ON THE CALCUTTA DRINKING WATERS
:
THE NATUR-
AL HISTORY OR CHANGES IN POTABLE WATERS OF TROPICAL CLIMATES; A GENERAL COMPARISON BETWEEN TANK OR WELL AND RIVER WATER IN BENGAL.
By Surgeon
"W. J.
Palmer,
M.D.
(Concluded from page 181.^ The
quality
the tank is
of -water contained in the different tanks varie8 less
exposed to deteriorating influences ; reputation, based for the most part on forgotten traditions, for yielding unusually good water, and the conservatism of the place is willing to uphold such reputation against adverse arguments or appearances ; for exammle?? it was stoutly denied a few days ago by one of the servants in a large Calcutta Hotel, that a glass of dark coloured, foul-smelling drinking water could possibly be bad, because it had been brought from the Lall Biggie ; again, it is not uncommon to find people sending long distances for water from the tank opposite the Bengal Club (generali talao) notwithstanding that its water has been regularly replenished for years past by the overflowings of a culvert, containing water pumped up from the midst of the shipping in the port. In addition to such accidental circumstances as these however, analyses of the water of tho as
more or
some
of them have
same
tank in different months of the year prove that water
a
which is pure and wholesome at the end of the rainy-season,
necessarily becomes progressively impure as the dry season advances, and frequently becomes absolutely unfit for human consumption by the following month of June. A few examples will make this evident, and in order to simplify the comparison, " " only two results, viz., the amount of free" and of albuminoid ammonia" yielded by a million parts of water, from the same
tank in different months of the year, will be referred to ;
these two special sets of results being selected because they indicate the most important contaminations regarded from a
sanatory point
SOUECE
OF THE
of view.
"WaTEB.
Tank in the Alipore Parade Ground. Free Ammonia O'OG 0-07 Albuminoid do. 0-14 0-80 Eastern Tank on the Fort Olacis. Free Ammonia 0-02 0'09 Albuminoid do. 0-52 0-90 Western Tank on the Fort Olacis. Free Ammonia 0-04 0*08 Albumnioid do. 0-56 0-50 Oenerali Talao, Bengal Club. Free Ammonia 0-06 Albuminoid do. 0-38 Tank at General Hospital. Free Ammonia 0 04 Albuminoid do. 0-2 Calcutta new Water-sup-
1-60 1-50
ply.
Free Ammonia Albuminoid
0-10 0-06 0-77 0-48
0-19 0'84
0-0i>
0-03 0-95
1-00
0'9S 008 1-00
o-*> 0-05 0-28
0-16 0-90 0-50 0-62
...
...
1-20 1-60
0-15 1-10
TOO 0-05
J-10,0-10
0-lfi 0-54
0-08 0'09 0'08 005 0-06 0-16 0-14 0-11 0-07 0-06
The ordinary sources of contamination and causes of deterioration in tank waters may be thus enumerated : ls?.?The dust of towns and roads, with
all its
various
impurities, constantly being blown into them. 2nd.?Tho solution of progressively increasing portions
of
surrounding soil; foul soluble matters are abundantly present in such sewage-soaked-soils as are found in all places where no systematic conservancy arrangements foul matter from the
0.os 0-01
WATEE-SUPPLY
December 1, 1870.] exist.
It
at first
might
sight by
be
AT CALCUTTA?BY W. J. PALMEE.
that water would
supposed
such accumulations of sewage matter after the first few years, i. e., when once they had been dissolved out of the soil immediately surrounding the tank; but the deterioration of water in tanks as cease
to be contaminated
advantageously
rapid
situated
as
those
on
the Fort Glacis, where the surrounding cleanliness so
surface is so carefully guarded,?and efficiently secured, shows that some source of contamination beyond mere dust must exist; abundant evidence is obtained that the neighbouring soil far and near is sewage-soaked, whenever any excavation takes place; so long as this is the case, and the sides of the tank remain permeable, the foul matter will be constantly attracted towards the purer water, through the sandy porous soil by the universal law of diffusion acting through constantly increasing distances.
