An Abundant Supply of Pure and 
Wholesome Water. 
To the Editob oe the News Per- 
mit me the use of your columns to 
point out a few bearings of this public ques- 
tion ; it is by far the most important which 
has ever been placed before the people of this 
fair city for their decision, and although the 
question is not a new one, it has really been 
brought before our eyes in an apparently 
practical way, by the report of Mr. Bishop, 
only within twelve or fourteen days. 
I wish to ask my fellow citizens how prac- 
tical is this report—; is it sufficiently so in 
all cardinal points to warrant their hasty and 
snap action in making an expenditure of six 
hundred thousand dollars as a corporate 
body—; and before thi s expenditure can be 
utilized by individuals, will it not require a 
large expenditure between the middle of the 
street and’the service faucets in every dwell- 
ing ? 
Have we yet before us, any reasonably ac 
curate estimated lump of the outlay, the mu- 
nicipality must make for the sewers attend- 
ant upon the distribution pipes, which must 
go with them everywhere, else the introduc- 
tion of plenty of water can hardly benefit the 
general health of this attractive city ? 
Has any plan or suggestion for the outlet 
of such sewers yet been duly considered and 
estimated, which shall ensure the removal of 
the offensive matters from the windward 
city front, and prevent their clogging our 
wharves and harbor, where the water has not 
grown any deeper in the memory of man ? 
I confess I have no opinion on these sub- 
jects, fori am in utter ignorance upon all 
the points above mentioned ; possibly many 
of my neighbors may be better informed, yet 
I doubt their proper knowledge of them. 
The full and precise report of Professor 
Walter N. Hill, a most able chemist, upon 
the analysis of the waters, perfectly estab- 
lishes the unwholesome nature of some of 
the wells in crowded localities, and the suf- 
ficient purity of Green End water in the sam- 
ple analyzed. His report is dated May 30th, 
and allowing time for his labor, we may sup- 
pose the sample was taken near the end of 
April, when after the close of winter the 
springs and streams are fullest, and thus 
with a larger proportion of sus- 
pended and dissolved impurities, . especially 
of an organic character. Mr. Hill was not 
requested to give the result of average puri- 
ty at different seasons of the year. 
Is it not prudent, before we force the 
council to expend more than half a million 
of dollars, that we shall know the average of 
what we are to get ? Do not think me dis- 
respectful, if I here quote Artemas Ward, 
who said, at a boarding house, he always ate 
hash, because he then knew what he was 
eating! 
Now let us examine the report of Mr. 
Bishop, whose ability and experience I have 
no intention to question, for I believe he is 
entitled to the highest respect. Mr. Bishop 
tells us the area of the water shed, and I 
have no doubt that with equal accuracy he 
gives us a yearly rainfall of forty-two inches 
upon it. Besides this, he says on page 4— 
“In a district like Newport, underlaid by re- 
tentive impermeable clay the surface will 
carry off much more water in its streams, 
allowing less to sink into the ground, * * 
Merely noting that this remark, if correctly 
applied to our locality, has a very important 
bearing upon common and artesian wells ; I 
next desire to call attention to the vital fact, 
that it is upon this opinion, as to the “reten- 
tive clay,” that our engineer bases his er j1' 
mate that Green End • can yield the supj -' 
calculated by him. He may have bored ti(! 
ground and satisfied himself that his opinion 
is founded in fact;— while I, in the habit of 
shooting over that region in spring and 
autumn, since my youth, have wondered at 
the general dry and bibulous character of 
most of the surface, except just in the small 
swamps it contains. * 
In fact from Wrentham, southward (o 
the sea, including Newport, lies the only 
coal field known in the United States, east of 
Penn. It is thus a region without analogy 
in all New England. Just here, it is a series 
of trough like structures, of tilted and lami- 
nated slate rock, very much separated in its 
seams, with many turned up and open edge: 
exposed; often full of faults and cross fine, - 
ures, and pinched in many place into confusion like a troubled sea. Water 
which reaches this rock permeates it freely in 
various directions, I have seldom seen it 
covered with a retentive impermeable clay, 
except in rare and very narrow limits. Ly- 
ing upon the rock we often have a hard pan 
of stony and sandy material, without much 
clay, si that it is not decidedly retentive of 
wrater, but generally allows the wells and 
springs to rise very quickly after heavy rams. 
Many wise men think the salubrity ol our 
neighborhood is ensuredby this remarkable 
surface drainage. For these reasons it 
seems peculiarly unsafe, to act upon gener- 
al analogies, while no special local measure- 
ments of surface water, or investigation of 
the actual bottom, have been made to deter- 
mine the condition of the watershed and 
the actual supply it will surely give. 
The best engineer in such a coal field, 
might find himself sadly at fault without 
systematically proving the surface. 
Before we compel our Council to spend 
more than half a million of dollars upon 
a project, ought we not to be sure of what 
we are about ? Give an affirmative vote 
and the Council cannot help 
spending the money. Why force so 
important a matter so fast and half blindfold, 
beyond and out of the power of the tax- 
payers! The responsibility rests wholly 
with the tax-payers, for Mr.‘ Bishop distinctly 
tells us the grounds of his expecting abun- 
dance of water. Neither Mr. Bishop nor 
Mr. Hill, both competent authorities, have 
yet told us anything about the pure and 
wholesome character of water (the average 
result in large part, as Mr. Bishop warns us, 
of surface wash during the entire year), 
when stored in the best reservoir proposed 
in the end of Easton’s pond. They have not 
told us their opinion that such water 
would not be in every sense of the word 
stagnant pond water digesting or festering 
upon all the impurities brought down during 
the whole time it lies upon the undredged 
dirty bottom of that pond. It is not a pure 
lake with a silver sand for its bottom. 
I do not wish to throw difficulties in the 
way of a reasonably perfect plan, but the 
one submitted with the highest recommenda- 
tion for our final approval, seems in its very 
words and methods to be imperfect, and to 
leave open perhaps all three of the vital 
questions, abundance, purity and wholesome- 
ness. 
Let us be sure we are right, and then go 
ahead! Do not let us jump out of the frying- 
pan into the fire. Newport is still prosper- 
ous and free of 'cTeKi, and it is today the 
most healthy city in the world. In propor- 
tion to its population I firmly believe it has 
mrtre old people, and raises more of the 
children born in it, than any other city. 
In conclusion let us not feel desperate 
about securing, with due deliberation, a sup- 
ply of water adequate to all probable emer- 
gencies. 
Very respectfully yours. 
Samuel Powel. 
Aug. 14, 1873.