In reply you are informed that the laboratory authorities have been requested to make bacteriological examinations of the water when received. Upon receipt of the report a copy will be forwarded to you. Very respectfully, BAXTER T. SMELZER, Secretary BENDER HYGIENIC LABORATORY, ALBANY, N. Y., March 29, 1898 Dr. BAXTER T. SMELZER, Secretary State Board of Health, Albany, N. Y.: Dear Sir-Enclosed find the report on the examination of the water from Lockport, N. Y., recently submitted to us. Water No. 1. Number of colonies to the cubic centimeter 854. Theobald Smith's test. Of nine tubes inoculated none give gas. From the gelatin plates were isolated a number of water saprophytes, and two colonies of a liquefying organism, which was present in all the samples but was not identified. Water No. 2. Number of colonies to the cubic centimeter 976. Theobald Smith's test. Out of nine tubes three give gas between 30 and 75 per cent. From the plates were isolated the liquefying organism mentioned above, the Bacillus coli communis and the B. subtilis. Water No. 3. Number of organism to the cubic centimeter 1230. Theobald Smith's test. Out of nine tubes one gives a trace of gas. From the plates was isolated only the unknown liquefier mentioned above. Water No. 4. Number of colonies per cubic centimeter 475. Theobald Smith's test. Out of eight tubes one gives about 25 per cent gas. From the plates were isolated the Proteus vulgaris, and the unknown liquefier. Water No. 5. Number of colonies to the cubic centimeter 5680. Theobald Smith's test. Out of nine tubes one gave a trace of gas. From the plates was isolated only the unknown liquefier. Water No. 6. Number of colonies per cubic centimeter 380. Theobald Smith's test. Out of eight tubes one shows a trace of gas. From the plates there were isolated the unidentified liquefier, the B. subtilis, and a number of water saprophytes. Water No. 7. Number of colonies per cubic centimeter 740. No tubes gave gas by T. Smith's test. The only organism isolated from this specimen was the unidentified liquefier. Water No. 8. Number of organisms per cubic centimeter 490. Theobald Smith's test. Out of nine tubes eight gave gas formation, one a trace, five less than 30 per cent and two between 30 per cent and 50 per cent. From this water were isolated the Bacillus coli communis, the Proteus vulgaris, and the unknown liquefier. Remarks. The liquefier which was present in all the specimens of water, and was the only organism present in some, could not be certainly identified. It resembled very closely however the Bacillus pyocyaneus, but did not produce pigment like this organism. There are known to be varieties of the B. pyocyaneus which lose their pigment producing properties, and this may be one of them. As will be seen all of the waters contain a larger number of bacteria to the cubic centimeter than is allowable in good drinking water, though several of them are but slightly over the limit. Possibly the numbers should be estimated lower than the count would indicate, as the water was shipped from some distance, and the organisms had a chance to multiply during transit. Waters number 2, 4 and 8 show evidences of fecal contamination in the presence of intestinal bacteria. Respectfully submitted, GEORGE BLUMER, Director LANSINGBURG SEWERS SCHENECTADY, N. Y., January 31, 1898 Dr. BAXTER T. SMELZER, Secretary State Board of Health, Albany, N. Y.: Dear Sir-On May 21, 1896, you directed me to investigate the matter of a defect in the drainage of a portion of the village of Lansingburg. A personal examination of the territory on May 23d and on subsequent days showed that the complaint submitted to the State Board of Health by the health officer of Lansingburg-on which the investigation was ordered-was well grounded, but it also showed that in order to determine quantitatively the defects and in order to offer the proper remedy a survey and topographical map and other information would be needed which the officials of the village of Lansingburg were in better position to furnish than I to secure them. I therefore submitted to the health offi. cer of the village a list of items needed by me which he at once endeavored to procure. You have been informed from time to time of the progress made in securing this matter and of the delays suffered; the details of which are unnecessary here. I beg leave, therefore, to submit the following report on the matter: The village of Lansingburg adjoins the city of Troy on its northern boundary and occupies a long narrow strip of territory extending about two miles from the northern boundary of the city of Troy and about 2000 feet in maximum width. This strip lies on the east side of and immediately on the bank of the Hudson river and extends easterly to the steep hills running north and south. The village in fact is built on the flood-plane of the river and like all flood-planes of silt-bearing rivers, its elevation is highest near the river and descends as one recedes from the bank toward the hills. Originally the drainage of this lower ground on the eastern side of the village passed southerly through the present Troy territory, finding an outlet to the river farther south; but the gradual improvements of the streets of the city of Troy have raised their level to an extent that shuts off the flow of the natural drainage by this route, and in fact the only sewer at this point in Troy is at an elevation too high to furnish the necessary outlet. To remedy the obstructed drainage, the village of Lansingburg some 10 or 12 years ago undertook to build a sewer from the bed of the drainage stream at its intersection with Second street west to the Hudson river; had this been carried out as intended it would have given the desired relief, but from some defect during construction the grade of this sewer, . though low enough at the point of leaving the river, was run too high, as it was carried east, so that when the sewer reached the line of the drainage stream to be provided with an outlet, it was found to be too high to admit the water or to drain the low ground. This is shown by the map which is submitted with this report, from which the following elevations are taken: Elevation (arbitrary datum) of ordinary high water in river... 85.00 Elevation of invert of sewer to drain low ground at 89.00 Elevation of invert of sewer as now constructed along culvert . . . 91.95 There would have been, therefore, ample fall from the drainage stream to the river had it been properly used instead of having been used up in the western portion of the sewer near the river as was done. No serious effort was made by me to trace the responsibility for the defect in construction of this sewer, as the officials report that the original profiles showing the elevations of intended grades have been missing for some years and were made and adopted prior to the date at which such profiles were required to be placed on file at the office of the State Board of Health, and also because the work having been virtually accepted by the village and used for years no recourse could now be had against the party at fault, even if the responsibility could be located. The drainage area tributary to the stream at the point of its intersection with Second street is about 1100 acres, and the area of the land rendered wet and marshy, and in which the drainage should be improved, is about 15 acres, and this territory lies so closely adjacent to the built-up portions of the village as to render its improvement a sanitary necessity. The health officer, Dr. John Magee, reported to me that he had received numerous complaints of the conditions incident to the defective drainage, and that numerous cases of sickness were, in his opinion, directly traceable to the same cause, and that on this account his village board of health had declared the matter a nuisance. At the time of one of my visits, which was six or eight days after an ordinary rain storm, I saw water standing in the immediate vicinity of several houses, and at a time of dryer weather I found stagnant water in several pools within a short distance of several dwellings. Passing to the matter of the best remedy for the defective conditions, there has been a strong faction in the village demanding that the Second street sewer, which was improperly laid, should be taken up and relaid at a sufficiently deep elevation to give the needed drainage. I do not consider that this is the best remedy available; the present sewer in Second street, although not low enough to drain the low ground in question and the drainage stream, is however satisfactory as a local street sewer; it would cost as much, if not more, to take up this sewer and relay it at a proper depth than it would to build an entirely new one; if a new one is to be built it should be built in a street not now provided with a sewer, so as to furnish local sewerage as well as the drainage of the stream in question; the streets below Second street do not at present demand a sewer from the river to the stream, and to take any street above Second street will require that the drainage flow in the axis of the area now demanding drainage shall be reversed and flow northerly to the new sewer; the topography renders this possible, provided the new sewer be not far removed from Second street. The first street above Second |