3rdly.?The
also
deteriorates
water
by evaporation
; for while the absolute amount of noxious mattter in the tank is increasing, the quantity of pure water is
constantly concurrently decreasing under the influence of dry winds and a hot sun and by these conjoint actions, the relative proportion of impurity in the water by the end of the hot season is inordinately increased. All these baneful influences acting together would suffice to render the water of Calcutta tanks the next gusting, and quite unfit for use long before
loathesome,
dis-
rainy-season brought a fresh supply of pure water, unless they were in some degree neutralized by the simultaneous operation of natural as? purifying influences ; these may be regarded matter all of by the several organized ls?.?The consumption gradations of living creatures from the most minute infusoria to the largest fish. 2nd.?At the same time that rapid evaporation is caused by its chemical the powerful heat rays of a tropical sun, rays aided by a free supply of oxygen, cause rapid consumption of all dead or decaying organic matter, converting them into carbonic and nitric acids, which are not only innocuous and inoffensive compounds, but, by imparting an agreeable and refreshing flavour to water, actually convert a once nauseous and unwholesome fluid into
agreeable
an
beverage.
If these several
of contamination and means of purification were at evenly balanced, the quality of the water would continue tolerably uniform all the year round; the facts illicited by chemical analysis, however, prove that this is not the case, the contaminating influences at work in Calcutta being unfortunately by far the more powerful; they also illustrate what I have ventured to call the natural history of tank-water in deterioration from natural tropical climates, i. e., its progressive
sources
all
in others. In the in certain seasons, and its renewal are given of results above table, the of lowest line analyses 16 miles above the of the river water taken from a point city: of the tank waters at those with so favourably these contrast that the the worst season of the year, as to prove purifying in rivers than in more energetic are much causes
tanks, influences constant flowing motion, being increased and intensified by the of their expanded and by the free play of air upon the surface shallow waters, and also by the existence in them of more abundant animal life. In the vicinity of large towns they are at
the same time
frequently
more
exposed
to
contaminating
influences, notably the case at Calcutta, yet even here analysis proves that water taken from the Ilooghly River 16 miles higher up than the city, is much purer than Calcutta tank water at all seasons of the year, but especially so in those months, when the best tanks only yield a fluid utterly unfit for human use, viz., in and June; for example, while tank as
water to
is
deteriorates
May
from
its
point
of
greatest purity
the extent of 67 parts per million by the
243
and 260 parts by the next month of May;* river water in the month was found to have suffered deterioration only to
same
the extent of 5 and 13 parts per 1,000,000 respectively. This a most remarkable fact, especially when viewed in connection
is
with the alterations in the
proportion
are carried up the stream as high as Fultah, the whence the new Calcutta water-supply is taken; and if sea-salts are so carried, it is in the highest degree probable that
that sea-salts
point
much of the filth and refuse thrown in the river near the
city
is carried up at the same time; this latter, however, being destructible matter, liable to undergo decay and change, must in the course of its transit the intervening sixteen miles
through entirely converted
of river be almost
into those innocuous
substances above referred to; indeed, chemical analysis affords proof that this is the case, for while in December the river water
only yielded
half
a
part (0'5) of ammonia of nitrates
and nitrites per million, the amount rose as high as (3'75), nearly four parts, per million, by the following month of May; this increase
being
due to the
decomposition
of animal
organic
matter. This great superiority of river over tank water, even where the conservancy of the streams is disregarded, is a most important and interesting fact; interesting as proving the rapid decay of organic matter of large tropical streams in the hot season of the year, when the water is shallow, and the winds blow freely over its surface; and important as affording evidence that an
unlimited supply of good drinking water is always available in Calcutta, even in the hot parched-up season, when tank water is often scarce and always unwholesome. The Hindoo population have
always preferred
to use river water whenever it was
attainable, but the home habits of Europeans in this country
frequently though is
this
lead them to
preference
no
prefer longer
generally used in other parts
the water of wells or tanks ; exists in Calcutta, well water
of the
Presidency,
even
by people
who dwell on the banks of the large rivers. The fact is, that every river in India is subject to the most unpleasant and loathesome forms of pollution and contamination before one's the light of day; to perceive that the soil of citie3 eyes, and in is equally defiled, requires an act of conscious thought or reflection ; and moreover, to know that this defilement is much more
permanent than that of rivers, notwithstanding all that has been said in praise of the dry-earth-system of conservancy, an acquaintance with some of the results of recent experimental investigations is necessary. A valuable collection of such results is already accumulated and published in the reports of analysis of potable waters in the Bengal Presidency ; in the following table a few of these are abstracted to illustrate the comparative purity of well and river waters, and in order that tbe comparison may be made more readily, only three facts in connection with each analysis are referred to: viz., first, total solids, indicating the total amount of impurity without reference to its equality; secondly, the amount of volatile matter contained in the former, indicating the quantity of organic contamination, either vegetable or animal; thirdly, chlorides, the proportion of these whenever they do not exist in the soil or water naturally, indicates the quality of the volatile matter above referred to; whenever a large amount of chlorides exist, the volatile portion is probably due to excrementitioua pollution, and where only a small amount is found, the volatile ingredients probably have had a vegetable origin.
