Towns without Public Water Supplies.

The cities and towns which are provided with a system of public water supply number, as stated above, 192, and contain 94 per cent. of the population of the State. In the remaining cities and towns the inhabitants are dependent on private supplies derived chiefly from wells situated usually in the immediate vicinity of dwelling houses. For the purpose of ascertaining the character of the water of such wells in thickly settled communities, samples of water from a number of welis in several of the towns which are not provided with public water supplies have been collected from time to time for analysis, and the surroundings of the wells have been carefully noted. In nearly all such cases the wells were found to be polluted by sewage in a greater or less degree, and in some cases the conditions have been found to be so serious that the introduction of a public water supply has been urged. Such was the case in the village of Fairview in the city of Chicopee, in which a public water supply is now being introduced.

The most seriously objectionable conditions thus far encountered have been in the village of Somerset on the easterly side of Mt. Hope Bay, opposite the northerly end of the city of Fall River. Samples of water were collected from a number of wells in that village in the latter part of 1907, and, the results having shown that the water was very badly polluted, the Board, in a communication to the town, expressed the opinion that the use of water from these wells should be prevented, and called attention to the need of a general system of water supply in this village. Nothing having been done, however, a further examination of the water of these wells was made in the latter part of 1909, and, the results showing that practically all of these wells were grossly polluted by sewage and the character of the water such as to be likely to be very injurious to the health of those who used it for drinking, the Board has again recommended that steps be taken by the town without further delay to provide an adequate supply of good water for the use of the inhabitants of this village.

There are still many villages in the State which, like Somerset, are greatly in need of a general supply of water, whose best interests would be materially advanced by the introduction of a public water supply, which in many cases the town or village can amply afford. The past dry seasons have imposed added hardship on many communities where a public water supply is not available, since numerous wells have become dry, necessitating the carrying of water from distant and sometimes objectionable sources.

It is very difficult, in most of the smaller towns, on account of the

opposition of those who live outside the villages, to secure action by the towns which will enable these thickly settled areas to be provided with proper water supplies, owing largely to the fear that the cost of a system of water works will be a serious financial burden, and to lack of knowledge of the fact that the introduction of a public water supply in even small villages has invariably proved a great public advantage without being a burden to the town.

The necessity to the health of a thickly settled community of an abundant supply of good drinking water is unquestioned, and it is important that such communities be given all the aid and encouragement possible in securing such supplies. It is also desirable that communities in which a public supply is badly needed should at least ascertain the cost of obtaining an adequate water supply before deciding against its introduction, since the cost of the necessary investigations cannot be considered a serious burden to the town. In the case of the town of Somerset no steps appear yet to have been taken to secure competent advice as to the practicability and probable cost of the introduction of a public water supply.

One other case is worthy of notice. The town of Medway was authorized, by an act of the Legislature passed in 1908, to supply itself and its inhabitants with water, and the town subsequently voted to accept the act and to introduce a public water supply; but, in order to raise the money necessary for the purpose, a vote of two to one was necessary, and although several meetings have since been held the number in favor of this great improvement in the sanitation of the town has not yet been found to be twice as great as the number of those who are opposed to it, and the construction of works has not yet been possible. In the mean time, great annoyance has been experienced during the past dry seasons owing to the drying up of wells in the villages of Medway and West Medway, and recent analyses of samples of water from a large. number of wells still available for use and used most commonly by the people of those villages show that all of them are grossly polluted by sewage, and unfit for drinking.

In a few cases the wants of the smaller towns and villages are being met by the organization of water companies, and this method is of course a desirable one where the town will not make the necessary provision for an adequate public water supply.

The Deficiency in Rainfall and its Effect upon Public Water Supplies. Since 1903, taking the State as a whole, there has been a deficiency of rainfall in every year. In 1907 the deficiency was very slight, and it was not very marked in the years 1904 and 1906. The deficiency in 1905 and again in 1908 was about 712 inches.

The rainfall for the year 1909 has been considerably greater than in 1908, but was nevertheless below the normal. It has been unequally distributed, being fully up to the normal in the extreme eastern portions of the State, and much less than the normal in the western portions.

The effect of a year of low rainfall following so dry a season as that of the previous year has been to reduce the yield of watersheds and the flow of streams, and produce conditions very similar to those of 1908. The effect in 1909 has been more noticeable, however, to cities and towns which depend for their water supply upon lakes and reservoirs of considerable storage capacity; and, owing probably to the somewhat higher rainfall and its more even distribution through the year, has been less noticeable in the cases of towns dependent upon small streams with little storage, the flow of which has been comparatively well maintained throughout the year. The conditions have resulted in the exhaustion. of several important public water supplies, and led to the introduction of temporary supplies in a number of places in which last year the quantity of water available was found to be sufficient.

