The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

- Pollution of Lake Waters A Lake Manager Outlines the Instructions Which He Has Given to the Masters of His Fleet Based on Dr. McLaughlin's Report extremely pleased to note that you had given Dr. McLaugh- lin's report on the pollution of lake water such prominence in the Feb- ruary Review. I consider that this question, in so far as the general shipping of the lakes is concerned, is of even greater importance than that of life boat equipment, and so far as freighters are concerned, com- pletely overshadows it. Life boat capacity and manning, in their case, is almost without exception much in ex- cess of requirements. In the 'case of passenger ships almost every passen- ger may be said to be exposed to risk from impure drinking water, but not one in a hundred thousand of those transported on the lakes is endan- gered through circumstances requir- ing life boats.. I do not wish to be understood as advocating a _ relaxa- tion of vigilance and care as to life saving equipment, but rather as using it to emphasize the importance of the subject of pure water. The one is always with us; the other, fortunately, seldom. For some years we have, in. our fleet, urged upon masters and engin- eers the need of caution as to water supplies and within two years have practically doubled the tankage to 'insure supply during protracted port delays, but I confess the information set forth by Dr. McLaughlin has fair- ly staggered me. Learning of this re- port early in January, I took steps to familiarize myself with its disclosures and recommendations and immediately set on foot measures to guard, as far as possible, with the time and means Fh, exten Marine Review:--I was available, against the dangers set forth. Based on Dr. McLaughlin's report I have prepared instructions and suggestions for our masters and engineers which are given in full be- low. Effort at Amelioration The report does not treat of Lake Superior to the westward of the Inter- national boundary, nor of Lake Mich- igan, but with the information at hand it is easy to deduce conditions over those areas. It is not claimed, nor indeed supposed, that these in- structions are final, nor the best possi- ble, for all services, nor yet that cir- cumstances may not arise to com- pel violation, but they do at least represent a conscientious effort at amelioration. As to source of supply and means of distribution: a separate small sea- cock (1% in.) is being fitted in en- gine room 4 ft. below the light water line. This can be installed without docking the ship. A steam connec- tion is: fitted to this sea-cock between the valve and the skin, therefore the fittings should be brass or their life will be short because of electrolytic action, This steam connection is for thoroughly boiling out the sea con- nection before opening the sea-cock and preventing infection from foul wa- ter of harbors or polluted areas. This sea-cock will be locked and the key in charge of the master only. The only outlet is to a small pump which has no other connection on _ suction side and delivers only to a tank-filling service. In our case we prefer to fill with a 1l-inch hose which cannot be used for any other service because there is no other hose connection on the ship of similar size. Similarly it avoids .risk of tank filling with the regular deck hose. The location of sea-cock should be chosen with some care and with reference to soil pipe openings forward. It usually will be found possible to avoid a direct wake. When tanks are to be filled, the master, having determined a safe area, will give or send the key to engine room with orders to furnish water. The engineer on watch will person- ally see the sea-connection boiled out for at least five minutes before open- ing the sea-cock and starting pump. The sea-cock can only be locked in the closed position. Of course a suit- ably designed handle or spanner, re- movable only in the closed position, as common in certain lines of work, would answer, and perhaps be better, but these things take time. The key is to be returned to the master after filling is completed. We are also adding still further to our tank capaci- fy. dt is standard practice with us to thoroughly clean these with a lye Or caustic solution at intervals and flush out all service connections with a similar solution before refilling. No Division of Responsibility There should not be any possibility of divided responsibility in a matter of such importance and we believe the master should not under any circum- dtsed. In be. stances delegate the water supply to a subordinate. The health of the crew is of just as much importance as the ship or her cargo. Absolute security could be attained by boiling the water as taken aboard and this can be done with an injector by throttling the discharge opening, in which case water could be drawn from the usual service sea-cock, but a separate filling line would still be needed to prevent contamination after passing the injector. Other objections, not by any means unimportant, also suggest themselves. : Pure water can also be obtained by ~ the use of evaporators or distillers, but the water so obtained is unpalatable and the apparatus requires constant care, and with such large areas of safe natural water available their use does not seem advisable, especially as any interruption in operation would result in falling back upon ordinary sources of supply. There remains the question of con- tamination by ice and tainted drinking vessels or containers. Artificial Ice As to the first, it is almost entirely avoidable. Few towns or cities of importance are unable to supply arti- ficial ice, which, while generally not quite so durable or efficient as nat- ural, because of the relatively high temperature at which it is frozen, gen- erally not below 26 to 28 deg. Fahr., is pure, unless made on the plate sys- tem, in which. raw water is generally the can system generally employed, however, the ice is made from distilled and reboiled water and is as nearly pure as anything handled or produced in the open air can well In our own practice the use of Hatutal icé is prohibited, but our ships trade only to ports where arti- ficial ice is always available. At all events, if any port of importance is without an ice plant a demand will soon produce it. A 1¥%-ton refrigerating machine -will make 1,200 lbs. of ice per day and re- frigerate the usual provision rooms found aboard freighters. The fuel expenditure' will amount to about 300 lbs. per day. It entails considerable, however, in extra equipment and at- tention and is undeSirable aboard ship unless no other source of supply is available. Ice making is an en-