in October
following January,
of chlorides in the river
water at different seasons; these are found to increase so much more rapidly in the dry months of the year than in those tanks which are uninfluenced by the tides, as to leave no doubt but
*
Vide Table.
Gbains
per gallon ob pabts in
Date.
Source
Mean Meer? Average of wells Mean Meer Canal River Kavie
and Jany., 1868-69.
1870.
O
S3 Behabks.
2S?? 1-4 0-4 06
J
Chlorides.
tu
?I Ph*.
H*13 41 o
2 The amount of oxygen required is given wherever it is contained in the records, though there does not appear to ?{ be any constant relation between it, and
C
3 3 2 9 2 2
0-63 025 0 29
I
I I
I 28-9 19-5
3-5 15
06 0'6
051 0-39
42-7
1-8
8*7
062
37-2 10-7
1-5 0-8
5-8 1-3
0-47 0 69
27-4 12-1
2-7 0-7
2-0 05
0-50 0-30
182 9 7
0-98 0-45
0'8 06
0-27 0-51
750 12 0
7-8 1-0
Average of wells, &c....
396
2-0
108
0-51
Average of wells, &e.... Jumna liiver, above Muttra
45-4 133
4-1 0-8
11 2 1-3
0-47 0-26
343 9-1
2-3 1-7
46 l'O
0-51 070
Average of wells
331
1-1
3 9
Average of wells
259
Dehra Uhazee Khan? Average of wells Dehra Jsmal Khun? Average of wells River Indus
March & April, 1869
.5
z
59-3 9 4 11-7
liatvul Pindee? Average of wells River Leh
1867
Sept.,
70,000.
of Water. Total solids.
Dec.
[December 1,
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
244
the amount of animal organic matters or even between it and the volatile m at-
Lter.
Peshawai?
April,
Average of wells, &c. Statiou Canal
1868
...
Notes her a?
Average of wells, &c.
May, 1868
Cabul River
Delhi?
Average of wells River Jumna
...
The fverage of nitrates in the Delhi > wells was 15 grains per gaBon, chlorides J not estimated.
Muttra?
December,
1867
January, 1868 June, 1868 April,
Agra? .
Futtehgurh?
Average of wells
1869
Ganges
Biver
...
Allahabad?
March, 1869
..
Benares?
December, 1868
1-3
2-8
September, 1869
Average of wells Ganges liiver, near Chunar
348 8 7
1-4 1-4
43 0-7
August, 1869
Allygurh? Average of wells Ganges Canal...
351
2'6 08
5 7 05
0-44 0-45
59-2 10-2 8-7
5-5 30 1-4
103 0-4 0-7
0-31 0-61
31-1 15-4
2 3 1-2
87 06
18-6 11-2
1-3 0-8
1-8 1-7
0-17 008
21-0 11 5 71
1-9 2-6 1-0
41 10 07
0-76 0-40 0-43
25 1 9 8
49 1-0
2 4 11
0-53 0-21
29'6 9-8
2-1 1-3
5-7 1-5
0-51 0-21
1233 5-14 133-0 5-1 21-7
3-8 0-3 115 0-3 1-4
280 0-2 33 4 0 2 1-2
56-2 127-4 45'5
61 11-5 3-5
15-6 47 6 4-2
132 7 478-1 21-7
11-5 43-4 3-5
540 189-0 2-8
Chunar?
Ditto
Sept.
and
Oct.,
1868
Dinapore?
Average of wells River Soane River Ganges, Chunar
...
Berhampore? Average of wells River Bhagiruttee
Oct., Nov. & Dec., 1867.
June,
Fyzabad?
Average of wells River Gograh
1867
...
May,
Jubbulpnre? Average of wells, &c.,
1868
Nerbudda Biver Puchparie Nullah
?
The River water time of analysis.
was
stagnant at the
Jhansee?
