POLLUTION OF STREAMS.
Local authorities in several parts of the country are concerned that one of the consequences of urban and industrial growth has been the pollution of streams needed now, or likely to be in the future, as populations continue to grow, as additional sources of water supply. For generations New York has been dumping sewage into its abutting waters in the belief that they would oxidize it to the safety point. When the error began to be sufficiently apparent, extensive sewage disposal plants were projected and are now to be augmented on a large scale, but the Engineer to the Board of Estimates reports that pollution has gone so far already that never again will the waters about Manhattan be fit to swim in. Some time ago Massachusetts, following a suggestion of the sanitary experts, classified its streams and abandoned some of them, in the belief that industrial exigencies made it inevitable, to pollution. Now the State authorities, sorely needing sources of water supply, are anxious to recover some of the polluted waters, but, upon investigation, find that the cost is prohibitive. Pennsylvania is Dacca with similar problems, and local authorities are urged to tackle them before it is too late. In particular, Philadelphia and other communities along the tidal Delaware are being urged to clean up and keep clean local waters, so that once more they shall not offend eye and nose and shall be serviceable as sources of water supply.
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