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Show 34 UNDERGROUND WATER IN VALLEYS OF UTAH. Analyses of water of Great Salt Lake, a [ Parts per thousand.] Analyst a n d date. Ca. Mg. Na. K. S04 . CI. B203 . P2O5. Total. Specific g r a v i ty Gale, L. D , 1850 Trace. 0.2 .6 .4 .8 2.424 0.6 3.8 3.0 2.9 5.1 2.844 85.3 49.6 38.3 58.2 65.3 75.825 2.4 9.9 1.9 2.1 3.925 12.4 9.9 8.8 13.1 11.7 14.964 124.5 84.0 73.6 • 90.7 110.5 128.278 222.8 149.9 134.2 167.2 195.5 - 6238.12 1.170 Allen, 0 . D., summer, 1869 B a s s e t t , H., Aug., 1873... Trace. Trace. 1.111 1.102 Talmage, J. E.: D e c , 1885 1.122 Aug., 1889 Waller, E., Aug., 1892 1.157 Trace. 1.156 a Waller, E., Water of Great Salt Lake: School of Mines Quart., vol. 14, 1893, p. 59. b By evaporation, duplicate test gave 237.93. Too little care is given to the sanitary character of the waters in the valleys of Utah Lake and Jordan River. The mountain streams are a source of excellent purity, yet they are liable t o contamination. General supervision of the watersheds of the creeks t h a t supply Salt Lake City is maintained by the municipality, especially on City Creek, but elsewhere few precautions are taken to safeguard the supply. Commonly the character of water obtained from the deep wells is of good quality, as is also that of surface wells in t h e thinly settled uplands adjacent t o t h e base of the mountains. But surface water generally, especially in the thickly settled lowlands, where, moreover, the mineral content is high, is undesirable for domestic use because of its liability to contamination. Salt Lake and Provo are the only cities in the area that have sewer systems. The Provo sewer discharges through an open ditch into U t a h Lake, and thereby pollutes that body of water. Salt Lake City's sewage is well disposed of on a " sewer farm" below Hot Springs Lake, and the surplus enters Jordan River near its mouth. Elsewhere no systematic sanitary precautions are taken, and locally conditions are bad, with consequent frequent typhoid fever epidemics. I t can not be too strongly impressed upon inhabitants of country districts that the welfare of the community is intimately concerned with preserving the water supply uncon-taminated, and in this connection it may be of service to reproduce a section from the ninth annual report of the Massachusetts State board of health: a There are a few points to be borne in mind with reference to water supply, drainage of houses, and sewerage, which have been suggested by the examination of the board in this State, and may properly be summarized here. 1. The privy system, so common throughout the State, by which filth is stored up to pollute the air, soil, and water near dwellings, should in all cases be abolished. 2. Cesspools, unless extraordinary precautions be taken as to ventilation and prevention of pollution of soil and air, are little better, and should be given up for something less objectionable as socn as practicable. 3. Wells can not be depended on for supplies of wholesome water unless they are thoroughly guarded from sources of surface and subsoil pollution. Some of the foulest well water examined by the board has been clear, sparkling, and of not unpleasant taste. 4. Where wells have already been polluted and it is not practicable to dig new deep wells remote from sources of contamination or to introduce pure public water supplies, the storage of rain water, properly filtered, is a satisfactory method of procedure. 5. In small towns where public water supplies have not been introduced, and, indeed, wherever water-closets are not used, some method of frequent removal and disinfection with earth or ashes should be adopted in place of privies, by which it should be impossible for the filth to soak into the soil or escape into the air. Cemented vaults are not always to be depended upon, as their walls crack from frost or through settling of the ground, and they thus sometimes become sources of pollution of wells, besides contaminating the air. Nor is the fact of a privy being on a downward slope from the well a sufficient safeguard, for even then the direction of the subsoil drainage may be toward the well. a Rafter, G. W., and Baker, M. N., Sewage Disposal in the United States, 1894, p. 40, |