Average of wells
Not. and Dec., 1867
Hetwa Biver
Morar?
August, 1868
May,
Average of wells Morar Biver Attock? Average of wells
May, 1868
December,
I
1868...
1863
River Indus "Well No. 1, in Fort River Indus A well outside the Port
...
Umritsur
December,
1869...
City? Average of City wells
ditto Worst of ditto Best of Average of water obtained by Borwith Norton's tube's ings "Worst of ditto Best of ditto, through a bed of clay Outside the City a Boring, 70 yards from the walls A ditto one mile distant Baree Doab Canal
24-5 20-6
3 15 2-4
2-8 2-1
This well had been deepened 134 feet >through rock, but no advantage was gained.
J
")
This
analysis proves
that the contamiaccumulated
nation is local, due to the j refuse of years.
December 1,
1870.]
The two last examples
WATER-SUPPLY AT PESHAWAR.?BY H. W. BELLEW. are
the mo3t remarkable.
iu the Attock fort has been
No. 1 well
at
great expense, but the deepened water continues as foul and unfit for use as ever; this fort is situated on a rock, and has been inhabited for many years, during
the whole of which time the surface soil and fissures of the rock have become progressively more and more sewage-soaked* until the water which finds its way from purer sources through the soil becomes mere liquid sewage before it reaches the
filthy
well. London sewage yields 134 grains per gallon of total solids, of which 19 are soluble volatile matter, and 26 chlorides; the water of well No. 1, in the Attock fort, though yielding less volatile matter than this, gave a much higher proportion of chlorides, thus affording proof of greater original impurity than
London sewage, and this is the fluid the defenders would have to drink in case of a seige ! The curse with which Rabshakeh threatened the people of Judah while on the walls of the city
of Jerusulem would surely be fully experienced by the inhabitants of Attock! That the contained chlorides are not derived from natural sources, appears evident from the fact that the ?water of distant wells round about yields less than 1J grain at the base of the fort contains per gallon, while the river water less than | a grain in the same quantity. The Uinritsur waters are scarcely better than those of Attock; the several
analyses
made at this
place
prove
beyond question
that the soil of the city is thoroughly saturated with excrementitious matter, for, notwithstanding that much filth finds entrance to wells by their unprotected mouths, water obtained from the water-bearing stratum in the city, by means of Norton's tubes, was even more foul than that of the wells; the constant withdrawal of water from the wells appearing to have
cleansing to a certain extent the earth through which their natural supply percolates. All the sewage of this into large depressions city has for years been allowed to gravitate within the city walls called Dabs and into the fosses of old 42 feet west of fortifications; fluid obtained from a boring three times as much one of these fosses contained more than total solids, and than seven times as much chlorides, as London sewage!! This statement is so startling as to be scarcely conceivable, but the figures are copied from accepted and trustworthy records of analyses, and it must be remembered that while each of the inhabitants of London are supplied with the effect of
from 40 to 50 gallons of water daily, the people of Umritsur have to be content with much less than this, and the Umritsur sewage would be proportionate, more concentrated. No river is found Doab Canal very near to this city, but the Baree actually conused for veys water into the city tanks, which are pur. poses; unfortunately no analysis of its water has been made
bathing
probably as good as that of the canal at Peshawar, which yields fairly pure water. Although it would be highly interesting and instructive to trace the connection between the health of these several cities and the quality of their water supply, it but it is
is not my purpose to do more here than note, that while in the
opinion of all medical practitioners whom I have had an opportunity of consulting, severe diseases, and especially cholera, have
almost inconceivable extent since the new became available in Calcutta; there is equally good evidence to show that Umritsur is becoming more and
decreased to
water
an
supply
unhealthy as its water progressively deteriorates. Thus, city has only existed about one hundred years, and the first known visitation of cholera was in 1805; it was re-visited by severe outbreaks in the years 1813, 1827, 1845, 1856, 1862, 1865, 1867, and 1869; the later intervals extending only over more
the
two
years, while the former, when the soil was less contaminated, were respectively seven, fourteen, and eighteen years apart. One of the borings in this city penetrated a bed of impervious clay the underlying earth from con-
which.had protected
245
tamination by soakage, the water from this had almost the same chemical characters as that obtained outside the city. This result contrasts with that at Attock, where the water obtained from
a
great depth
was
as
impure
as
that
nearer
the
surface.
