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Lyons. No public supply. Two private supplies examined were found to be unsuitable for drinking purposes, as they were heavily mineralized.

Newark. No public supply. One private supply was found to be of poor quality.

Worthington.-A private concern built in 1897, furnishes the water supply for this town. The water is from bored wells and is pumped to a standpipe. One private supply was found to be of good quality.

HAMILTON COUNTY.

Arcadia. No public supply. Five examinations of private supplies have been made; one was heavily polluted, three were found to be receiving sewage and one was a good supply.

Carmel. No public supply. One private supply was examined and found to be unfit for drinking purposes.

Noblesville. The Noblesville Water and Light Company, a private company, built in 1891 and 1892, gets the supply from driven wells. The water is pumped into a reservoir and about 400,000 gallons per day are used. Fifteen private supplies have been examined, ten of which were only of fair quality, two very heavily polluted and three were suitable for drinking and domestic purposes.

A SPECIAL INVESTIGATION OF NOBLESVILLE WATER SUPPLY.

For several years past the character of the Noblesville water supply has been under suspicion. That the suspicion has been well founded is shown by the fact that at certain times every year mild epidemics of gastro-intestinal disorders simulating typhoid fever have appeared. While the persons affected generally recovered in the course of a few days, yet the large number of cases occurring at the same time led to the conclusion that the trouble must be with the water supply. As frequent chemical analyses have shown the water to be of unsatisfactory quality, and in response to a request from the City Board of Health, during the month of June a careful study of the supply was undertaken, and the following report rendered:

REPORT ON THE NOBLESVILLE WATER SUPPLY.

The water supplied to the consumers of the Noblesville Water Company is derived from two sources, one a series of driven wells 50 feet deep which draw on a vein of water in gravel underlying hard pan, and the other two wells 275 feet deep which are drilled into the limestone. The shallow wells are driven in the bottom of two brick walled wells so con

nected as to be practically one reservoir and flow wherever the water level is sufficiently low in the wells. The water from the deep wells is raised by an air lift and pumped into the reservoirs which contain the flowing wells. The mixed water is taken from the reservoirs by the pumps and distributed by direct pressure. The reservoirs have a united capacity of 50,000 gallons and are located on the bank of White river, 30 feet from low-water mark and at the lowest side of the drainage area for a portion of the city. The reservoirs are brick walled and roofed, and at present are level with the ground, which is, however, largely made land. They are 25 feet deep and the wells are driven 25 feet below the bottom of the reservoirs. The bed of White river is practically on a level with the bottom of the reservoirs, and when the river is high the water comes nearly up to the top of the reservoir and is separated from it by a bank of earth but a few feet in thickness. The Wayne street sewer, composed of loosely-jointed sewer pipe, passes within 30 feet of the reservoir and it outlet is 70 feet away. At this point a pool of sewage, filled with undecomposed and partially decomposed fecal matter, is constantly standing. This pool of sewage is fifteen feet from the river at low-water mark and about ten feet above the bottom of the river. The surface drain of Wayne street is fifty feet from the reservoir. It is the practice of the engineers at the pumping station to rely on the supply from the shallow wells as far as possible, but through the summer season this supply is inadequate and it becomes necessary to use the air lift on the deep limestone wells for a portion of each day.

The character of the water in the deep wells is distinctly different from that taken from the shallow wells, and consequently the composition of the water in the reservoirs varies according to the proportion of each water present.

COMPARATIVE COMPOSITION OF WATER FROM THE DEEP WELLS, SHALLOW

WELLS AND WHITE RIVER.

As is commonly the case with deep well waters, the free ammonia content is high and the nitrate content low. The solid content is lower than that of the mixed water in the reservoirs and the hardness is practically the same. The chlorine content is somewhat higher than that of the mixed water. Two samples of river water, one taken one and one-half miles above the pumping station, show a decidely different composition from the deep well water, in that the solid contents are higher, the chlorine content much higher and the nitrate and nitrite contents also higher than in the deep well water. It is apparent that the water in the deep wells is derived from a vein entirely protected against seepage from the river.

Water taken from a second deep well belonging to private parties was almost identical in comparison with water from the deep wells of the Water Works Company and undoubtedly came from the same vein. In order to determine the normal composition of water from shallow wells located on the watershed supplying the shallow wells of the water company, four analyses of water from driven wells have been made. In every case nitrates and nitrites were present, and in other respects the

waters were all similar in composition and in character and were evidently drawn from the same vein as that tapped by the shallow wells of the water company.

CHARACTER OF THE PUBLIC SUPPLY.

Because of the fact that the water delivered at the taps and stored in the reservoir is a mixture of two supplies of entirely different character, and the more because the mixture is never constant in its proportions, the analytical data obtained on samples of the public supply is not as concordant as might be desired. There is, however, a relatively constant composition and the results are uniform in showing departures from the normal. Twenty-eight analyses have been made of water taken from private taps or from the reservoir during the past year. The results uniformly show high nitrates and nitrites, two factors that do not appear in the waters from the deep wells, or at most are found only in small quantities. These factors must therefore be derived from the shallow well water. The factor most constant has been the hardness, which has usually stood between 27 and 30, in but four cases being outside these limits. This is due to the fact that the deep and shallow well waters are of the same hardness.

