Is It Safe to Drink the Water

EPIDEMIC TRING 1899 Teaching & Learning Resources

IS IT SAFE TO DRINK THE WATER?

TEACHERS’ NOTES

Included in the Activities & Worksheets you will find 10 Water Analysis Report Forms and also a blank Urban District Council Notice form. The Water Analysis forms are based on the actual Analytical Report forms completed by Dr William Gruggen, the Medical Officer of Health in September 1899, when he analysed the water in 10 wells in and around Akeman Street. The original forms and transcripts are included in the database.

The 10 Activity & Worksheet Forms each concern one well and contain the analysis results for that well, but not Dr Gruggen’s conclusions. These forms can be used by the students, along with the Medical Officers’ Handbook (below), to determine whether or not the well water is safe to drink. While they appear complex to interpret, there is enough information for students working in small groups, with appropriate guidance, to decide for themselves whether the water is unsafe. This activity could be done in conjunction with a science lesson on bacteria, microbes, viruses, etc or on pollution, or water resources. Students need to understand the terms organic, albumen, ammonia and chlorine. The Medical Handbook is also included on the database under the title “Is it safe to drink the water?”

Whole class or group discussion:

Where does our water come from? How is water stored? How do we know it is safe to drink? Has it always been that way? Are there places where the water is not safe to drink? In the UK? In the world? When flooding occurs, for example in late 2000 in the UK, people were told to boil their water. Why? Why do diseases often break out in countries with bad flooding, for example Mozambique? How is the water in swimming pools kept safe and clean? What sorts of things can pollute water (rivers, streams, dams, wells, lakes) today? What about 100 years ago? How can you tell if water is polluted before you drink it? How would someone test it to make sure?

Here’s an example from the analysis of a well in Tring in 1900:

Date / NAMES OF OWNERS AND DESCRIPTION OF THE SAMPLES OF WATER / Grains per Gallon / Parts per Million
Nov 13 1900 / Sample from well supplying 43 to46 King Street, Tring. Marcham and others, occupiers. / Solids / Chlorine / Free
Ammonia / Albuminiod
Ammonia
8.4 / .080 / .180

All water contains some organic matter. When there is too much, the water becomes unsafe to drink. The above example was condemned by Dr Gruggen.

Chlorine: urine and sewage contain large amounts of chlorides. The presence of 5 or 10 grains of chlorine per gallon in water is suspicious. Good natural waters contain from .7 to 1.2 grains per gallon.

This sample contains 8.4 grains per gallon which makes the water suspicious.

Albuminoid Ammonia: .00 parts per million (ppm) is organically pure even if it contains free ammonia and chlorides. Pure water contains less than .05 ppm. If it is .05 or more you have to look at the amounts of free ammonia. Water which has a lot of free ammonia and more than .05 albuminoid ammonia is suspicious. Above .10 ppm is very suspicious and if over .15 ppm, the water should be condemned.

This sample contains .180 ppm which means it is contaminated with organic matter, probably animal or human in origin, and should be condemned.

Free Ammonia: Good water for drinking should not contain more than .01 or .02 parts per million (milligramme per litre)

This sample contains .08 ppm which means it is probably contaminated with urine and should be condemned.

You could discuss how wells could come to contain urine and other types of organic matter.

There is also a blank poster form in the Activities & Worksheets section which can be used by students to construct either by hand or on the computer, a poster warning people about the dangers of drinking the well water. Students could consider how this would have been done in the 1890s and perhaps how such a warning would be publicised today. How could you warn people about drinking the water if they couldn’t read?

Finally, towards the end of the programme it becomes clear that some people in Tring were once again using the well water even though the wells were supposed to be closed. They preferred this to going to the standpipes connected to the mains. Why would they do this? Consider the way water comes into our houses now – for washing, cooking, flushing toilets, bathing, etc. Before mains water and taps, how was water brought into the house? When earth closets were replaced with water closets, the early ones did not flush although they were connected to a sewer. How would you flush a non-flushing water closet? Look at the Town Plan or Ordnance Survey Maps again and work out how far residents of the yards and Akeman St had to go to fetch water. Consider how much water is needed for washing the clothes, bathing the family (even occasionally!). cooking, drinking, washing up, cleaning and flushing the WC. For a family with 4-6 children and 2 adults, how much water would need to be fetched and how often? What would it be fetched in? How many buckets or large pitchers can be carried at once? Calculating the amount of water that would need to be fetched regularly for the family might give the children some insight into the effort required to obtain water and why some people still used the wells and didn’t flush their water closets enough!