:
THE NATUR-
AL HISTORY OR CHANGES IN POTABLE WATERS OF TROPICAL CLIMATES; A GENERAL COMPARISON BETWEEN TANK OR WELL AND RIVER WATER IN BENGAL.
By Surgeon
"W. J.
Palmer,
M.D.
(Concluded from page 181.^ The
quality
the tank is
of -water contained in the different tanks varie8 less
exposed to deteriorating influences ; reputation, based for the most part on forgotten traditions, for yielding unusually good water, and the conservatism of the place is willing to uphold such reputation against adverse arguments or appearances ; for exammle?? it was stoutly denied a few days ago by one of the servants in a large Calcutta Hotel, that a glass of dark coloured, foul-smelling drinking water could possibly be bad, because it had been brought from the Lall Biggie ; again, it is not uncommon to find people sending long distances for water from the tank opposite the Bengal Club (generali talao) notwithstanding that its water has been regularly replenished for years past by the overflowings of a culvert, containing water pumped up from the midst of the shipping in the port. In addition to such accidental circumstances as these however, analyses of the water of tho as
more or
some
of them have
same
tank in different months of the year prove that water
a
which is pure and wholesome at the end of the rainy-season,
necessarily becomes progressively impure as the dry season advances, and frequently becomes absolutely unfit for human consumption by the following month of June. A few examples will make this evident, and in order to simplify the comparison, " " only two results, viz., the amount of free" and of albuminoid ammonia" yielded by a million parts of water, from the same
tank in different months of the year, will be referred to ;
these two special sets of results being selected because they indicate the most important contaminations regarded from a
sanatory point
SOUECE
OF THE
of view.
"WaTEB.
Tank in the Alipore Parade Ground. Free Ammonia O'OG 0-07 Albuminoid do. 0-14 0-80 Eastern Tank on the Fort Olacis. Free Ammonia 0-02 0'09 Albuminoid do. 0-52 0-90 Western Tank on the Fort Olacis. Free Ammonia 0-04 0*08 Albumnioid do. 0-56 0-50 Oenerali Talao, Bengal Club. Free Ammonia 0-06 Albuminoid do. 0-38 Tank at General Hospital. Free Ammonia 0 04 Albuminoid do. 0-2 Calcutta new Water-sup-
1-60 1-50
ply.
Free Ammonia Albuminoid
0-10 0-06 0-77 0-48
0-19 0'84
0-0i>
0-03 0-95
1-00
0'9S 008 1-00
o-*> 0-05 0-28
0-16 0-90 0-50 0-62
...
...
1-20 1-60
0-15 1-10
TOO 0-05
J-10,0-10
0-lfi 0-54
0-08 0'09 0'08 005 0-06 0-16 0-14 0-11 0-07 0-06
The ordinary sources of contamination and causes of deterioration in tank waters may be thus enumerated : ls?.?The dust of towns and roads, with
all its
various
impurities, constantly being blown into them. 2nd.?Tho solution of progressively increasing portions
of
surrounding soil; foul soluble matters are abundantly present in such sewage-soaked-soils as are found in all places where no systematic conservancy arrangements foul matter from the
0.os 0-01
WATEE-SUPPLY
December 1, 1870.] exist.
It
at first
might
sight by
be
AT CALCUTTA?BY W. J. PALMEE.
that water would
supposed
such accumulations of sewage matter after the first few years, i. e., when once they had been dissolved out of the soil immediately surrounding the tank; but the deterioration of water in tanks as cease
to be contaminated
advantageously
rapid
situated
as
those
on
the Fort Glacis, where the surrounding cleanliness so
surface is so carefully guarded,?and efficiently secured, shows that some source of contamination beyond mere dust must exist; abundant evidence is obtained that the neighbouring soil far and near is sewage-soaked, whenever any excavation takes place; so long as this is the case, and the sides of the tank remain permeable, the foul matter will be constantly attracted towards the purer water, through the sandy porous soil by the universal law of diffusion acting through constantly increasing distances.
