sparsely populated water sheds or from sources which were not grossly polluted. With the rapid growth in population and an accumulation of knowledge of water borne diseases, the ever growing menace to many municipal supplies began to be recognized. Two protective courses were possible: better protection of the catchment areas or water sheds, or nullification of the pollution by appropriate treatment of the water before delivery to the consumer. Protection of the watershed and control and reduction of pollution thereon involved police measures, which were more easily enforced by state law. It is true that provision for the exercise of police authority by the municipality itself over a watershed or catchment area was sometimes included in the law authorizing the use of water. Often, however, the most serious pollution came from other communities with independent jurisdiction, and these could best be controlled by state authority. These beginnings of state control of water supplies were not stated at first in general blanket laws. They were usually special acts of the legislature to meet a special set of conditions. Cities which had studied conditions and attempted to solve their water supply problems were not affected by such special laws. The Lawrence Experiment Station was established in 1887 by the State Board of Health of Massachusetts and demonstrated the possibilities of water purification by filters. As a result of experiments at Lawrence by the State Board of Health, and as a further demonstration of the filter plant at Lawrence was built in 1893 to deal with a heavily polluted river water. On the other hand the experiments and demonstrations at Louisville, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and other cities were not due to state activity, but to the individual initiative of these municipalities advised by far sighted engineers, so that, up to the beginning of this century, state activity in water supply problems has been manifest only in Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts State Board of Health exhibited its activity largely as a matter of scientific research and experiment with kindly advice to cities and towns. After 1900, knowledge of water borne diseases and of the methods of removing pollution from water accumulated rapidly. The causative relation of polluted water supplies to the toll in deaths exacted each year by typhoid fever was clearly established. The reduction in typhoid deaths effected by substituting a filtered. for a polluted surface supply was demonstrated in many American cities in the first decade of the 20th century. However, many city governments refused to accept the lesson and their citizens were apathetic to the losses from typhoid fever. Smaller cities. had outgrown their original supplies and often went to the nearest abundant supply, which was usually polluted and used without treatment. It is not strange, therefore, that state boards of health attempted to secure laws to prevent the use of untreated polluted water. Their first idea in securing such laws was that the desired result could be promptly obtained by an exhibition of police power. These laws were in most instances much less drastic than their sponsors wished, and it is probably fortunate that they were. Theoretically it may seem possible for a state to compel its municipalities to discontinue use of polluted water and substitute a purified supply. Practically such results are not obtainable by police power with any degree of promptness. The agitation for strong laws was far from futile. It had a tremendous educational effect, and awakened the less progressive cities to their obligations in the matter of furnishing pure water to their citizens. Some laws were passed more or less modified, and the principle of state control and supervision of water supplies was established. These laws giving some measure of state control seemed weak and ineffective, but it was soon apparent to wise executives that results did not depend upon law alone, but also upon research, experiment, demonstration and expert advice. The example of Massachusetts was always an inspiration. Massachusetts laws gave little general coercive police authority, but provided for research and advice. These powers produced results. Respect for a splendid engineering division in the state board of health was found to be a bigger asset than police power. The interest and activity of the Federal Government has been a large factor in encouraging state control of water supplies. Excessive prevalence of typhoid fever is never purely a local matter. It is always a matter of state and interstate or Federal concern as well. The Federal Government places the obligation upon the United States Public Health Service to safeguard the health of the United States as a whole, to prevent the introduction of disease from foreign countries, and to prevent the spread of disease from one state to another. In discharging this obligation the United States Public Health Service under the Constitution is subject to very definite limitations in its action within the states, and under Federal statutes is instructed to utilize state and local health departments in so far as may be possible. Police power has been given sparingly to Federal health authorities and delegated by states in large measure to local authorities, because the ultimate application of police power to the individual citizen logically belongs to the agency with which he is in direct contact, viz., the local board of health. It is clear that police power not specifically given by the Constitution to Federal agencies is reserved to the states or to the people. There is also police power implied, but not expressed, in the Constitution inherent in the Federal Government in connection with the general welfare commerce clauses. This power is necessary to cover conditions not amenable to or corrigible by state police power, and its exercise can not be a usurpation of state authority. Congress has repeatedly given police power