防止西弗吉尼亚州的溪流污染
流的运动保护西部第六rginia from pollution, particularly those that afford a water supply tor cities and towns, has now taken definite form, heads of water departments combining with members of the legislature, having outlined a plan of action to be presented to the legislature in session in Charleston. A bill is under preparation which in its general phases, it is understood, will have the endorsement of Governor Hatfield and the administration, as well as the support of the delegates and state senators. The principal aim will be to invest authority for the protection of the streams in some board of control, which shall then act as a medium through which conservation of water may be carried forward as a state policy. Scotland G. Highland, secretary and general superintendent of the Clarksburg Water Works and Sewerage Board, working in conjunction with state officials, is preparing the bill. Speaking of the problem, he said: “Public health is purchaseable. Within natural limitations, any community can determine its own death rate. Prior to the general introduction of public water supplies, the impression seems to have been that the use of rivers was to carry away sewage and refuse. However, as early as 1547 the town of Breslau, Germany, began the treatment of its sewage by means of land irrigation. The present day opinions have not always been held with regard to the purity of our rivers. Public opinion has developed step by step with the gradually increasing adoption of water closets and water carriage systems of sewage. The most manifest nuisances which arise from present methods of sewage disposal are to be found in the formation of sludge deposits in the beds and on the banks of the rivers; in the turbidity and color of the water of the streams; in the putrefactive changes which occur and give rise to bad smells and odors, and also in the putrefying sludge which sometimes rises to the surface of the streams and which may be floating about with other suspended matters. Such nuisances have attained dimensions so serious in some communities that, for long distances, it is impossible to dwell on the banks, or in the neighborhood of the rivers or streams. It is necessary for the citizens of the state to procure their water supplies from the naturally pure and sparkling streams of West Virginia, and it should never he necessary to convert sewage-laden streams into drinking water. It is now accepted as reasonable to require every town sewered on the water carriage system to adopt measures to prevent the discharge of the coarser suspended solids in the sewage into the river. The general tendency of the large growing towns and of the flourishing industries to get rid of their yearly increasing quantities of rubbish, filth and sewage by discharging them into the rivers, has imposed upon the state of West Virginia the duty of carefully guarding public water courses. The far-reaching hygienic importance of keeping the rivers clean is faced by the fact that the towns and factories must be provided with means of getting rid of all these matters for which the public watercourses seem to provide the natural outlet. Often, indeed, no other method is available, and then permission must be granted, but with certain safeguards which preclude the possibility of danger to the public health.”
流的运动保护西部第六rginia from pollution, particularly those that afford a water supply tor cities and towns, has now taken definite form, heads of water departments combining with members of the legislature, having outlined a plan of action to be presented to the legislature in session in Charleston. A bill is under preparation which in its general phases, it is understood, will have the endorsement of Governor Hatfield and the administration, as well as the support of the delegates and state senators. The principal aim will be to invest authority for the protection of the streams in some board of control, which shall then act as a medium through which conservation of water may be carried forward as a state policy. Scotland G. Highland, secretary and general superintendent of the Clarksburg Water Works and Sewerage Board, working in conjunction with state officials, is preparing the bill. Speaking of the problem, he said: “Public health is purchaseable. Within natural limitations, any community can determine its own death rate. Prior to the general introduction of public water supplies, the impression seems to have been that the use of rivers was to carry away sewage and refuse. However, as early as 1547 the town of Breslau, Germany, began the treatment of its sewage by means of land irrigation. The present day opinions have not always been held with regard to the purity of our rivers. Public opinion has developed step by step with the gradually increasing adoption of water closets and water carriage systems of sewage. The most manifest nuisances which arise from present methods of sewage disposal are to be found in the formation of sludge deposits in the beds and on the banks of the rivers; in the turbidity and color of the water of the streams; in the putrefactive changes which occur and give rise to bad smells and odors, and also in the putrefying sludge which sometimes rises to the surface of the streams and which may be floating about with other suspended matters. Such nuisances have attained dimensions so serious in some communities that, for long distances, it is impossible to dwell on the banks, or in the neighborhood of the rivers or streams. It is necessary for the citizens of the state to procure their water supplies from the naturally pure and sparkling streams of West Virginia, and it should never he necessary to convert sewage-laden streams into drinking water. It is now accepted as reasonable to require every town sewered on the water carriage system to adopt measures to prevent the discharge of the coarser suspended solids in the sewage into the river. The general tendency of the large growing towns and of the flourishing industries to get rid of their yearly increasing quantities of rubbish, filth and sewage by discharging them into the rivers, has imposed upon the state of West Virginia the duty of carefully guarding public water courses. The far-reaching hygienic importance of keeping the rivers clean is faced by the fact that the towns and factories must be provided with means of getting rid of all these matters for which the public watercourses seem to provide the natural outlet. Often, indeed, no other method is available, and then permission must be granted, but with certain safeguards which preclude the possibility of danger to the public health.”