Medical Officer's Handbook

By Dr Cornelius B. Fox

Medical Officers of Health must make sure that drinking water is safe. They should know how to test drinking water, understand the test result and give an opinion as to whether the water is safe to drink. It is important in stopping the spread of disease to be able to give an opinion quickly.

What is best water?

Pure water from a spring is the healthiest drinking water.
Water from pure shallow wells is the next best for drinking.
Water from artesian wells and the rain that falls in the country far away from towns and cities are both in third position.
Waters from streams and rivers, most of which contain more or less filth, and in times of heavy rains, soil and many minerals, are the least healthy for drinking.

Here are 2 examples of the best spring waters:

Sample of Water / Grains per Gallon / Part per Million = Milligramme per Litre / Total Hardness
Spring supplying village of Woodham Walter, Essex
Spring near Drewsteignton, Dartmoor, Devon / Solids
21.
14. / Chlorine
2.4
1.6 / Free Ammonia
.00
.02 / Albuminoid Ammonia
.01
.01 / Degrees
6
8

Now here are examples of good shallow well and good artesian well waters and pure rain water:-

Sample of Water / Grains per Gallon / Part per Million = Milligramme per Litre / Total Hardness
Good shallow well water
Depth 25 feet
Good Artesian well water
Depth 300 feet
Good Artesian well water
Depth 175 feet
Pure rain water collected in open country / Solids
30.
85.4
106.4
1. / Chlorine
7.
27.1
37.7
.6 / Free Ammonia
.01
.74
.01
.45 / Albuminoid Ammonia
.05
.03
.02
.08 / Degrees
13
5
9 1/2
.7

All waters, even the purest, contain some organic mattter. It is when there is too much organic matter, especially from humans and animals, that water becomes unsafe to drink.

What the terms mean:

Albumena part of animal solids and fluids, and of plant roots and seeds

Albumenoidproteins, forming a chief part of human, animal and plant organs and tissues

Albuminoid ammoniaammonia produced by decaying or rotting animal organic matter such as dead bodies, sewage, manure, urine.

Ammoniacolourless harmless gas with strong smell

Artesian deep hole, like a well, bored or drilled straight down through earth layers which produces a constant supply of water rising to the ground surface

Chloridesa compound of chlorine

Chlorinenon-metal element, yellowish-green in colour, strong smelling gas

Free ammonialoose or unconnected with organic material, naturally present in air and passes by rain into water systems.

Hard waterwater which has a heavy concentration of mineral salts

NitrateSalts, combination of nitric acid with another substance

Nitritesmixture of base or alcohol with nitrous acid

Organichaving an organised physical structure, of animals and plants

Organic mattervegetable or animal and human waste

Oxidisingprocess where a metal element or organic matter combines with oxygen

Subsoil waterunderground water

How to understand the test results:

If water shows .00 parts of albuminoid ammonia per million, it can be passed as organically pure, even if it contains free ammonia and chlorides

If the albuminoid ammonia adds up to .02, or to less than .05 parts per million, the water is still considered very pure water.

When the albuminoid ammonia amounts to .05, then you have to look at the amounts of free ammonia and water which has a lot of free ammonia, along with more than .05 parts of albuminoid ammonia per million is suspicious or questionable.

If free ammonia is not present or in only a tiny amount, water should not be condemned unless the albuminoid ammonia reaches something like .10 per million.

Albuminoid ammonia above .10 per million begins to be a very suspicious sign

If albuminoid ammonia adds up to over .15 parts per million the water should be condemned.

Well waters are greatly influenced by:

Changes in the height of the subsoil water, which is always varying
The amount of water that is passing through the subsoil of a country
Heavy downfalls of rain or periods of drought.

Often a water can be tested as pure at one time and impure at another This occasional pollution of water is often due to the washing of filth into a well by heavy rains.