by statute to Federal agencies to cover such conditions, but has always maintained the attitude that in health matters state and local agencies should be utilized to the limit of their legitimate fields. The Quarantine Laws of 1890 and 1893 give power to the Federal health authorities to prevent the introduction of cholera, yellow fever, smallpox or plague from one state to another without reference to utilization of state machinery, and provide for coöperation with state and municipal health boards in the execution and enforcement of state laws and regulations and of Federal laws and regulations. Congress also annually appropriates for the Interstate Quarantine Service sums of money for coöperation with state and municipal health authorities in the prevention of the spread of disease in interstate traffic. Under these laws the control of water supplies by the Federal Government must be indirectly secured through the state health department. The Public Health Service authority for direct control of water supplies is limited to common carriers, vessels and railroad trains engaged in interstate commerce. The United States Public Health Service began its active interest in the problem in 1910 by detailing an officer to investigate and report upon the relation of sewage pollution of interstate waters to the spread of typhoid fever. The work was begun in the great interstate rivers. The Public Health Service continued and expanded its investigation and research in pollution of inland waters, and in 1914 promulgated a standard for water furnished by common carriers, railroads and vessels to their passengers. In promulgating this standard in 1914 for drinking water used by common carriers in interstate traffic, the Treasury Department or the United States Public Health Service had ample authority in law. It had no authority and no intention to impose an arbitrary standard to control or govern water supply officials. The fact remains, however, that the standard was accepted and used so universally, not by authority but for convenience, that it seemed wise to revise it with some regard to these new voluntary uses. The standard needed broadening to include and give proper weight to field survey data. Accordingly, an advisory committee on official water standards was appointed by the Surgeon General of the Public Health Service to review and revise the present standard. This committee composed of representatives of Federal Government departments, of scientific associations and eminent sanitarians, prepared the new standard for drinking water shown on page 123 of this manual. The United States Public Health Service found that the most effective way to prevent the spread of water borne diseases was to assist in developing and perfecting state and local machinery for this purpose. By detailing or lending sanitary engineers to states, the United States Public Health Service has been instrumental in securing the establishment of a sanitary engineering division in more than a dozen states. This policy is in accord with the Constitutional limitations of Federal police power. It also saves the Federal Government a large part of the expense of establishing machinery for controlling water supplies of common carriers. Seventy per cent of the supplies used by common carriers are public municipal supplies. In their own interest the states should supervise these supplies and there is, therefore, no necessity for a Federal machine to duplicate the work which the state is doing or should do. A coöperative arrangement between the United States Public Health Service and the state health departments was effected in 1919 by which, in so far as possible, all inspections, surveys, analyses and reports with appraisal of the supply, should be made by the state sanitary engineering divi sion and furnished to the United States Public Health Service for use in controlling water supplies of common carriers. Under this arrangement the Public Health Service has been able to concentrate upon the development of state sanitary engineering divisions, and since 1919 the energy and time of a large part of its personnel has been devoted to this purpose. The health departments of 43 states now have divisions of sanitary engineering. Many of these are as yet only "one man" divisions. All these states are making some effort at water supply control, and its completeness or effectiveness varies with the adequacy of personnel. The approval of plans for proposed public water supply is required in almost all the states, and in about half the states the department has power to order improvements to correct defects. The following activities are usually carried out by states in control of water supplies: 1. Approval of proposed public and quasi-public water supplies by state health department. (a) Approval of the source of supply and the plans for its development, including its purification. (b) Approval of the installation after it is completed and ready for use. (This is to insure that the work has been performed in accordance with the approved plans.) 2. Supervision of existing public and quasi-public water supplies by state health department. (a) Inspections by the state health department to cover the following features: (1) Adequacy of the supply. (2) Possibility of contamination of source. (3) Possibility of contamination due to improper development. (4) Possibility of contamination due to inefficient purification works. cross-connections, unsafe reservoirs, etc. (6) Possibility of contamination due to emergency supply. (7) Sanitary quality determined by analyses made in the field and in the department laboratory. (8) Extent of use of the supply and for what purposes. (b) Submission of reports to state health department by local officials. (1) Reports on operation of water purification plants. (2) Reports of regular analyses of water supply made in laboratories other than that of the state health department. (3) Plans and records of existing works when required by the state health department. |