3rdly.?The
also
deteriorates
water
by evaporation
; for while the absolute amount of noxious mattter in the tank is increasing, the quantity of pure water is
constantly concurrently decreasing under the influence of dry winds and a hot sun and by these conjoint actions, the relative proportion of impurity in the water by the end of the hot season is inordinately increased. All these baneful influences acting together would suffice to render the water of Calcutta tanks the next gusting, and quite unfit for use long before
loathesome,
dis-
rainy-season brought a fresh supply of pure water, unless they were in some degree neutralized by the simultaneous operation of natural as? purifying influences ; these may be regarded matter all of by the several organized ls?.?The consumption gradations of living creatures from the most minute infusoria to the largest fish. 2nd.?At the same time that rapid evaporation is caused by its chemical the powerful heat rays of a tropical sun, rays aided by a free supply of oxygen, cause rapid consumption of all dead or decaying organic matter, converting them into carbonic and nitric acids, which are not only innocuous and inoffensive compounds, but, by imparting an agreeable and refreshing flavour to water, actually convert a once nauseous and unwholesome fluid into
agreeable
an
beverage.
If these several
of contamination and means of purification were at evenly balanced, the quality of the water would continue tolerably uniform all the year round; the facts illicited by chemical analysis, however, prove that this is not the case, the contaminating influences at work in Calcutta being unfortunately by far the more powerful; they also illustrate what I have ventured to call the natural history of tank-water in deterioration from natural tropical climates, i. e., its progressive
sources
all
in others. In the in certain seasons, and its renewal are given of results above table, the of lowest line analyses 16 miles above the of the river water taken from a point city: of the tank waters at those with so favourably these contrast that the the worst season of the year, as to prove purifying in rivers than in more energetic are much causes
tanks, influences constant flowing motion, being increased and intensified by the of their expanded and by the free play of air upon the surface shallow waters, and also by the existence in them of more abundant animal life. In the vicinity of large towns they are at
the same time
frequently
more
exposed
to
contaminating
influences, notably the case at Calcutta, yet even here analysis proves that water taken from the Ilooghly River 16 miles higher up than the city, is much purer than Calcutta tank water at all seasons of the year, but especially so in those months, when the best tanks only yield a fluid utterly unfit for human use, viz., in and June; for example, while tank as
water to
is
deteriorates
May
from
its
point
of
greatest purity
the extent of 67 parts per million by the
243
and 260 parts by the next month of May;* river water in the month was found to have suffered deterioration only to
same
the extent of 5 and 13 parts per 1,000,000 respectively. This a most remarkable fact, especially when viewed in connection
is
with the alterations in the
proportion
are carried up the stream as high as Fultah, the whence the new Calcutta water-supply is taken; and if sea-salts are so carried, it is in the highest degree probable that
that sea-salts
point
much of the filth and refuse thrown in the river near the
city
is carried up at the same time; this latter, however, being destructible matter, liable to undergo decay and change, must in the course of its transit the intervening sixteen miles
through entirely converted
of river be almost
into those innocuous
substances above referred to; indeed, chemical analysis affords proof that this is the case, for while in December the river water
only yielded
half
a
part (0'5) of ammonia of nitrates
and nitrites per million, the amount rose as high as (3'75), nearly four parts, per million, by the following month of May; this increase
being
due to the
decomposition
of animal
organic
matter. This great superiority of river over tank water, even where the conservancy of the streams is disregarded, is a most important and interesting fact; interesting as proving the rapid decay of organic matter of large tropical streams in the hot season of the year, when the water is shallow, and the winds blow freely over its surface; and important as affording evidence that an
unlimited supply of good drinking water is always available in Calcutta, even in the hot parched-up season, when tank water is often scarce and always unwholesome. The Hindoo population have
always preferred
to use river water whenever it was
attainable, but the home habits of Europeans in this country
frequently though is
this
lead them to
preference
no
prefer longer
generally used in other parts
the water of wells or tanks ; exists in Calcutta, well water
of the
Presidency,
even
by people
who dwell on the banks of the large rivers. The fact is, that every river in India is subject to the most unpleasant and loathesome forms of pollution and contamination before one's the light of day; to perceive that the soil of citie3 eyes, and in is equally defiled, requires an act of conscious thought or reflection ; and moreover, to know that this defilement is much more
permanent than that of rivers, notwithstanding all that has been said in praise of the dry-earth-system of conservancy, an acquaintance with some of the results of recent experimental investigations is necessary. A valuable collection of such results is already accumulated and published in the reports of analysis of potable waters in the Bengal Presidency ; in the following table a few of these are abstracted to illustrate the comparative purity of well and river waters, and in order that tbe comparison may be made more readily, only three facts in connection with each analysis are referred to: viz., first, total solids, indicating the total amount of impurity without reference to its equality; secondly, the amount of volatile matter contained in the former, indicating the quantity of organic contamination, either vegetable or animal; thirdly, chlorides, the proportion of these whenever they do not exist in the soil or water naturally, indicates the quality of the volatile matter above referred to; whenever a large amount of chlorides exist, the volatile portion is probably due to excrementitioua pollution, and where only a small amount is found, the volatile ingredients probably have had a vegetable origin.
