WATER-SUPPLY FROM WELLS, IN ITS 
RELATION TO HEALTH. 
BY FRANCIS A. WILBER, M.S., 
Adjunct Professor of Analytical Chemistry, Rutgers College. 
[Reprinted from the Proceedings of the New Jersey State Board of Health, for the 
year 1888.] 
In considering this subject, let us notice : 
1. The source of supply of well water ; 2. Its collection ; 3. The sources 
of its impurities ; 4. Nature’s means for removing such impurities, and the fail- 
ure of these means ; 5. The relation between these impurities and public health. 
The earth’s surface is receiving, at frequent intervals, moisture from rain- 
fall. A large portion of this fall is vaporized, and returned to the atmosphere 
directly, to be again condensed and re-precipitated as rain. A larger portion 
penetrates the porous soil, percolating through it, and seeking lower levels, 
striving to return to the water-courses or natural drains. This portion follows 
the more porous strata of the soil, apd finds its way into all subterranean open- 
ings. As the numerous minute underground streams flow on, they unite, just 
as above ground, and form hidden water-courses, whose distance from the 
surface depends upon the stratification of the soil and rock. The water of 
these streams holds in solution all those soluble mineral and organic 
constituents of the soil with which it has come in contact for a time sufficiently 
long to dissolve them. 
Into these covered streams are constantly percolating the drainage-waters 
from the soil directly above them. If this soil is porous, and the elevation 
considerable, the surface drainage penetrates long distances. If the porous 
stratum that carries the original stream passes under an impervious stratum of 
clay or rock, these surface additions may cease, and the stream flow on 
unaffected by the drainage from the soil above it. 
The householder, needing water, sinks a shaft through the surface strata 
until he meets one of these underground streams, or water-saturated strata, and 
the water, finding in this shaft an underground reservoir, either flows rapidly 
or leaches more slowly in until a supply sufficient for his needs is collected. 
The shaft may be a deep one, passing through hundreds of feet of soil and 
rock, until it reaches the underground stream or reservoir. When this is 
reached, the head forces the water towards the surface, and we call the shaft 
an artesian well ; or the excavation may be only a few feet in depth, when, the 
saturated layer being reached, the incoming water supplies the needs of the 
owner of the soil. This is the ordinary well in which hangs “the old oaken 
bucket.” 
I have hastily mentioned the source and method of collection of under- 
ground water in order to make more clear what I have to say regarding the use 
of well-waters in the country, or in more thickly-settled regions. I am well 
aware that these facts are very common ones and that they may be well known 
to all, but it is to be feared that all sanitary workers do not, at all times, bear 2 
them in mind when speaking or writing'on questions of water-supply. The 
only source of supply is the water descending as rain, and the only way in 
which it reaches the place from which it is taken for the household use is this 
drainage through the soil. 
The water in a well may receive impurities in several ways. The 
construction of the well may be faulty, so that surface drainage is allowed to 
flow into the well over its top, or, sinking into the surface soil, force its way 
through the wall. Or the situation of the well may be such that, while it is 
free from danger from the immediate vicinity, so far as surface drainage is 
concerned, it still receives surface-water from sources of filth more remote. 
This drainage may flow in, in a practically unchanged condition, or it may be 
altered, as mentioned later. 
The condition in which this filth reaches the well depends upon the 
distance that it flows to reach it, tbe time consumed in the flow and the 
character of the soil flowed through. 
The average house-owner certainly believes that the water which he pumps 
clear and cool from his well is pure and wholesome. He does not stop to think 
of the impurities with which it may have come in contact during its flow from 
the surface to the bottom of his well. This well may be sunk in the immediate 
vicinity of an overflowing cesspool or out-house ; the natural drainage of his own 
or his neighbor’s barn-yard or pig-sty may be flowing over the soil, through which 
is filtering the water that is to fill this underground cistern ; or its bottom may be 
in a porous stratum of soil or gravel that receives, at a point higher than the 
bottom, the drainage from some grave-yard or other source of decaying organic 
matter ; some neighboring tree may have tbrust its rootlets through the wall of 
the well and there they remain to decay, or the top may not be tightly covered 
and stray toads or other vermin may tumble in to aid in the pollution of the 
supply, but our well-owner, not seeing, smelling or tasting the results of these 
additions to the underground reservoir, is not conscious of their existence. 