Ammonia, which is in itself harmless, is produced by decaying or rotting animal organic matter such as dead bodies, manure, urine. It is present in air in varying amounts, out of which it is washed by the great air-cleanser, rain. Rain contains .49 parts per million of ammonia. Unpolluted well water contains less than this amount, whilst spring water is generally free from it. As ammonia in contact with animal matter and subject to oxidising influences is very quickly changed into nitrates and nitrites, its presence in large quantity in river and shallow well waters shows that they have been directly polluted with animal matters. Too much ammonia always goes with too much albuminoid ammonia. In shallow wells a contamination of the water by urine is most likely.

The amount of chlorine:

The amount of chlorine in the water of a district is an indirect guide as to whether or not the water is contaminated with sewage. Urine and sewage contain a large amount of chlorides. The presence of 5 or 10 grains of chlorine per gallon in water is suspicious. Good natural waters contain, on average, from .7 to 1.2 grains of chlorine per gallon. If there is too much chlorine and too much albuminoid ammonia and ammonia, pollution with sewage is almost certain.

Diagnosis and Formation of an Opinion

The amount of organic matter in the best spring waters--

Spring water A. Free ammonia .005 Albuminoid ammonia .02

Spring water B. Free ammonia .000 Albuminoid ammonia .01

A good water for drinking should not contain more than

Milligrammes per litre

Free ammonia.01 or .02

Albuminoid ammonia.08

Water containing the following amounts of the two ammonias would be suspicious. I have often seen such waters from shallow wells surrounded by soil on which soapsuds, etc, are sometimes thrown.

Milligrammes per litre

Free ammonia.01 or .02

Albuminoid ammonia.12

Contamination should be suspected if amounts of chlorides and nitrates or nitrites are high.

Water shows a larger amount of albuminoid ammonia than .15 milligrammes per litre. This should always be condemned if there is also too much nitrogen and more than the average chlorides for the district.

Water shows too much free ammonia and albuminoid ammonia, with too many nitrates and nitrites. The water is polluted with animal organic matter (eg water from wells polluted by the foul soil of a graveyard or cemetery or manure from a garden).

Water has too much albuminoid ammonia but not much or no free ammonia, and a tiny amount of chlorides and nitrogen salts. It is likely that the water is contaminated or polluted with vegetable organic matter (eg. well water fouled with rotten leaves, decayed roots of trees).

Water contains an enormous amount of free ammonia and too much albuminoid ammonia. It is most likely that the contents of a cesspool or urinal is leaking into the well. Urine is very quickly broken down and develops carbonate of ammonia eg. water from a well polluted by urinal: free ammonia above 1.0 milligrammes per litre, albuminoid ammonia above .35 milligrammes per litre.

Diagnosis of Pollution by Urine, or by Slop and Sink Water

Examples / Grains per Gallon / Miligramme per Litre= Part per Million / Remarks
Water from well close to broken sink pipe
Water from artesian well into which a drain from a stable leaked urine
Same after rain
Water from a shallow well
Before}
Pollution
by contents
of drain
After } / Solids
50
…
…
75.6
103 / Volatile Matters
2
…
…
Nitrogen as Nitrates & Nitrites
None
Abundant / Chlo-rine
9
8.2
7.3
12.3
16 / Free Amm.
A lot present
.51
.04
.01
.69 / Alb. Amm
.35
.31
.08
.07
.28 / The small proportion of free ammonia was due to the mixture of the urine with a large quantity of water in this deep well.
Persistent uncontrollable diarrhoea produced

Diagnosis of Pollution by Contents of Cesspools and Sewers:

Samples / Grains per Gallon / Milligrammes per Litre=
Part per Million / Remarks
Solids / Chlorine / Free Amm. / Alb.
Amm.
Water from shallow well
Water from shallow well / 101
50.4 / 12.5
6.9 / Above 1.0
Above 1.0 / .24
.50 / Polluted by leaky cesspool. Typhoid fever and diphtheria amongst the owners.
Accidental overflow into well of cesspool contents which, having been polluted by the poison of typhoid, spread the disease.

Adapted from Sanitary Examinations of Water, Air, and Food

A Handbook for the Medical Officer of Health

By Cornelius B. Fox MD, MRCP, LOND.

Medical Officer of Health of East, Central & South Essex

London J & A Churchill, New Burlington Street, 1878