in October
following January,
of chlorides in the river
water at different seasons; these are found to increase so much more rapidly in the dry months of the year than in those tanks which are uninfluenced by the tides, as to leave no doubt but
*
Vide Table.
Gbains
per gallon ob pabts in
Date.
Source
Mean Meer? Average of wells Mean Meer Canal River Kavie
and Jany., 1868-69.
1870.
O
S3 Behabks.
2S?? 1-4 0-4 06
J
Chlorides.
tu
?I Ph*.
H*13 41 o
2 The amount of oxygen required is given wherever it is contained in the records, though there does not appear to ?{ be any constant relation between it, and
C
3 3 2 9 2 2
0-63 025 0 29
I
I I
I 28-9 19-5
3-5 15
06 0'6
051 0-39
42-7
1-8
8*7
062
37-2 10-7
1-5 0-8
5-8 1-3
0-47 0 69
27-4 12-1
2-7 0-7
2-0 05
0-50 0-30
182 9 7
0-98 0-45
0'8 06
0-27 0-51
750 12 0
7-8 1-0
Average of wells, &c....
396
2-0
108
0-51
Average of wells, &e.... Jumna liiver, above Muttra
45-4 133
4-1 0-8
11 2 1-3
0-47 0-26
343 9-1
2-3 1-7
46 l'O
0-51 070
Average of wells
331
1-1
3 9
Average of wells
259
Dehra Uhazee Khan? Average of wells Dehra Jsmal Khun? Average of wells River Indus
March & April, 1869
.5
z
59-3 9 4 11-7
liatvul Pindee? Average of wells River Leh
1867
Sept.,
70,000.
of Water. Total solids.
Dec.
[December 1,
THE INDIAN MEDICAL GAZETTE.
244
the amount of animal organic matters or even between it and the volatile m at-
Lter.
Peshawai?
April,
Average of wells, &c. Statiou Canal
1868
...
Notes her a?
Average of wells, &c.
May, 1868
Cabul River
Delhi?
Average of wells River Jumna
...
The fverage of nitrates in the Delhi > wells was 15 grains per gaBon, chlorides J not estimated.
Muttra?
December,
1867
January, 1868 June, 1868 April,
Agra? .
Futtehgurh?
Average of wells
1869
Ganges
Biver
...
Allahabad?
March, 1869
..
Benares?
December, 1868
1-3
2-8
September, 1869
Average of wells Ganges liiver, near Chunar
348 8 7
1-4 1-4
43 0-7
August, 1869
Allygurh? Average of wells Ganges Canal...
351
2'6 08
5 7 05
0-44 0-45
59-2 10-2 8-7
5-5 30 1-4
103 0-4 0-7
0-31 0-61
31-1 15-4
2 3 1-2
87 06
18-6 11-2
1-3 0-8
1-8 1-7
0-17 008
21-0 11 5 71
1-9 2-6 1-0
41 10 07
0-76 0-40 0-43
25 1 9 8
49 1-0
2 4 11
0-53 0-21
29'6 9-8
2-1 1-3
5-7 1-5
0-51 0-21
1233 5-14 133-0 5-1 21-7
3-8 0-3 115 0-3 1-4
280 0-2 33 4 0 2 1-2
56-2 127-4 45'5
61 11-5 3-5
15-6 47 6 4-2
132 7 478-1 21-7
11-5 43-4 3-5
540 189-0 2-8
Chunar?
Ditto
Sept.
and
Oct.,
1868
Dinapore?
Average of wells River Soane River Ganges, Chunar
...
Berhampore? Average of wells River Bhagiruttee
Oct., Nov. & Dec., 1867.
June,
Fyzabad?
Average of wells River Gograh
1867
...
May,
Jubbulpnre? Average of wells, &c.,
1868
Nerbudda Biver Puchparie Nullah
?
The River water time of analysis.
was
stagnant at the
Jhansee?