A presumptive test has been made for the bacilli coli communis in all of the samples. his test determines the presence of bacteria of the same type as the colon bacilli more than it identifies this particular specie. The presumptive test is very valuable when negative results are obtained, since it shows the absence of all bacilli of the colon type. With the exception of a sample collected on the 6th of February, 1907, all samples collected between June, 1906, and' April 24, 1907, were free from bacilli of the colon type, but beginning with April 24th, the presumptive test has shown B. Coli, or closely related forms, to be present in 11 out of 15 samples. These determinations have been made on tap samples rather than on samples taken directly from the reservoir. Since the B. Coli are frequently present in reservoir waters, but disappear in the supply pipes, the results are the more conclusive as showing the presence of B. Coli in the water.

Water taken from the stratum tapped by the shallow wells of the water company when in a normal condition, that is, when taken from a drainage area free from inhabitants and unaffected by farming or manufacturing operations, should not show the presence of nitrates or nitrites and should have a chlorine content below 1.0. Such a water would be considered a pure supply. A water might contain nitrates in considerable quantities and have a high chlorine content, and still be safe for drinking and domestic purposes, because whatever impurities had been deposited on the water shed had been fully oxidized and removed by natural filtration before reaching the water-bearing stratum. None of the chemical contents are of themselves injurious. They are but indexes of pollution, and as they vary they mark either an increase or decrease in the amount of polluting material or a change in the efficiency of the ground, which, acting as a filter, removes injurious bacteria and undecomposed organic matter, either by holding them back or destroying them by oxidation and nitrification.

The fact that a series of analyses, extending over a year, shows in every instance the presence of nitrates, nitrites and a chlorine content above the normal, and, moreover, that for the last four months the bacilli of the colon type have been present in 73 per cent. of the samples, is sufficient indication of abnormal conditions. The nitrate and nitrite contents of this supply are not constant, but vary from day to day, apparently independently of the increase or decrease in the proportioning of deep well water present. Water analysts accept the fact that "a state of change is a state of danger." If this criterion is applied to this water, it indicates an unsatisfactory condition. Whether or not the water supply is a "safe" water, or is to be classed as "doubtful" or "dangerous," depends entirely on the character of the material that is responsible for the unusual composition.

It becomes necessary to explain, if possible, the presence of the abnormal chemical constituents and bacteria before a tru value can be placed upon the water.

The wells are, as has been shown, in the same stratum as the 30-foot driven wells on the same water shed. These wells, while not seriously polluted, do not furnish normal water and are evidently fed by rain water which falls upon the thickly-settled drainage area and filters downward to the water-bearing stratum, carrying with it all soluble impurities which may be present upon the surface. Since this drainage area is underlaid by gravel beds of excellent quality, it is probable that water in the 30-foot stratum is free from dangerous contamination and would continue to remain so if all privies, open vaults and cesspools upon the drainage were abandoned and sewer connections maintained by every householder. The impossibility of obtaining this condition leaves the water in this stratum in constant danger of receiving a load of inefficiently oxidized and purified sewage.

As before stated, two sewers empty their contents within 70 feet of the reservoir, and pools of human excreta stand upon the surface to pollute the air with stench and the underlying ground for yards around.

Dr. Vaughan, reporting upon the pollution of the ground by privies, said:

"In order to ascertain to what extent soil was contaminated by privyvaults, I dug down near a privy-vault which was situated on the outskirts of the town and isolated, so that there were no other known sources of contamination around; I dug down a foot behind this privy-vault and took up some soil three feet below the surface to determine the amount of organic matter in it; then I went off six feet and did the same thing, then 12, then 18, then 24, then 30; and, without going into detail, suffice it to say that the contamination of the soil from that single privy, built upon nearly level ground, could be detected 50 feet from the vault plainly."

There is abundant evidence to show that sewage and sewage bacteria will permeate the ground for many yards, and more rapidly if water is pumped from the drainage area and the water level so lowered around the well. When these well-known facts are considered in connection with the location of the wells and reservoirs of the water company, the evidence that the abnormal composition of the water is due to infiltration from the sewers becomes convincing.

CONCLUSIONS.

The public water supply of Noblesville is derived from deep and shallow wells. The deep wells supply potable water and are in no danger of contamination; the shallow wells are fed by the run-off of a thicklypopulated area and the water is constantly receiving pollution, both from surface water, which percolates downward to the water-bearing stratum, and from sewers and sewer outlets located near the wells.

The pollution is not extensive and the bacterial content of the water is usually low. This is due to the protection afforded by the excellent gravel beds which lie above the water-bearing stratum, and which, acting as natural filters, remove nearly all the bacteria and organic matter. The efficiency of this natural filter may become impaired at any time, either by an increase in the amount of sewage deposited on the drainage area, or the formation of channels, through which the sewage would have uninterrupted flow. This latter condition had already obtained within the last six months, according to the statements of the engineer of the water works.

Every sanitary engineer will hold that water for public consumption must be above suspicion. That this condition is not true of the supply under consideration is abundantly shown.

HANCOCK COUNTY.

Greenfield. The supply of this town is from driven wells; 200,000 gallons per day are used.

Carrollton. No public supply. One private supply examined was badly polluted.

Fortville. No public supply. One well water analyzed was badly polluted.

Gem. No public supply. Water from one shallow well was examined and found to be unfit for use.

Shirley. No public supply. One private supply was examined and found to be of good quality.

HARRISON COUNTY.

Corydon. Two public supplies furnish Corydon with its water supply. The town has a spring, and a private company built in 1903 gets its water from the creek and pumps it into a reservoir. One private supply analyzed was found to be unfit for drinking purposes.

New Amsterdam.-No public supply. Water from the spring owned by the town and a public well were both of good quality. Water from a private well was of good quality.

New Middletown.-No public supply. Five private supplies were examined. Three were of doubtful quality, one was badly polluted and one was not considered safe for drinking purposes.

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