MACHIAS

HERMANN M. BIGGS, M.D., State Commissioner of Health:

I beg to submit the following report upon an investigation of the public water supply of Machias, made by Mr. C. M. Baker, assistant engineer, on September 6, 1917.

Machias is an unincorporated village of about 600 inhabitants, located in the northern part of Cattaraugus county, at the junction of the B. R. & P. R. R. with the Olean-Buffalo division of the Pennsylvania railroad, about 45 miles southeast of Buffalo. It is in the valley of Ischua creek. No sewer system is provided, the houses being served by privies, cesspools, etc.

The supply is owned and operated by the Machias Water Supply Company, of which Mr. H. B. Maxson is president, and Mr. M. W. Prescott, superintendent. The supply is obtained from springs, located about 3 miles west of the village, from which water flows by gravity to the distribution system, the excess going to a storage reservoir. The supply was first installed and put into operation about 1910, and since then the only improvements have consisted of extensions to the distribution system, the excess going to a storage reservoir.

There are in all about 5 miles of water mains ranging in size from 4 inches to 8 inches in diameter. About 75 per cent of the population of the village is served with the water, there being in all some 100 service taps, only 2 or 3 of which are metered. The pressure in the village is about 48 pounds per square inch. Due to lack of meters or other method of measuring the water, no definite information could be obtained regarding the consumption.

For 4 years after the installation of the supply the village paid the water company for the use of hydrants for fire protection, but during this period the village had no fire hose. About 1915, however, fire hose was purchased, but the next year the village voted to discontinue payment to the water company for the use of the hydrants. The village, therefore, has now no right to the use of the water for fire protection, although the hydrants are still in place and connected with the supply. The storage reservoir, however, is not at all times kept filled, it having been empty practically all of the past summer, but was filled shortly before the time of the inspection to supply water for State road construction in the vicinity.

The reservoir is located on a hill, about half a mile west of the village. It is constructed of masonry and covered with a wooden house. It is 20 by 40 feet in plan and is 7 feet deep, thus having a capacity of about 420,000 gallons.

The springs from which the supply is obtained are located in pasture land, about 3 miles west of the village. They consist of two lines of collecting tile, which collect the water and discharge into a receiving basin, whence the water flows by gravity to the village distributing system. An area about 150 feet square is owned by the water company and enclosed by a fence about the springs. No drainage ditches are provided to divert surface wash from above. This area is wooded, however, and is probably not frequented by cattle. There are no permanent sources of pollution in the vicinity.

Samples of the water were collected at the time of the inspection and sent to the Division of Laboratories and Research for analyses, the results of which together with those of previous analyses are recorded in the appended table.

The results of these analyses show a water satisfactory in physical qualities with respect to color and turbidity, but a water somewhat high in hardness. The figures for nitrogen in its various forms are low, but those for chlorine appear to be at times somewhat above normal. The bacterial counts are at times high which, however, may be due in part to delays in transit, 4 days having elapsed from the time the samples were collected until they were received at the laboratory. Colon bacilli were occasionally found present in samples collected in 1912, but since that time the supply seems to have been practically free from organisms of this type.

As a result of this investigation, it may be concluded that the public water supply of Machias is obtained from springs which, if at all times properly protected from pollution, should furnish a satisfactory supply of water. There appears to be, however, some possibility of pollution by surface wash, due to the lack of suitable drainage ditches.

In view of the above, I beg to recommend that the water company construct suitable drainage ditches within the area enclosed about the springs to divert the surface wash from above.

Finally, I would recommend that copies of this report be sent to the water company, to the local health officer, and to the sanitary supervisor of the district.

Respectfully submitted,

THEODORE HORTON,
Chief Engineer

ALBANY, N. Y., December 18, 1917

RESULTS OF WATER ANALYSES

PHYSICAL

CHEMICAL (PARTS PER MILLION)

BACTERIOLOGICAL

* Samples four days in transit.

MALONE

HERMANN M. BIGGS, M.D., State Commissioner of Health:

I beg to submit the following report on the public water supply of the village of Malone, Franklin county. An investigation of this supply was made on May 2, 1916, by Mr. M. F. Sanborn, assistant engineer, who was assisted at the time of the inspection by Dr. A. H. Wilding, health officer, and Mr. G. A. Wilson, superintendent of the works.

Malone is an incorporated village in the northern part of Franklin county and is on the New York Central and Hudson River railroad, the Rutland railroad and Salmon river. The population at the time of the inspection was estimated to be 7,540. Private sewers serve about 80 per cent of the population and discharge into the Salmon river.

The water supply is owned by the municipality and the waterworks were designed by Professor Green of Troy and constructed by contract under his direction in 1888. The works were originally owned by a private water company and the village took over the supply on October 1, 1906.