The occurrence of two dry years succeeding a series of years of somewhat less than the average rainfall has produced a heavy draft upon. the ponds and storage reservoirs used as sources of public water supply, and many of them have been drawn to a lower level than ever before. In consequence, wide areas of the shores and bottom of many of these sources have been exposed in some cases for several years, and these conditions have produced much complaint, especially in the cases of some of the natural ponds and lakes.

Notable among the natural ponds the level of which has been lowered excessively in recent years, and especially in the past year, are Farm Pond in the town of Sherborn, Crystal Lake in the town of Gardner, Sandy Pond in the town of Lincoln and Suntaug Lake in the town of Lynnfield.

In the case of Farm Pond in Sherborn, an act of the Legislature has already placed a limit to the future lowering of the water; and the investigations of the past year indicate that the Medfield Insane Hospital, which uses this pond as its source of water supply, can obtain

water for a part if not all of the purposes of the institution from the ground near the Charles River, and diminish materially the draft on the pond.

At Gardner the construction of works has already been begun for the purpose of introducing an additional supply of water into Crystal Lake, and preventing the further lowering of its level.

The excessive lowering of the water of Sandy Pond in Lincoln has not been necessary, since the Legislature granted the town of Concord the right to take water from Nagog Pond in Acton twenty-five years ago, but this grant was not utilized until the present year.

The excessive lowering of the water of Suntaug Lake in Lynnfield has caused much complaint from residents of the village near the lake, from various causes. The right to take water from this lake was granted to the town of Peabody as long ago as 1881, but permanent works for conveying water to the town were not completed until 1906. Since that time the level of the lake has been lowered many feet below the level of high water, and large areas of the bottom have been exposed. When the town of Peabody proposed to take water from Suntaug Lake in 1905 the plans were submitted to the State Board of Health for advice, as required by law; and the Board, after considering the scheme and calling attention to the small size of the watershed and the improbability that the lake, in connection with the other sources used by the town, would furnish sufficient water for its requirements for any long period of years, advised against the plan of taking water from this source, and urged the town to consider other sources. Subsequently the town again requested the advice of the Board as to the use of Suntaug Lake as a temporary source of water supply, and the Board advised that this lake appeared to be the best source available for the temporary use of the town, but again urged that other sources of water supply be investigated, and a supply of greater capacity provided as soon as practicable.

It does not appear that the town has yet taken any action towards making investigations for securing an adequate supply of water, as recommended in the communications referred to above. In the mean time, the consumption of water in the town-which in 1905 amounted to 1,750,000 gallons per day, and was at that time in excess of the safe capacity of the sources of supply, including Suntaug Lake, in a series of dry years has increased greatly, the quantity of water used in the years 1907 and 1908 amounting, according to the records furnished by the town, to more than 2,300,000 gallons per day, or between 160 and 170 gallons per inhabitant. This rate of consumption is greatly in excess of the capacity of the present sources of supply, and

unless an additional supply of sufficient capacity shall soon be provided, the quantity of water in Suntaug Lake, as well as in Spring and Brown's ponds, must inevitably continue to decrease, excepting possibly in years of great rainfall, until the water in these lakes becomes exhausted.

Unsafe Public Water Supplies.

The consequences of the use of a sewage-polluted public water supply have often been revealed by sudden and widespread epidemics of typhoid fever or other water-carried disease, occurrences of which Massachusetts communities have given no important illustration for many years.

But the use of a sewage-polluted public water supply may have other injurious effects upon the public health than the spread of typhoid fever or other diseases known to be carried by water. Attention was first called to this fact in a report made to the Board by one of its members soon after the introduction of the Lawrence city filter in 1893, when there was a sudden and very marked decrease in the death rate of that city, the total number of deaths being less by five times the greatest previous number of deaths by typhoid fever. Studies as to the cause disclosed the fact that the reduction in the death rate was greatly in excess of that attributable to typhoid fever and other diseases known to be carried by water. Since that time similar results have been observed in other cities which have changed from a polluted to a pure or purified water supply. In these cities it has also been found that there has been a marked diminution in the death rate following immediately the introduction of a pure water supply or the purification of a polluted one, which is greatly in excess of the reduction attributable to the elimination of typhoid fever and other water-borne diseases.

The supervision of public water supplies provided for by an act of the Legislature of 1886, to ascertain their purity and fitness for domestic use or their liability "to impair the interests of the public or persons lawfully using the same, or imperil the public health," was designed for the purpose of protecting the public against the danger of polluted water supplies. Additional legislation has from time to time been enacted to secure further protection of the public health, and the interests of those who are dependent for their drinking water upon public supplies. As indicated above, it has been many years since a serious epidemic traceable to a public water supply has occurred in Massachusetts, a result which is doubtless due in a very considerable degree to the enforcement of legislation adapted to their protection. It has given to the State a reputation for the protection of the public interests in this regard that has doubtless been of material advantage to it in other ways. The limited supervision of public water supplies exercisable under