Average of wells
Not. and Dec., 1867
Hetwa Biver
Morar?
August, 1868
May,
Average of wells Morar Biver Attock? Average of wells
May, 1868
December,
I
1868...
1863
River Indus "Well No. 1, in Fort River Indus A well outside the Port
...
Umritsur
December,
1869...
City? Average of City wells
ditto Worst of ditto Best of Average of water obtained by Borwith Norton's tube's ings "Worst of ditto Best of ditto, through a bed of clay Outside the City a Boring, 70 yards from the walls A ditto one mile distant Baree Doab Canal
24-5 20-6
3 15 2-4
2-8 2-1
This well had been deepened 134 feet >through rock, but no advantage was gained.
J
")
This
analysis proves
that the contamiaccumulated
nation is local, due to the j refuse of years.
December 1,
1870.]
The two last examples
WATER-SUPPLY AT PESHAWAR.?BY H. W. BELLEW. are
the mo3t remarkable.
iu the Attock fort has been
No. 1 well
at
great expense, but the deepened water continues as foul and unfit for use as ever; this fort is situated on a rock, and has been inhabited for many years, during
the whole of which time the surface soil and fissures of the rock have become progressively more and more sewage-soaked* until the water which finds its way from purer sources through the soil becomes mere liquid sewage before it reaches the
filthy
well. London sewage yields 134 grains per gallon of total solids, of which 19 are soluble volatile matter, and 26 chlorides; the water of well No. 1, in the Attock fort, though yielding less volatile matter than this, gave a much higher proportion of chlorides, thus affording proof of greater original impurity than
London sewage, and this is the fluid the defenders would have to drink in case of a seige ! The curse with which Rabshakeh threatened the people of Judah while on the walls of the city
of Jerusulem would surely be fully experienced by the inhabitants of Attock! That the contained chlorides are not derived from natural sources, appears evident from the fact that the ?water of distant wells round about yields less than 1J grain at the base of the fort contains per gallon, while the river water less than | a grain in the same quantity. The Uinritsur waters are scarcely better than those of Attock; the several
analyses
made at this
place
prove
beyond question
that the soil of the city is thoroughly saturated with excrementitious matter, for, notwithstanding that much filth finds entrance to wells by their unprotected mouths, water obtained from the water-bearing stratum in the city, by means of Norton's tubes, was even more foul than that of the wells; the constant withdrawal of water from the wells appearing to have
cleansing to a certain extent the earth through which their natural supply percolates. All the sewage of this into large depressions city has for years been allowed to gravitate within the city walls called Dabs and into the fosses of old 42 feet west of fortifications; fluid obtained from a boring three times as much one of these fosses contained more than total solids, and than seven times as much chlorides, as London sewage!! This statement is so startling as to be scarcely conceivable, but the figures are copied from accepted and trustworthy records of analyses, and it must be remembered that while each of the inhabitants of London are supplied with the effect of
from 40 to 50 gallons of water daily, the people of Umritsur have to be content with much less than this, and the Umritsur sewage would be proportionate, more concentrated. No river is found Doab Canal very near to this city, but the Baree actually conused for veys water into the city tanks, which are pur. poses; unfortunately no analysis of its water has been made
bathing
probably as good as that of the canal at Peshawar, which yields fairly pure water. Although it would be highly interesting and instructive to trace the connection between the health of these several cities and the quality of their water supply, it but it is
is not my purpose to do more here than note, that while in the
opinion of all medical practitioners whom I have had an opportunity of consulting, severe diseases, and especially cholera, have
almost inconceivable extent since the new became available in Calcutta; there is equally good evidence to show that Umritsur is becoming more and
decreased to
water
an
supply
unhealthy as its water progressively deteriorates. Thus, city has only existed about one hundred years, and the first known visitation of cholera was in 1805; it was re-visited by severe outbreaks in the years 1813, 1827, 1845, 1856, 1862, 1865, 1867, and 1869; the later intervals extending only over more
the
two
years, while the former, when the soil was less contaminated, were respectively seven, fourteen, and eighteen years apart. One of the borings in this city penetrated a bed of impervious clay the underlying earth from con-
which.had protected
245
tamination by soakage, the water from this had almost the same chemical characters as that obtained outside the city. This result contrasts with that at Attock, where the water obtained from
a
great depth
was
as
impure
as
that
nearer
the
surface.
