1893-1894 - The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

APPENDIX. 227
soap required by a hard water, as compared with a soft one, is no iucousiderable
item in the ordinary household expenditure.
Wells and springs are the most common source of supply for the household
in the majority of places. Such waters are generally of a fair degree
of purity. They are natural!}' inclined to be hard on account of taking
up a certain amount of mineral matter from the earth, but if the well is
deep and at a considerable distance from the dwelling, with the surface
drainage from the well towards the house rather than the opposite, it may
be safe to assume that the well will be reasonabh- free from organic contamination,
or the specific germ of disease. With the ordinar}- shallow
well, in porous soil, and in close proximity to dwellings or farm buildings,
it is more than likely that the water derived therefrom is totall}' unfit for
domestic use.
It may be palatable, for even sewage contaminated water
presents a bright and sparkling appearance, and the fact that no sickness
has appeared in the family for a long time, if ever, may be advanced as
evidence that the good quality of the water caunot be discredited, but in
spite of all this there is death in the tj-pe of well I have described, and in
the fullness of time the conditions will be ripe for a visit from the
oaunt forms of disease and death. The danger cannot be overestimated
of anv open well, and particularh- of this kind, becoming infected with
the specific germ of that much to be dreaded malad}-, typhoid fever, and
in this manner spread sickness and death where little expected. The last
report of the Massachusetts State Board of Health notes an
epidemic of
typhoid fever caused b}- the use of contaminated milk. The laborers iu
a field which had been fertilized with the contents of a privy that had
received the excreta of a typhoid patient were in
the habit of visiting a
certain well and, apparentl}-, some of the filth from their boots had been
deposited upon the loose plank covering of the well, which was used as a
cooling receptable for cans of milk designed for distribution to customers
at a later period.
It is stated that the cans were submerged iu the water,
instead of being suspended iu the usual manner, and that a leakage took
place about the wooden stopper of the can, but any explanation or theorizing
as to how -water finds its way into milk would appear to be uunecessar}-.
In many localities iu our State it is perhaps possible to obtain a supply
from a spring situated at some distance from the house and at such au
elevation as to deliver b}- gravity to the place of use. If the spring is
deep-seated it will be safe to assume that it is and will remain free from
pollution. Whether it is adapted to household use or not, on account of
inorganic impurities, can be quite easily determined and will be most
prominently indicated by the hardness of the water.
It is hardh' necessary to sa}' that the prospective proximity to the
spring of dwellings or tilled fields may have a detrimental effect that
should be carefully guarded against. Eternal vigilance is the price of a
perpetually wholesome supply of water.