The Canadian Engineer, Volume 30. May 18, 1916. pg. 556
LETTER TO THE EDITOR.
Need of Sewage Disposal Plants.
Sir, — I have read with interest your editorial on the Lethbridge epidemic, but beg to differ from you regarding the solution of the problem.
The fact that the supply was being chlorinated raises the presumption that the authorities were aware that the water was subject to either continuous or intermittent pollution, and yet it is evident that the efficacy of the treatment was only checked by the examination of samples taken at long intervals.
Chlorination, when properly supervised, has been proved by scores of instances to be effective in preventing undue typhoid incidence, and the cost of such supervision is cheap compared with that of an epidemic.
If Lethbridge wishes to obtain a satisfactory supply, I would suggest that such means of purification be adopted as will ensure a water of safe quality, and not depend upon the prevention of pollution by some other authority. It is becoming deplorably prevalent for corporations to endeavor to place the responsibility for epidemics on other corporations because they have utilized the natural watercourses for the disposal of their sewage ; and to petition legislative authorities for assistance when the remedy lies in their own hands. The sooner the cities of this Dominion realize that the rivers are the natural drainage courses for sewage, and that such streams must not be utilized for domestic purposes without proper purification, the quicker will typhoid become a disease of the past. Only when the sewage of one community so pollutes a river as to render it impossible for its neighbor to adequately purify it by reasonable measures, is there any warrant for interference. If one community neglects to protect itself, I cannot conceive that it is the duty of its neighbors to relieve it of that task. This is, of course, contrary to the principles of riparian law, but I submit that it is the sane solution of the problem if municipalities are not to be unduly burdened with excessive expenditures with consequent retardation of development.
JOSEPH RACE, City Bacteriologist.
Ottawa, May 6th, 1916
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