The water supply is obtained from Horse and Lightning brooks which are about 8 miles south of the village and an auxiliary supply is obtained from Roaring brook which is a short distance north of the other brooks. The water from the brooks first passes through an intake chamber and thence to a reservoir located on a hill about 11⁄2 miles southeast of the village. booster pump is located on the main line a short distance southwest of the reservoir and is used at such times as the consumption is greater than the capacity of the pipe line.

A

Practically all of the population is served by this water supply; the average daily consumption being 1,200,000 gallons and with the booster pump in operation the consumption is raised to 1,400,000 gallons per day. These figures on consumption were obtained from the report of a Pitometer survey made in July, 1916. There are about 354 miles of water mains varying from 4 to 12 inches in diameter. There are about 1,600 houses in the village and about 1,700 consumers. None of the supplies are metered. The average pressure in the village is about 80 pounds per square inch and fire protection is provided by 103 hydrants placed in various parts of the village.

Water from Horse and Lightning brocks is brought together through a by-pass and thence enters the main intake chamber. This intake chamber is about 20 by 28 feet in plan and is divided into two compartments, the water passing into one chamber and the surplus water passing out again into the brook while the village supply passes through a screen to a second chamber and thence to the pipe line leading to the reservoir. The brook near the intake chamber is usually cleaned out three or four times a year and at such times the auxiliary supply from Roaring brook is used. At these times the water is conveyed to the intake chamber through a pipe line and the water from this source is used only for about a day at a time.

The booster pump station is a frame building about 12 by 20 feet in plan and contains à Morris Machine Works 6-inch rotary pump driven by a Westinghouse 20-horse-power electric motor. This pump is operated only at such times as the consumption is greater than the pipe line will carry under the normal gravity head.

The reservoir is about 150 feet square and 11 feet deep. It is open and has concrete sides and bottom. The reservoir has a capacity of 1,500,000 gallons which is a little greater than the average daily consumption. The water usually enters through a series of aerating pipes at one side and passes through the outlet at the other side of the reservoir. The reservoir may

The

be by-passed and the distribution system fed directly from the intake. reservoir is usually cleaned once a year and the street mains are flushed frequently during the warm weather, principally by the use of water drawn for street sprinkling.

The regular supply has a watershed of about one-quarter of a square mile

the greater part of which is owned by the village. There are no houses upon this watershed and it is quite hilly and largely wooded. The auxiliary supply from Roaring brook has a watershed of about 31⁄2 square miles and a population of about 100, which corresponds to a population of about 29 per square mile. The watershed is also quite hilly although only one-third of it is wooded while about one-third is under cultivation and a large part of the remainder is used for pasture.

The main supply has no apparent source of pollution except possibly wild animals. The Roaring brook supply, however, is open to serious pollution, chiefly from 3 or 4 privies located near the brook which were in an unsatisfactory condition; and from a barnyard with a manure pile on the edge of the brook.

At the time of the inspection samples of the village water were collected from a tap in the village and from the various intakes. Analyses of these samples together with those made previously by the Division of Laboratories and Research will be found in the appended table.

From the results of these analyses it will be seen that the main supply at the time of the inspection was of a satisfactory sanitary quality as shown both in the chemical and bacteriological analyses, while the sample obtained from the Roaring brook supply was seriously contaminated as shown by the high bacterial count, the presence of organisms of the B. coli type in 1 c.c. inoculations and by the high oxygen consumed and chlorine figures. The samples collected during the past eight years have occasionally shown high counts of bacteria and organisms of the B. coli type in 10 c.c. inoculations. There is no means of determining, however, whether these samples were from the main supply or from the Roaring brook supply. The water as shown by the past analyses in general has contained moderate amounts of nitrogen in its various forms with the exception of that found in the nitrate test which has been quite high. These high figures for nitrates are undoubtedly due to the organic nitrogen which had become oxidized in the natural process of purification. The water is moderately hard and is usually free from color and turbidity.

As a result of this investigation and analyses the following conclusions may be drawn:

1. That the main supply from Horse and Lightning brocks is apparently of a satisfactory sanitary quality as shown by the sanitary survey and by the analyses.

2. The water from the auxiliary supply obtained from Roaring brook is evidently unsatisfactory from a sanitary standpoint on account of the possibility of pollution from the insanitary privies and barnyard near the brook, this condition being verified by the analytical results. While it has been the custom to use this supply only at such times as the water is clear and contains little or no surface water, yet it is quite possible that pollution might be present from drainage from these privies and stables near the brook.

In view of the above conclusions, I would make the following recommendation:

That, in case it is intended to continue the use of the auxiliary supply from Roaring brook, the insanitary conditions existing at the present time upon the watershed be eliminated and if any difficulty is found in improving these conditions that application be made to this Department for the enactment of rules and regulations for the protection of the watershed.

I would further recommend that copies of this report be sent to the village authorities, the local health officer and to the sanitary supervisor of the district.

Respectfully submitted,

THEODORE HORTON,
Chief Engineer

ALBANY, N. Y., August 1, 1917