centuries that the ancient Romans Ro-mans appreciated the lurking dangers in polluted waters when they spent so much time and labor to bring their water supplies through their magnificent magnifi-cent aqueducts from sources beyond die reach of -pollution. And upon this '" point many consumers of our own day would! be greatly benefited did' they heed the teachings of Hippo-' Hippo-' crates of ancient times who advised ffl boiling and filtering a polluted water ij before using it for drinking. The '0 transmission of certain bacterial diB- f cases such as typhoid fever by polluted I wafers is now universally recognized, and the value o a community of d " I pure supply when compared to one p constantly polluted by sewage can I scarcely be overestimated. t Many cities and towns in our state ' have no public water system and I therefore the source of water for do- - mestic purposes is the well or a I spVing. In the order of wholesomc-f wholesomc-f ncss'pure spring waters lacking in all 1 metallic impurities rank first followed f by pure, shallow and artesian well waters. River water comes last bc- ' i cause of it carrying more or less filth. It is usually believed that spring water is always pure. Such is not the aasc. A spring which is fed by rains ahej' percolating surface waters is of- ten suspicious- and should be guarded a'gSinst, as organic refuse, either of liutnan, animal or vegetable origin is generally found on the surface of the ,sbil, It is -evident that the surface waters would be dangerously pollut-c'd'.' pollut-c'd'.' 'Often in hilly or mountainous districts the depth and thoroughness Qf percolating surface waters over and through masses of rock is so limited ' ttiht' the water is not as pure as normal nor-mal 'ground-water. Thus spring wat- ers coming from -sources of this character char-acter arc unsafe. The sources of contamination con-tamination arc so numerous and the 'dangers of polluted waters arc so great that top much care cannot be taken of a pure water source. The spring should be protected from alt (Tminagc of filth deposits of different characters and from being invaded by animals. Much carelessness in the location of the well with regard to sources of sewage infiltration often result in polluted pol-luted waters which cause outbreaks of different diseases. No proper conception con-ception of the right location for the house well ever seems to enter the minds of most of our rural people, and if water can be obtained from 1 spot conveniently near for gcncrvl house work, the quality of such supply sup-ply is seldom considered. The op-poitunity op-poitunity for the contamination of well water, particularly that of the common domestic well, is often very great. The common practice on the farm, arid even in small towns is to dig n n the yard or garden, two holes; into one of these usually the shallower of the two, all the filthy liquids of the house arc discharged; from the, other which is sunk 'below the water line, the water for drinking and other domestic do-mestic purposes is pumped. These two holes are often very near each other, in many cases within oi few feet. The contents of the cesspool soak away through the surrounding soil and finally mix with the water in the well. As the contents of the well arc pumped! out they ard replaced by these filthy waste liquids. Unfortunately Unfortu-nately the filthy liquids do not give a bad taste to the water after having soaked through a few feet of porous soil. Thus the polluted water is used over and over without even at suspicion sus-picion of its character until an outbreak out-break of some epidemic disease demands de-mands attention to the dangerous water. ? if In many towns the boards of health determine the minimum distance between be-tween a well and a cesspool, or any filthy waS'c deposit. But it has been proven by careful experiment that considerable great distances of soil filtration has failed to protect a well fi'om pollution, the source of which is constant in character. Besides the dangers of transmitting a disease by water another objectionable objection-able feature for domestic purposes is the presence of carbonates and sul- !! miiiii Mian an man m fatcsoflime, andjmagnesiumater M containing these substances is known M as jiard water. The presence of carj M bonatcs cause the so-called tempos H ftty hardness while sulfates cause per- H mancnt hardness. The removal of H temporary hardness is brought about M by simply boiling. It can also be re- H moved by the addition of lime usually M as lime water and removing the pre- H cipitate by filtering or allowing it to H subside. ; -, H Simple filtration and the. removal of H the impurities by the application of M certain chemical agents are the mcth- H ods in general use for purifying water. H The filtering process is the one used M in the majority of cases in the house- M hold. There are many kinds of filters H but the one used most extensively is H the chamberlain-Pasteur filter. This M consists of tubes of unglazcd por- M ctlain. At first this yields a clear M filtrate entirely sterile. But after M continued use the suspended matter H in the water. accumulates on the sur- H face of the filtering tube and causes M an increase in the number of mi-. M crobes, -some species of which seem M to go through the pores of the fil- fl tcr anct are carried into the filtrate, fl thus the filters should be cleaned often and heated or boiled in water for M 'some time to kill the germs. H |