A Study of the sanitary quality of drinking water in rural districts of Crawford County, Kansas

This study involved the testing of seventy-six wells and thirty cisterns in representative rural districts of Crawford County, using methods specified by the American Public Health Association in the eighth edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage. The results of the tests showed that only fourteen of the 106 wells and cisterns tested did not yield Escherichia coli. Of the ninety-two polluted drinking water supplies twenty-seven were from cisterns, while sixty-five were from wells. Of these sixty-five only five of the fourteen deep wells in the group showed evidence of contamination. These findings seem to warrant the following conclusions. First, deep well water, as should be expected, is less often polluted and therefore safer than shallow wells. Second, filters and covers on cisterns should be cleaned and repaired more often. Third, there is a real need for the sanitary location and construction of wells to be used for the drinking water supplies. Fourth, the construction and location of rural out-buildings, especially privies, because of their relation to the pollution of water supplies, should receive special attention