Nor is this indifference to the condition of the soil that serves as a filter for the 
household water-supply, or the surroundings of the well, confined to the ignorant 
man. Even the physician may, and in my experience not infrequently does, 
hold that impurities, mineral and organic, are romoved from surface-water by 
the processes of natural filtration through the soil. If the soil was in a 
condition of virgin purity, and if the tax made on its filtering power was 
limited or only occasional, this might be the case. But such virgin condition 
of purity is not found in the natural filter-bed in thickly-settled or old localities. 
It is true that in passing through almost any soil-filter, turbid, filthy water 
loses its suspended matter and becomes cl ar. It is, tlierofore, commonly said 
to be filtered, the popular definition of filtration being the removal of such 
suspended matter. Filtration is this and much more. The water charged with 
organic and mineral salts and undecomposed organic matter in minute 
subdivision passes into the soil. If it has to flow any considerable distance the 
coarser suspended matter is held mechanically, as the water forces its way 
downward. At the same time the organic acids in solution act upon the oxides 
of iron and alumina in the soil, forming soluble compounds of these substan- 
ces. These compounds, in turn, re-act upon the albuminous matter carried by 
the water, and coagulate it. The clots thus formed can no longer pass 
through the soil, from mechanical reasons, and they are consequently removed 
from the water. Together with these precipitated albuminous matters, and 
mechanically held by them, goes much of the suspended mineral matter, and a 
chemical purification of the water has been effected. This, in brief, is true 
filtration by nature’s process. 
Now, let the flow of organic impurities through this natural filter-bed be so 
great as to fill it with this precipitated organic matter. Decomposition of tbe 
masses of organic filth thus carried into the soil, takes place, and the soluble 
products of this decomposition flow on with the underground streams until a 
well offers a collecting-place for them. Nor is this all The soil, being taxed 
by the large amount of impurities sent through it beyond its filtering power, 
allows these soluble products to pass unchanged, and they are carried directly 
into the well, where the cessation of flow allows them to accumulate. Such a 3 
filth-saturated condition of the soil exists in every old thickly-settled community. 
Here every stable, every out-house or cesspool, with their porous-wallod (if 
walled at all) vaults, every kitchen drain and sewer, is furnishing its quota of 
organic impurities, all of which supply matter for decomposition. 
The products of this decomposition are carried, as we have seen, directly to 
the wrells, and they thus become suitable breeding-places for bacterial life— 
powder magazines—only needing the spark of a typhoid or other deadly germ 
to furnish the explosion of a scourge of disease This filth-saturated condition 
of the soil is no flight of fancy, but solid fact, as every one who has watched 
the digging of a sewer or other excavation in a town, well knows. In a stiff, 
impervious soil ike collection of organic tilth is enormous, and the dangerous 
character of the orgauic matter in such soil when it is disturbed, is well known 
to every physician. Outbreaks of malarial disorders are almost certain to 
follow such disturbance. Nor are the conditions as to safety greater in a town 
built upon a sandy or porous soil. Here the orgauic impurities do not collect 
in such quantities in the soil, but to offset that, the flow from the surface to the 
water line of the well is more rapid. The well-owner, in this case, can drink, 
to-morrow, the kitchen slops or more nauseous wastes emptied yesterday upon the 
sand near his well. In districts underlaid by rocky strata, the danger does not 
disappear, as the seams in the rock, or faults in stratification, furnish 
convenient inlets for surface filth. This filth-polluted water, collected from 
either rocky strata, porous or compact soils, does not always (perhaps we 
might say does not usually) advertise its dangerous character. It is apt to be 
clear and cool, and is sought after for household use. There are no visible 
signs to show its condition, and the well-owner is usually prompt to resent as 
a personal grievance, any suggestion that the water is unfit for use. Striking 
instances of this could be given, but I will mention only one or two. 
