The filtration of public water-supplies

The filtration of public water-supplies - Third edition, revised and enlarged.

The rapid and enormous development and extension of water-works in every civilized country during the past forty years is a matter which deserves our most careful consideration, as there is hardly a subject which more directly affects the health and happiness of almost every single inhabitant of all cities and large towns. Considering the modern methods of communication, and the free exchange of ideas between nations, it is really marvellous how each country has met its problems of water-supply from its own resources, and often without much regard to the methods which had been found most useful elsewhere. England has secured a whole series of magnificent supplies by impounding the waters of small streams in reservoirs holding enough water to last through dry periods, while on Continental Europe such supplies are hardly known. Germany has spent millions upon millions in purifying turbid and polluted river-waters, while France and Austria have striven for mountain-spring waters and have built hundreds of miles of costly aqueducts to secure them. In the United States an abundant supply of some liquid has too often been the objective point, and the efforts have been most[Pg 2] successful, the American works being entirely unrivalled in the volumes of their supplies. I do not wish to imply that quality has been entirely neglected in our country, for many cities and towns have seriously and successfully studied their problems, with the result that there are hundreds of water-supplies in the United States which will compare favorably upon any basis with supplies in any part of the world; but on the other hand it is equally true that there are hundreds of other cities, including some among the largest in the country, which supply their citizens with turbid and unhealthy waters which cannot be regarded as anything else than a national disgrace and a menace to our prosperity. One can travel through England, Belgium, Holland, Germany, and large portions of other European countries and drink the water at every city visited without anxiety as to its effect upon his health. It has not always been so. Formerly European capitals drank water no better than that so often dispensed now in America. As recently as 1892 Germanys great commercial centre, Hamburg, having a water-supply essentially like those of Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, New Orleans, and a hundred other American cities, paid a penalty in one month of eight thousand lives for its carelessness. The lesson was a dear one, but it was not wasted. Hamburg now has a new and wholesome supply, and other German cities the qualities of whose waters were open to question have been forced to take active measures to better their conditions. We also can learn something from their experience. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 69025
Author: Hazen, Allen
Release Date: Sep 21, 2022
Format: eBook
Language: English
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons,1900
Publication Date: 1900
Publisher Country: United States