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

APPENDIX. 229
the Massachusetts State Board of Health have shown to be the kind of
filter best adapted for the purification of water contaminated with organic
wastes.
Artesian wells—that is, wells deriving their supply from beneath impervious
strata—are of such infrequent use in our State that little need be
said in regard to them. Thej- generally 3ield a water reasonabl\- free
from organic contamination, but with an excess of inorganic impurity.
I do not think it unfair to assume that the majoritj' of artesian wells yield
water that is only considered fit for use because no other that is better can
be had, to sa}- nothing about those that no stretch of the imagination
could credit with supplying potable water.
Rain-water stored in tanks or underground cisterns — preferably- the
latter—is the most available and satisfactorj- source of suppl}' in many
localities, particular!}- where the ground water is of an excessive degree
of hardness, and running streams of suitable quality are not available.
Rain-water is the softest natural water found, and at a distance from
large cities,
or after there has been a sufficient fall to clear the atmosphere
of the man}- impurities contained therein,
is of undoubted purity.
It is not so palatable, however, as spring or river waters on account of
its freedom from mineral matter and lack of aeration, and for this reason
would be considered flat and insipid b}- one accustomed to the waters
above mentioned. To maintain the natural standard of purity in the
water it is necessary that the cistern be properly constructed in the first
place, and due care taken to keep it, v.ith its various appliances, iu
good order. It should be built in an accessible place, and convenientl}'
arranged for examination and cleansing. The custom of placing it
under some building cannot be too strongly condemned. The pump
should be at some distance, so that any waste water from various household
avocations, that are frequently carried on at the pump, will not be
likely to get into the cistern through any possible defects in the original
construction. No water should be admitted to the cistern until the roof
has had a thorough washing off, especiall}' after a prolonged season of
dry weather, and the water should pass through a suitable filtering
device. It is also considered advisable to store the rain-fall of the winter
months only; and with all of the precautions above mentioned it is very
desirable that the cistern should have a thorough cleansing each year.
I am aware that the precautions I have outlined are more often honored
in the breach rather than the observance, but it is only by the frequent
reiteration of sanitary truths that we can get a reasonable amount of
attention given to them, and it is verj- fortunate that the human organization
is no more susceptible than it is to the insidious attack of disease.
I have not touched upon the matter of determining the amount of
poUutiou in prospective sources of suppl\-, as that properly belongs to
the province of the water analyst. I have little confidence in the reli-