In New Brunswick, a well known to have been in use for more than 100 
yea.rs, was located directly in the rear of a tenement-house and its surrounding 
out-houses. This house was used for many years as a tavern, the slops from 
the kitchen being discharged in the immediate vicinity. Near by was an old 
stab'e-yard and stables, the surface drainage from both being directly towards 
the well. The soil in the entire vicinity was completely saturated with organic 
impurities, and although the supply that fed the well did not come from surface 
or local drainage, it was supplemented by both. The water from this well was 
clear, cold and agreeable to the taste, and was much sought after for drinking 
purposes. Chemical and bacteriological tests showed it to be the merest sewage, 
and yet when the facts were stated, many persons using the well were greatly 
offended at the attack upon the character of this water. 
Another case was that of a well situated in a depression in the red shale 
that had become filled with sand. The water was med by numerous families, 
and during the summer there was scarcely ever a time when some one in this 
vicinity was not suffering from low fevers or bowel troubles. The quality of 
the water was shown, and the well closed by the Board of Health, and great was 
the cry at the injustice inflicted upon this locality. 
The popular indifference to the condition of the soil surrounding the 
household water-supply is very great. 
Men who would not for an instant allow the presence of filth in connection 
with the bread or meat put on their tables, will not give a moment’s thought to 
the state of the filter-bed through which passes the water daily used by their 
families. Worse than that, they wdl deliberately make large additions of 
household filth to the surface of this filter-bed. 
It is not my province to set forth the full effects of the use of water thus 
filth-saturated, upon the public health. The condition of the soil in the 
country, village and town is, in many cases, such that such water, only, can be 
obtained from the wells sunk in it. The physician can tell you that, while 
water containing organic impurities may not be a direct producer of disease, 
it still can work its evil by inducing a gradual lowering of the tone of the system 
Persons using such water are less able to withstand the assaults of prevailing 
diseases. This is particularly the case when this water is used by small children 
and aged and infirm persons. I firmly believe that a large proportion of the 4 
deaths of infants, during the heated term of our summers, is directly induced by 
the use of just such water, and in many cases coining under my own observation 
this belief has been directly confirmed. 
Add, now, to the direct results of the use of filthy well-waters the indirect 
danger that they furnish in providing breeding-places for disease germs, and the 
most convenient means for distributing such germs and introducing them into 
the systems of those using them, and you have an indictment sufficiently strong 
to insure conviction unless the grounds taken here can be disproved. 
Health authorities, everywhere, recognize, to some extent, the dangers to 
public health arising from the use of well-waters in towns and cities. The 
labors of such officers would be greatly lessened if it were possible to convince 
the communities using wells as sources of household water-supply, of the 
dangers to which they are being subjected. Ignorance lies at the bottom of 
public indiffernce to this and similar sanitary matters, and only persistent and 
wise pressure on the part of those interested in sanitary progress will lead to a 
removal of this ignorance. 
The study of hygiene in the public schools will prepare the public mind for 
more intelligent thinking on such subjects, and judicious agitation can be made 
to do its part in this important work. 
There are but few towns in our State in which water-supply from wells is at 
all admissible. In one or two instances, the geological structure underlying a 
town renders a present use of wells possible. In these cases, a stiff clay, 
impervious to water, overlies the gravel strata that carries the water. This 
gravel formation outcrops and receives its drainage-water, entirely outside the 
town, in a hilly, scantily-settled region. The water flowing underneath the 
town is, therefore, not polluted by surface drainage, and is fit for use. It will 
continue to be fit until there are a sufficient number of avenues for the passage 
of surface-water through the clay made to allow it to become polluted. 
In concluding this brief sketch of the dangers to public health arising from 
the use of water obtained from wells in towns and cities, let me call attention 
to the great value of pure water as a remedial agent. We know very little of its 
effects, as the use of water containing mineral or organic constituents, or botfi, 
in considerable quantities, is almost universal. Absolutely pure water is one of 
the greatest luxuries of modern life, and nothing, in our modern civilization, 
marks more strongly public enlightenment in matters of health than does the 
interest now being taken in the subject of water-supply for towns and cities.