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Pure Water on Interstate Carriers A Study of Conditions on Steam Vessels Engaged in Inter- state Commerce in the Sanitary District of the Great Lakes HE fact that contaminated drink- I ing-water supplies on board lake carriers cause a marked increase in the typhoid rate among. sailors was first pointed out by Cobb, in 1909, at which time he outlined the various arrangements for obtaining drinking water on board vessels, and briefly discussed the methods of con- tamination. In 1910 Young reported an investi- gation of typhoid fever among the members of crews of lake vessels. In this study he pointed out that the incidence of typhoid fever was: higher among seamen on the Great Lakes than among seamen on inland rivers and the sea-coast, concluding also from his statistics that the rate was considerably higher than in lake cities and that the water supplies of the -vessels were in many cases contami- nated. De -Valin, in 1914, made an epidemiological study of typhoid-fever epidemics on two lake vessels, and in connection with this discussed the question of water supply and sewage disposal somewhat in detail, outlining in a general way possible methods of solution. ° ~ In 1909 Young and Judson suggest- ed that the interstate quarantine reg- ulations might be amended so as to control’ the disposition of sewage from lake vessels. Active corrective measures were not undertaken at the time, but in 1913 the interstate quaran- _ tine regulations were so amended as to put the control of drinking-water supplies aboard interstate common carriers under the supervision of the public health service. Other amend- ments were subsequently made. At the present time the following regula- tions relate to the water supplies of interstate common carriers: REVISED INTERSTATE QUARANTINE REGULATIONS Sec. 13. Water provided by common car- riers on cars, vessels, or vehicles operated in interstate traffic for the use. of passengers shall be furnished under the following con- ditions: : (a) Water shall be certified by the inter- state sanitary officers or the state or other health authorities within whose jurisdiction it is obtained as conforming to the standard .of purity of drinking water supplied to the public by common carriers engaged in inter- state traffic, as promulgated by the secretary of the treasury on Oct. 21, 1914: Provided, That water in regard to the safety of which a reasonable doubt exists may be used if the same has been treated in such manner as, to render it incapable of conveying disease, and the fact of such treatment is certified by the aforesaid health officer. (b) Ice used for cooling such water shall By J. 0. Cobb, C. L. Williams and H. P. Letton be clear natural ice, or ice made from distilled water or water certified as aforesaid, and _be- fore the ice is placed in the water it shall be first carefully washed with water of known safety and handled in such manner as to prevent its becoming contaminated by the or- ganisms of Provided, That the foregoing shall not apply to ice which does not come in contact with the water which is to be cooled. (c) Water containers shall be cleansed at least .once in each week that they are in operation. Sec. 14. Common carriers while engaging in interstate traffic shall not «furnish to their crews or employes any polluted water for drinking purposes which may contain organ- isms or materials likely to cause a contagious or infectious disease, nor. shall such carriers maintain or permit to be maintained upon their vessels or vehicles, or at or near their stations or other ordinary stopping places over which they have control, any tank, cistern, receptacle, hydrant, or article with water which may contain such impurities, in such manner that water therefrom. may be conveniently ob- ‘tained by the crews and employes mentioned for drinking purposes, unless such common carriers maintain a notice upon said vessels or vehicles and at, near, or upon every said tank, cistern, receptacle, hydrant, pump, well, stream, brook, pool, ditch, or other place or article, with water therein containing such im- purities, forbidding the use of such water for drinking purposes by the crews or employes of the said common carriers or by the general public while engaging in interstate commerce. Sec. 15. No person, firm, or corporation shall furnish water for drinking or cooking purposes to any vessel in any harbor of the United States intending to clear for some port within some other state or territory of the United States, or the District of ‘Columbia, taken from the waters of such harbor or from any other place where it has been or may have been contaminated by sewer discharges: Provided, That water in regard to the safety of which a reasonable doubt exists may be used if the same has been treated in such manner as to render it incapable of conveying disease,- and the fact of certified by the interstate sanitary officer, or the state or other health authority within whose jurisdiction it is obtained. Sec. 16: Common carriers operating vessels in commerce between the several states and territories or the District of Columbia, for passengers in interstate traffic, shall not supply for the use of said passengers any water taken from a lake or stream over which the vessel is being navigated unless the same is certified by the United States public health service or the state or municipal health authority within whose jurisdiction it is obtained as conform- ing to the bacteriological standard for drink- ing water promulgated by the secretary of the treasury under date of Oct. 21, 1914: Pro- vided, That water in regard to the safety of which a reasonable doubt exists may be used if the same has been treated in such manner as to render it incapable of conveying disease, and the fact of such treatment is certified by the aforesaid health authority or by the surgeon general of the United States public ‘health service or his accredited representative. Following the promulgation of the above-quoted interstate quarantine regulations and in order to facilitate their enforcement, the continental United States was divided into 12 districts known as interstate sanitary districts. The district of the Great Lakes embraces that portion of the United States lying north of a line beginning at the junction of seventy-fourth degree of longitude and the Canadian line, and extending south to the forty-second degree of latitude, west to the seventy-eighth 100 infectious or contagious diseases: . _ Chicago. such treatment is. the degree of longitude, south to the fortieth degree of latitude, west to the ninetieth degree of longitude, aorth to the forty-sixth degree of latitude, west to the ninety-third de- gree of longitude, and north to the Canadian line. The above-described district em- braces parts of the states of New . York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, *Minnesota, and the entire state of Michigan, as shown in Fig. 6. The headquarters and laboratory for this district are at the United States Ma- rine Hospital, 4141 Clarendon avenue, During the past summer, inspections were made and samples collected from most of the passenger vessels and from some freight vessels .on the Great Lakes; the scope of this work being outlined below. Present Method of Obtaining Drink- ing Water on Lake Vessels Of the two general methods of obtaining drinking water on _ board lake vessels, the first and most com- mon is by pumping, or by gravity, through a sea cock in the hull. of the vessel, and the second by filling the drinking water tanks through a hose from a hydrant on shore. Sea Cocks.—A sea cock consists gen- erally of a flanged valve bolted di- rectly to the shell of the vessel, the water entering the cock through numerous small holes piercing the shell. These holes act at a strainer to prevent solid matter entering the valve. The cocks vary in size from 2 to 10 inches, and are usually placed at a depth of about 8 feet below the water level. From the sea cock the water is distributed by several methods. In a great many cases the storage tanks are located below the water line, and it is possible to fill them by gravity directly from the sea cock. In other cases the water is pumped into the tanks by the general service pump. A few vessels are equipped with special pumps which are used only for handling fresh water, and on these vessels the tanks are filled with this pump. In the first and last methods it is quite common to find special sea cocks used only for taking in the drinking-water supply. In a number of cases, however, the tanks are filled